'It's not that we hate you': understanding children's gender attitudes and expectancies about peer relationships.

Widespread gender segregation, evident throughout elementary school, seems to imply that girls and boys have negative feelings and thoughts about one another, and classic theories of inter-group processes support this idea. However, research has generally overlooked children's feelings and perceptions about gender-related interpersonal interactions. This paper investigates the nature of children's attitudes about same- and other-gender peers, and explores how those attitudes relate to the expectancies and beliefs children hold about same- and other-gender peer interactions.

Mothers' and Children's Positive Emotion: Relations and Trajectories across Four Years.

The goals of this study were to examine the relations between and trajectories of mothers' and children's social positive expressivity. Mothers' and children's positive expressivity (PE) were observed annually for 4 years beginning when children were approximately 18 months old (n = 247; 110 girls). Based on correlations, there was evidence of rank-order stability in children's and mothers' PE.

Relations among maternal socialization, effortful control, and maladjustment in early childhood.

In a sample of 18-, 30-, and 42-month-olds, the relations among parenting, effortful control (EC), and maladjustment were examined. Parenting was assessed with mothers' reports and observations; EC was measured with mothers' and caregivers' reports, as well as a behavioral task; and externalizing and internalizing symptoms were assessed with parents' and caregivers' reports. Although 18-month unsupportive (vs.

Assessment of preschoolers' positive empathy: concurrent and longitudinal relations with positive emotion, social competence, and sympathy.

The purpose of this study was to examine a new measure of children's dispositional positive empathy (i.e., reactions to others' positive emotions) and its concurrent and longitudinal relations with positive emotion, social competence, and empathy/sympathy with negative emotions.

Development of Shyness: Relations With Children's Fearfulness, Sex, and Maternal Behavior.

The relations of childhood fearfulness (observed and adult reported) and adult-reported shyness at 18 (n = 256) and 30 (n = 230) months of age were assessed. Fear was positively related to shyness concurrently and longitudinally, but slightly more consistently at 18 months. The moderating roles of observed maternal sensitivity and children's sex in the relation between 18-month fearfulness and 30-month shyness, and between 18- and 30-month shyness, were tested.

Examining the Relations of Infant Temperament and Couples' Marital Satisfaction to Mother and Father Involvement: A Longitudinal Study.

The relations of infant temperament and parents' marital satisfaction to mother and father involvement in early (T1, approximately 7 months, n = 142) and later (T2, approximately 14 months, n = 95) infancy were examined. At each assessment point, mothers and fathers completed daily diaries together to measure their involvement over four days (i.e.

Focused Attention in Toddlers: Measurement, Stability, and Relations to Negative Emotion and Parenting.

This longitudinal study examined individual differences and correlates of focused attention when toddlers were approximately 18 months old (T1; n = 256) and a year later (T2; n = 230). Toddlers' attention and negative emotionality were reported by mothers and non-parental caregivers and rated globally by observers. Toddlers' focused attention also was observed during two mother-child interactions and an independent play task.

Maternal Personality: Longitudinal Associations to Parenting Behavior and Maternal Emotional Expressions toward Toddlers.

OBJECTIVE: Longitudinal associations among maternal personality, emotional expressions, and parenting were examined. DESIGN: Maternal parenting (sensitivity and intrusiveness) and positive emotional expressions were observed during a free-play session with toddlers at 18 (T1, n = 246) and 30 (T3, n = 216) months. Mothers completed a personality measure at T1 and a questionnaire measuring their emotional expressiveness (positive and negative) when toddlers were 24 months old (T2, n = 213).

Parental Childrearing Attitudes as Correlates of Father Involvement During Infancy.

Using daily diary data to document involvement with infants at 6 - 8 months of age (n = 142) and 6 months later (n = 95), we examined relations between reported childrearing attitudes and resident fathers' relative (as compared to mothers') involvement with children. Fathers' authoritarian views related negatively to their relative involvement on weekdays, and this relation held over time for caregiving and playing activities. Mothers' protective attitudes had concurrent negative associations with fathers' relative weekend involvement.

Measures of Effortful Regulation for Young Children.

Emotion-related regulation is a topic of increasing interest among researchers, yet there is little agreement on ways to measure emotion regulation in young children. In this paper, we first consider important conceptual distinctions in regard to the different types of emotion-related regulation and control. Next, we describe a number of ways researchers have assessed children's regulation.