Anxiety and Social Support as Predictors of Student Academic Motivation During the COVID-19.

In this study we examined whether parents' perceptions of students' anxiety as well as perceived support from both teachers and classmates were predictive of changes in students' academic motivation during the first wave of COVID-19. To this end, we used a retrospective pretest-posttest design together with a latent change score model to analyze our data. From April to May of 2020, 394 Portuguese parents of students in grades 1-9 participated in this study.

Prosocial Behavior and Friendship Quality as Moderators of the Association Between Anxious Withdrawal and Peer Experiences in Portuguese Young Adolescents.

Anxious withdrawal has been associated consistently with adverse peer experiences. However, research has also shown that there is significant heterogeneity among anxiously withdrawn youth. Further, extant research has focused primarily on negative peer experiences and outcomes; little is known about the more successful social experiences of anxiously withdrawn youth.

Network Structure Predicts Changes in Perception Accuracy of Social Relationships.

The goal of this study was to test how changes in perception accuracy of affiliative networks (i.e., the ability to accurately identify who affiliates with whom) are related to an important structural feature of peer groups- the likelihood of children to affiliate with mutual partners (transitivity).

Perception Accuracy of Affiliative Relationships in Elementary School Children and Young Adolescents.

There has been a rapid growth of studies focused on selection and socialization processes of peer groups, mostly due to the development of stochastic actor-based models to analyze longitudinal social network data. One of the core assumptions of these models is that individuals have an accurate knowledge of the dyadic relationships within their network (i.e.

Co-evolution of Friendships and Antipathies: A Longitudinal Study of Preschool Peer Groups.

We used stochastic actor-based models to test whether the developmental dynamics of friendships and antipathies in preschool peer groups (followed throughout three school years) were co-dependent. We combined choices from three sociometric tasks of 142 children to identify friendship and antipathy ties and used SIENA to model network dynamics. Our results show that different social processes drive the development of friendship and antipathy ties, and that they do not develop in association (i.

Social engagement and adaptive functioning during early childhood: Identifying and distinguishing among subgroups differing with regard to social engagement.

This study tested the hypothesis that social engagement (SE) with peers is a fundamental aspect of social competence during early childhood. Relations between SE and a set of previously validated social competence indicators, as well as additional variables derived from observation and sociometric interviews were assessed using both variable-centered and person-centered approaches (N = 1453, 696 girls) in 4 samples (3 U.S.

Affiliative Subgroups in Preschool Classrooms: Integrating Constructs and Methods from Social Ethology and Sociometric Traditions.

Recent studies of school-age children and adolescents have used social network analyses to characterize selection and socialization aspects of peer groups. Fewer network studies have been reported for preschool classrooms and many of those have focused on structural descriptions of peer networks, and/or, on selection processes rather than on social functions of subgroup membership. In this study we started by identifying and describing different types of affiliative subgroups (HMP- high mutual proximity, LMP- low mutual proximity, and ungrouped children) in a sample of 240 Portuguese preschool children using nearest neighbor observations.

Affiliative structures and social competence in Portuguese preschool children.

The goal of this study was to determine whether peer social competence (SC), defined as the capacity to use behavioral, cognitive, and emotional resources in the service of achieving personal goals within preschool peer groups, was related to the type of affiliative subgroups to which children belonged. Two hundred forty Portuguese preschool children (152 seen in consecutive years of data collection) from middle-class families participated. Affiliative subgroup type was assessed from observed proximity data.

Growth of social competence during the preschool years: a 3-year longitudinal study.

This study examined the stability and growth over a 3-year period of individual differences in preschool children's social competence, which was assessed in three domains: social engagement/motivation, profiles of behavior and personality attributes characteristic of socially competent young children, and peer acceptance. A total of 255 children (126 girls and 129 boys) participated in this study. Growth curve analyses demonstrated both stability and change with regard to social competence over early childhood.

Longitudinal stability of social competence indicators in a Portuguese sample: Q-sort profiles of social competence, measures of social engagement, and peer sociometric acceptance.

This study examines the temporal stability (over 3 years) of individual differences in 3 domains relevant to preschool children's social competence: social engagement/motivation, profiles of behavior and personality attributes characteristic of socially competent young children, and peer acceptance. Each domain was measured with multiple indicators. Sociometric status categories (Asher & Dodge, 1986) and reciprocated friendships were derived from sociometric data.

Hierarchical models of social competence in preschool children: a multisite, multinational study.

The generality of a multilevel factorial model of social competence (SC) for preschool children was tested in a 5-group, multinational sample (N = 1,540) using confirmatory factor analysis. The model fits the observed data well, and tests constraining paths for measured variables to their respective first-order factors across samples also fit well. Equivalence of measurement models was found at sample and sex within-sample levels but not for age within sample.

Postconflict behaviour in brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella).

Postconflict affiliation has been mostly studied in Old World primates, and we still lack comparative research to understand completely the functional value of reconciliation. Cebus species display great variability in social characteristics, thereby providing a great opportunity for comparative studies. We recorded 190 agonistic interactions and subsequent postconflict behaviour in a captive group of brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella).