ISSN : 1229-0718
The purpose of this study was to validate the Korean version of the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC) and the Parenting Alliance Inventory (PAI). A total of 1051 parents with young children aged 1 to 6 years participated. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed that the PSOC consists of 15 items and two factors, and that the PAI consists of 14 items and two factors. The each factor from the PSOC and PAI demonstrated clear convergent validity, proper internal consistency, and good test-retest reliability. Also confirmatory factor analysis indicated good model fit for both measures supporting their good construct validities. Furthermore, there were significant negative correlations between the Korean versions of PSOC, PAI and K-PSI, suggesting good concurrent validity. In conclusion, the Korean versions of PSOC and PAI appear to be useful tools for assessing parenting efficacy and cooperation among parents with young children.
The present study investigated the relationship between children’s executive function at 4 years old and reading fluency and comprehension at 6 years old. Children’s executive function skills at age 4 were examined by measuring three subcomponents: working memory, behavioral inhibition, and cognitive flexibility. A short-term longitudinal study was conducted with 110 four-year-old children. Children’s executive function and receptive vocabulary were measured at age 4, and their reading fluency and comprehension were then measured 2 years later. Results indicated that executive function, behavioral inhibition, and cognitive flexibility at age 4 were significantly correlated with reading fluency and comprehension at age 6. In addition, a regression analysis was performed to examine the substantive impact of measured variables at age 4 on later reading fluency and comprehension. Results showed that the predictive value of executive function subtypes was evident, even after controlling for language ability at age 4.
Children are naïve scientists with the ability to imitate and learn new skills. Children learn about the world and become efficient problem solvers through observation. Even though children's capacity to be imitative problem solvers is evident, there seems to be a unique aspect that remains overlooked. When children observe an adult’s unfamiliar behavior, children seem to be inclined to produce irrelevant and superfluous actions, and this phenomenon (referred to as “overimitation”), increases with age. However, when given a cue regarding the situational context, young children are able to show selective imitation, or emulation, that results in the same goal without reproducing an identical action performed by the model. These varied understanding of children’s imitative strategies and social learning are crucial issues that should be further addressed. Hence, the present study examines whether 3 to 5-year-old children can learn to use new tools through observation, and whether children's imitational characteristics vary across different observational contexts. The study included 174 children aged 3 to 5. Results indicate that toddlers provided with a relevant solution to the problem showed higher rates of success than did those who were provided an irrelevant solution. Also, toddlers who observed solutions that were first irrelevant, and then relevant, demonstrated higher rates of overimitation. In addition, the present results substantiated the idea that 3 to 5-year-old children show different imitative responses according to the context. In the accidental context, where children observed irrelevant actions while the person was on the phone, toddlers demonstrated selective imitation; or emulation. The results suggest that toddlers have the ability to consider other’s intentions and show rational imitation accordingly. This study not only provides an analysis of children’s imitational characteristics as a social learner (i.e. by showing overimitation), but also shows that children are rational emulators when given a cue based on a situational context.
The present study investigated differences in episodic and non-episodic aspects of autobiographical memory between older adults with depression and those without it. 20 older adults with depression (M = 73.45, SD = 5.95) and 20 older adults without depression (M = 72.5, SD = 4.54) were asked to generate narratives based on two autobiographical themes: one was an episodic theme ‘an important event in your life’ and the other was a procedural theme ‘your daily routine’. Protocols were scored with Autobiographical Interview (AI) scoring manual, which is a reliable system for categorizing episodic and non-episodic information. Depressive older adults retrieved less informations in all episodic categories for both narratives, namely, event, time, place, perceptual, and thought/emotion categories, as compared to non-depressive older adults, while more informations in semantic and repetition categories of non-episodic type for episodic narrative. These findings suggest that deficits of autobiographical memory specificity may be a marker of depression in old age and memory specificity training can be effective in aiding recall of current common events as well as significant remote events
The current study examined the association between caregiver separation frequency and behavioral problems among 317 impoverished adolescents. We also investigated how perceptions of relationship quality with parents and peers mediated based on ecological systems theory and the cumulative risk model. More frequent caregiver separation was significantly associated with higher levels of externalizing problems but was not associated with internalizing problems. However, parental separation and internalizing problems were fully mediated by relationship quality with parents and peers. The link between parental separation and externalizing problems was partially mediated by one’s relationship quality with parents and peers. In sum, when adolescents experienced frequent separation from parental figures, they were more likely to develop negative perceptions of their relationships with parents and peers. In turn, the negative perceptions of these significant relationships were associated with high levels of internalizing and externalizing problems.
The current study investigated whether 4-year-old Korean children consider situational factors when comprehending a protagonist’s lie- and truth-telling. Participants answered a series of questions after listening to stories in which the protagonist lied or told the truth during a transgression (e.g., not brushing his/her teeth) or a polite interaction (e.g., thinking his/her friend’s new shoes look awful). Children more positively evaluated lying during a politeness context than during a transgression context. Children also evaluated lying more positively than truth-telling during the politeness context. However, children attributed more positive emotions to protagonists who lied than to those who told the truth, regardless of context. In addition, there seemed to be gender differences in the development of moral evaluation and emotion inference at the age of 4. The results demonstrate that preschoolers understand the influence of contextual factors when evaluating moral value of lying and truth telling but not when inferring a protagonist’s emotions after lying or truth telling.
The current study investigated whether predicting others’ emotions affects 4-year-olds’ sharing behavior during dictator games. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to allocate 10 stickers between themselves and a monkey puppet shown in a photo. Children in the experimental condition, but not those in the control condition, were told that the monkey would draw a picture of how he felt about the amount of stickers he received. Children in the experimental condition allocated significantly more stickers to the recipient than did those in the control condition, suggesting that an understanding of others’ emotions promoted altruistic distribution. In Experiment 2, we examined whether the presence of the recipient in the setting would affect children’s distribution of resources. The procedure was identical to that of Experiment 1 except that participants were asked to give stickers to a monkey puppet in a face-to-face setting. In Experiment 2, children in both conditions donated stickers about equally between themselves and the monkey puppet, which resembled results of the experimental condition from Experiment 1. These results suggest that considering others’ emotions as well as an awareness of another’s presence promotes children’s fair distribution.
The current study examined the relationships between mature aging, death attitudes, and death competency among middle-aged adults. Results from a multiple regression analysis predicting death attitudes showed that perceived health was a significant predictor of both a fear of death and denial of death among middle-aged adults. Mature aging, especially social responsibility and good relationships with children, had a positive influence on both neutral and approach acceptance. Social responsibility, including generativity, was the most significant predictor of death competency, while income, education, and good relationships with children were also predictive. Furthermore, three subtypes of death acceptance, including neutral, approach, and escape acceptance, had a positive impact on death competency. These results suggest that mature aging might help individuals effectively cope with death.