ISSN : 1229-0718
The purpose of this study was to develop a scale of peer initiative with 327 young children aged 3-5 years. The statistical programs of SPSS 21.0 and MPLUS 7 were used to analyze data and 2 factors and 39 items were identified. The factor names were “friendly” and “unfriendly” peer initiatives respectively. Peer initiative is the role of the child who is interested in controlling or leading peers in the play process. The child who leads the play in a friendly way plays the game through the play definition, explanation, suggestion, information provision, negotiation, and provides a structure for the play to proceed smoothly. The young child who leads the play in an unfriendly way plays the role of controlling his friend at will through play command, rejection, threat, and disregard. To confirm the validity of this scale, we conducted a correlation analysis with peer competence and leadership scales. As a result, it was found that there were high correlations among peer initiative, peer competence, and leadership in young children.
The study examined the relations among communicative perspective-taking, false belief, and executive function from the developmental point of view. Fifty-four children participated in the study, whose ages ranged from 46 months to 56 months at the beginning of the study. The children were tested 3 times at intervals of six-months. The eye movements(i. e., the fixation time on the target objects or egocentric objects) were measured for the communicative perspective-taking tasks which were composed of the common-ground and the privileged-ground conditions. Inhibitory control(flag task), working memory(backward-word task), and attention switching(card-sorting task) were also measured for the executive functions. The understanding of false belief was also measured. The results indicated that the egocentric perspectives were predominant at the beginning stage, but significantly decreased as the age level went up. As for the relations among communicative perspective-taking, false belief, and executive function, communicative perspective-taking was not correlated with the false belief understanding, but with working memory. Working memory was the only variable that predicted communicative perspective-taking.
The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of unsupportive parenting attitudes, perceived competence and autonomy on learning amotivation. A sample of 1042 students completed a self-report questionnaire. Data were analyzed using 2-way-ANOVA and multiple group comparisons based on structural equation modeling. Significant differences in the school level were found in competence, autonomy, and amotivation: A higher school level was associated with lower competence and autonomy, and with higher amotivation. Concerning the relationships among the variables, the pattern of results was rather complex. First, while parental neglect and over-control had a negative effect on autonomy and a positive effect on amotivation, competence and autonomy had a negative effect on amotivation. Second, we observed differential effects in the school level. The negative influence of parental neglect on competence and autonomy was stronger in elementary and middle school students, while parental over-expectation had a significant negative effect on amotivation only in high school students. Third, we also observed the effect of gender on amotivation. Parental over-control was more effective in male students, but autonomy in female students.
The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of unsupportive parenting attitudes, perceived competence and autonomy on learning amotivation. A sample of 1042 students completed a self-report questionnaire. Data were analyzed using 2-way-ANOVA and multiple group comparisons based on structural equation modeling. Significant differences in the school level were found in competence, autonomy, and amotivation: A higher school level was associated with lower competence and autonomy, and with higher amotivation. Concerning the relationships among the variables, the pattern of results was rather complex. First, while parental neglect and over-control had a negative effect on autonomy and a positive effect on amotivation, competence and autonomy had a negative effect on amotivation. Second, we observed differential effects in the school level. The negative influence of parental neglect on competence and autonomy was stronger in elementary and middle school students, while parental over-expectation had a significant negative effect on amotivation only in high school students. Third, we also observed the effect of gender on amotivation. Parental over-control was more effective in male students, but autonomy in female students.
The present study examined the influence of informants' age in selective trust among Korean preschoolers. Korean culture values relational harmony with an emphasis on respect for the elderly and those with higher family/social status. By comparison, western cultures value horizontal relationships and equality. Therefore, Korean preschoolers might be influenced more by the informant’s age in their selective trust unlike American preschoolers. We examined this by presenting accurate peer and inaccurate adult informant to children. When the two informants proposed different names for the new objects, 4 and 5-year-olds followed the accurate peer informant more than the adult. 3-year-old children were at chance in accepting the labels from either informant. However, when 3-year-olds saw two adult informants (accurate and inaccurate), only girls were able to choose a more reliable informant. These results suggest that the informant’s age affect children differently in the younger group, and also that its effect may be related to gender differences.
The study aimed to investigate mother's Reflective Functioning(RF), ability to understand that behavior if meaningfully linked to underlying mental states, and infant's attachment. Therefore this study examined to identify connections between mother's Reflective Functioning(RF) and infant's attachment. The results of this study were as follows: First, 101 infants were classified by Strange Situation Procedure(SSP), 70.3% were classified as secure type(B), 16.8% as insecure-avoidant type(A), 5.9% as insecure-resistant type(C), 6.9% as disorganized type(D). Second, mothers whose infants classified by Secure attachment(B) were the highest RF score. And according to the results of Logistic Regression, mother's reflective functioning significantly predicted the infant's attachment. The higher the mother's reflective functioning to form a secure attachment increases the probability. These findings indicate that the Reflective Functioning(RF) is an important predictor of infant's attachment.
This study examined effectiveness of parent training using by Video-feedback Intervention to improve Parenting Sensitivity(VIIPS) of parents of young children aged two to three years who had socioemotional and behavioral problems. Subjects included 21 parents (nine in the experimental group and 12 in the control group) and the training, consisting of psychological education and video feedback intervention, covered (1) understanding of development of young children and recognition of their mental health; (2) examination of environmental factors of parenting; (3) investigation of attachment behaviors of parents to enhance parenting sensitivity; (4) video feedback I & II on parent-child interactions to improve parenting sensitivity; and (5) video feedback III and recognition of changes in sensitive parenting attitude based on the video feedbacks. The parent training consisted of six sessions each of which was conducted with a small group of parents (four to five people) for 90 minutes. In order to verify effectiveness of the parent training, assessment of parent-child interactions by video recording, Korean version of Parenting Relationship Questionnaire-Preschool (K-PRQ-P), Child Behavior Checklist (K-CBCL 1.5-5), and Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) were administered to the experiment and the control groups before and after the parent training. The findings are: (1) the experiment group showed significant improvement in sensitive interaction skills, parent-child relationship after the training; (2) children of the parents in the experiment group showed significant decrease in terms of behavioral problems after the training. These findings clearly show parent training by video feedback aimed at enhancing parenting sensitivity is effective in improvement of sensitive interaction skills, enhancement of parent-child relationship, and decline of behavioral problems of children.
This study examined the influence of the presence of observers on Korean adults and childrens’ understanding of the relationship between helping behaviors and emotions. Korean adults and 4-to 5-year-old children were asked to infer a protagonist’s emotion after listening to a series of stories. Each story varied on (1) whether or not an actor helped others and (2) whether or not someone observed the actor. Both adults and children inferred that the protagonist would be less happy when he or she did not help others in need and when he or she was observed by someone. The results demonstrate adults’ and preschoolers’ understanding that the presence of observers can influence emotional experiences after helpful or unhelpful behaviors.