Studies on the effects of marital conflict and child adjustment have documented a consistent relationship between higher amounts of marital conflict and increased child adjustment problems. Recently, researchers have focused on viewing children's perceptions of marital conflict as an important variable that may influence the strength of the association between marital conflict and child adjustment. Recent research has indicated that children's perceptions of interparental conflict may influence overall child adjustment. The present study examined the relationship between marital conflict and child adjustment and the role of children's perceptions of marital conflict in a clinical sample.Forty-four 8- to 12-year-old children and one of their parents participated in this study. Adult participants completed four questionnaires: (1) The O'Leary- Porter Scale; (2) The Conflict Tactics Scale; (3) The Child Behavior Checklist; and (4) a demographic questionnaire. The child participants completed one scale, The Children's Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale. The following research questions were investigated: (1) Is parental assessment of marital conflict related to child adjustment in a clinical sample? (2) Are children's appraisals of marital conflict related to child adjustment in a clinical sample? (3) Are boys' appraisals of interparental conflict related to the parents' appraisals of interparental conflict in a clinical sample? (4) Are girls' appraisals of interparental conflict related to the parents' appraisals of interparental conflict in a clinical sample? And (5) Are children's perceptions of marital conflict better predictors of child adjustment than parents' perceptions of marital conflict in a clinical sample?A significant relationship was found between parents' perceptions of marital conflict and child adjustment. However, children's perceptions of marital conflict did not significantly predict their overall adjustment. In accordance with these findings, it was also found that parents' perceptions of marital conflict were better predictors of child adjustment than children's perceptions of marital conflict in a clinical sample. It was also found that boys' appraisals of marital conflict were significantly related to parents' appraisals of marital conflict. Whereas, girls' perceptions of marital conflict were not significantly related to parents' perceptions of marital conflict. Implications and limitations of these findings and recommendations for future research were discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Recent research has shown that children under two years demonstrate some early social understanding. Previous research has also demonstrated that mother talk about mental states is a factor in older preschoolers� later theory of mind understanding. In order to learn more about the predictive nature of mother mental state talk to very young children, this study examined the relation between mother talk about mental states at 15 and 24 months and their later mental state language and emotion understanding at 24 and 33 months. At all three time points, 71 mothers and 3 fathers (N=74) described pictures to their infants and mother talk was coded for mental and non-mental state language at 15, 24 and 33 months. In addition, at all three time points, children�s mental and non-mental state vocabulary levels were obtained via parental report. At the second and third time points the children were administered an emotion situation and a body emotion task. The mothers� ability to interpret emotion faces was also assessed. The results showed that mother use of desire language was more prevalent at 15 months, with references to thinking and knowledge increasing at 24 months. Partial correlations demonstrated that mother use of desire language with 15-month old children uniquely predicted a child�s mental state language and emotion situation task performance at 24 months, even after accounting for earlier child language, mother socioeconomic status, mothers� own emotion understanding, and other types of mother non-mental state language. Similarly, at 24 months of age, after accounting for potentially confounding variables, such as child language, mother use of think/know language as well as desire language were both predictors of children�s mental state language and emotion task performance at 33 months. The results further demonstrated that mothers� tendency to refer to the child�s (versus others�) desires at 15 months was the more consistent correlate of children�s mental state language and emotion understanding at 24 months. At 24 months a different pattern emerged with both references to the child�s and others� thoughts and knowledge correlating with child mental state language and emotion task performance at 33 months. It is proposed that Vygotsky�s zone of proximal development provides a framework within which maternal talk about specific mental states scaffolds the development of children�s later social understanding. I also suggest that such scaffolding motivates mothers to talk more about the child�s mental states when they are younger, before introducing talk that focuses on others� mental states.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-156).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed March 13, 2009). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thèse (M.Ed.) -- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, en association avec Universidade do Estado da Bahia, 2004. / Bibliogr.: f. [154]-158. Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1983. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-99).

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-74). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss &rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR11918

M.A. (Psychology) / The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between social competence and the recognition of emotional expressions in children with minimal brain dysfunction. For this purpose a scale that assessed recognition of emotional expressions. was constructed and validated. Subsequently a group of 26 children with minimal brain dysfunction that satisfied certain selection criteria were selected as an experimental group and were paired off with a group of normal children. The groups were thereafter compared with each other in respect of social competence and recognition of emotions. Results revealed that children with minimal brain dysfunction made significantly more errors in the recognition of emotional expressions and that behavioural predispositions or traits such as aggression, assertiveness, and submission differed significantly between normal children and those with minimal brain dysfunction.

No description available.

The present study focused upon both behavioral and cognitive aspects of sympathetic responses in preschool children. Subjects, 36 boys and girls aged 33-75 months, were seen at their regular day care center. An attempt was made to promote comforting behavior through the use of a peer model both alone and accompanied by an adult's inductive statement regarding the consequences of a sympathetic response; a six year-old girl served as the sympathetic model and as an apparently injured victim in need of comforting. In addition, age- and sex-related relationships for the measures of social cognition, affective perspective-taking and knowledge of strategies for intervening when another person's plight invites sympathetic concern, were examined. The former measure employed a commonly used task presenting children with picture stories in which a target character's facial expression is not congruent with information provided by the story situation. Such stimuli have been thought to assess the ability to assume the emotional point of view of a particular person (empathic judgment), as opposed to the egocentric projection of one's own perspective onto another (projective judgment). Capacities for recognizing and explaining situationally consistent emotions (social comprehension and explanation of affect) and explaining the incongruent facial and situational cues (awareness of discrepancy) were also evaluated. The psychometric properties of these measures were a major concern; consequently, internal consistency reliability as well as age- and sex-related differences among item means, which were presumed to reflect differences in item difficulty, were examined for each component of both measures. Finally, relationships among all measures were examined.