How Does Preschoolers’ Conformity Relate to Parental Style, Anonymous Sharing, and Obedience?

Children, just like adults, conform to peer testimony when making ostensibly easy decisions. Yet, some are more prone to conform than others and little is known about which factors contribute to this variability. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the reasons for individual differences in conformity by examining potential correlates of experimentally-elicited conformity in a sample of Swedish 3.5-year-olds (N = 55; 56%girls). Specifically, we asked whether conformity was socialized by parents via their parental style and whether conformity is correlated with the behaviors of anonymous sharing or obedience, which might each share a common motivation with conformity. Our data showed that children’s conformity was associated with fathers’, but not mothers’, authoritarian parental style and with anonymous sharing, but not obedience. The findings lend support to the notions that authoritarian parental style encourages conformist behavior, and that conformity is correlated with anonymous sharing behavior.

Moderating Effects of Coping Style on Externalizing Behaviors and Substance Use in Urban Adolescents Exposed to Community Violence

Community violence exposure is associated with externalizing problems in adolescents, yet little research has examined the moderating role of coping in these relationships. Eighty-four low-income, urban adolescents (Mage = 13.36, 50%male, 95%African American) participated in two waves of a longitudinal study a year and a half apart. Youth reported their community violence exposure and coping styles at Wave 1, and their delinquent behavior, physical aggression, and substance use at Waves 1 and 2. Conduct problems were assessed by parent-report at Waves 1 and 2. Results showed that avoidant coping predicted less delinquency, aggression, substance use, and conduct problems over time. Further, avoidant coping attenuated the effect of community violence on delinquency. Problem-focused and emotion-focused coping did not moderate community violence exposure effects. Findings suggest that among low-income, minority urban youth, avoidant coping may protect against the development of externalizing problems in the context of community violence exposure.

Parenting Practices, Victimization, and Negative Affectivity in Child Internalizing Symptoms: Moderated-Mediation Models

Separate lines of research have linked negative parenting practices, victimization, and negative affectivity - separately - with internalizing symptoms in children. However, no previous studies have connected these lines of research to examine internalizing pathology in children. The current study tested complex moderated-mediation models to investigate the respective effects of victimization and negative affectivity on the relationship between parenting practices and internalizing symptoms. Greek-Cypriot children (N = 374) and their parents took part in the study. The children completed the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire, the Negative Affect Scale for Children, and the Parental Bonding Instrument. Their parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist – Parent Report (CBCL). Moderated-mediation models highlighted that negative affectivity moderates the mediating effect of victimization on the relationship between parenting practices and internalizing symptoms. The research findings contribute to the existing literature and advance our understanding of children’s internalizing symptoms development. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Psychometric Properties of the German Version of the Children’s Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (CRSQ)

Rejection Sensitivity (RS) is defined as the disposition to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and overreact to social rejection cues. Aim of the two studies presented in this paper was to develop and administer an instrument to assess RS in a German sample of healthy (pre)adolescents as well as in a clinical sample. The English Children’s Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (CRSQ) was translated, adapted, and presented to a non-clinical sample (N = 128) (Study I) to identify psychometric properties of the instrument. In Study II, the resulting questionnaire was completed by a mixed clinical sample (N = 50). Differences in results between samples, and the relation between rejection sensitivity and mental distress were investigated. The resulting German version of the questionnaire CRSQ (German: Fragebogen zur Zurückweisungsempfindlichkeit für Kinder und Jugendliche, FZE-K) showed good psychometric properties. Differences between samples provide insight into the diversity of the construct “rejection sensitivity”.

Online Sexual Victimization among Middle School Students: Prevalence and Association with Online Risk Behaviors

In Europe, 82% of minors use a social network (SN). Although SNs offer opportunities for social interaction, they also involve some risks, such as online sexual victimization (OSV). As many as 39% of teenagers are estimated to be at risk of OSV. The literature suggests that risky online behaviors, such as sexting, indiscriminate expansion of SNs, and intimate and face-to-face relationships with strangers met online, can increase the risk of OSV among adolescents. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of OSV and related risk factors in a sample of early adolescents. A cross-sectional study was conducted based on 310 Italian adolescents (12–14 years old) who completed the Juvenile Online Victimization Questionnaire (JOV-Q). Sixty percent of the sample reported at least one form of OSV, with males more at risk than females. Age, gender, and online risk behaviors are predictors of different kinds of OSV. In the whole sample, the most frequent kind of OSV was unwanted exposure to sexual content, followed by sexual pressure, online grooming, and sexual coercion. Sexting and indiscriminate expansion of one’s network increase the likelihood of having been the target of at least 1 OSV in the past year. Early adolescents can face a higher risk of OSV than adolescents, based on known percentages. The study of the prevalence and risk factors in this age group therefore deserves specific attention in order to design programs to prevent and combat OSV.

Infant–Father Attachment in Infants Born Preterm - A Brief Report

This study examines the infant–father attachment in infants born preterm (< 1500 g at birth and/or < 37 weeks gestation) in comparison to full-term infants. The infant–father attachment was assessed using the Strange Situation Procedure at a (corrected) age of 15 months. We found at least half of preterm and full-term infants (50.0% and 56.5 % respectively) securely attached to their fathers, and no significant overall difference was observed concerning the distribution of attachment quality comparing the two groups. In light of the fact that preterm infants tend to have numerous neurodevelopmental problems, it is encouraging that significant differences were not found in the distribution of the attachment quality among the groups. Therefore, from the perspective of attachment research, it would be highly beneficial to include fathers in the care of their preterm infants.

Attachment and Externalizing Behavior: Mediation through Dysfunctional Emotion Regulation and Callous-Unemotional Traits

The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the association between parental attachment and externalizing behavior is parallelly mediated by dysfunctional emotion regulation and callous-unemotional traits. The community sample included 296 adolescents (Mage = 14.90, SDage = 1.31), who completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits, the Regulation of Emotions Questionnaire, and the Youth Self-Report Child Behavior Checklist. A mediation analysis revealed both direct and indirect effects. Secure attachment representations were negatively associated with internal- and external dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies and callous-unemotional traits, which in turn were positively associated with externalizing behavior problems. The current study expands previous research by simultaneously investigating familial and cognitive factors that foster externalizing behavior problems. An attachment-based perspective offers new possibilities for theory expansion, research directions, and the development of interventions.

The Contributions of Propensity, Delinquent Peers, Low Parental Supervision, and Empathy to the Emergence of Antisocial Behavior in Childhood and Adolescence: Testing Developmental Path Models Combining Psychological- and Sociological-Criminological Approaches

Psychological- and sociological-criminological research refers to, for example, cumulative risk factor models (e.g., Lösel & Bender, 2003) and Situational Action Theory (SAT; e.g., Wikström, 2006). The German longitudinal study “Chances and Risks in the Life Course“ (research project A2, Collaborative Research Center 882; e.g., Reinecke, Stemmler, & Wittenberg, 2016) focuses upon the development of antisocial behavior from a psychological and sociological point of view. Two-wave panel data of two cohorts (children and adolescents) were utilized to test the power of developmental path models investigating the development of antisocial behavior. Individual risk seems to have both direct and indirect influences on antisocial behavior, supporting the ideas of risk factor models; antisocial behavior might be the outcome of the interaction between propensity and criminogenic exposure, so there is evidence for SAT. Additionally, empathy seems to be related to both propensity and low parental supervision. Implications for the study of antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence are discussed in line with developmental criminology.