This study investigated longitudinal relationships between shyness and three types of cognitive biases (i.e., probability judgment bias, cost judgment bias, and threatening interpretation bias) among rural Chinese children. A three-wave design (lasting 12-month) was employed with 1,112 children (61.24% boys; Mage = 10.29) from Gushi County, China, who self-reported their levels of shyness and cognitive biases at each wave. Cross-lagged panel models revealed that shyness was moderately stable over time and significantly predicted subsequent increases in all three types of cognitive biases. Probability and cost judgment biases also predicted later shyness, but only from the second to third wave, providing partial support for a bidirectional relationship. In contrast, threatening interpretation bias did not significantly predict later shyness. These findings suggested that shyness plays an important role in shaping children’s cognitive biases and highlighted the importance of early intervention targeting maladaptive cognition in shy children to prevent long-term socio-emotional challenges in Chinese culture.
This study examined the unique and interactive relations between parent and peer variables and changes in physical aggression in a predominantly Black sample of youth in under-resourced communities. Participants were 2,156 students ( M age = 12.2, SD = 1.02; 71.2% Black; 52% female) attending middle schools in the southeastern U.S. Students completed surveys every 3 months during the school year and during the summer. Longitudinal path models indicated that changes in physical aggression were uniquely negatively related to perceived parental support for nonviolence and positively related to parental support for fighting as sometimes necessary, physical peer victimization, and friends’ support for fighting. Parent and peer influences generally did not interact to mitigate or exacerbate risk. Findings provide support for the unique roles of parents and peers in changes in adolescents’ physical aggression and suggest the need for prevention and intervention efforts to simultaneously target parent and peer influences.
Adolescents’ social status insecurity impairs mental health and behaviors (e.g., Long et al., 2020 ). Although social preference has been shown as important in adolescents’ social development, limited is known about social preference insecurity (SPI). Using a longitudinal, multi-informant design, this study explores predication from adolescents’ SPI to social preference mediated by internalizing symptoms and moderated by callousness among 817 adolescents (M age = 12.19; 50% female). Findings showed that SPI predicted higher depression and anxiety, and more so for adolescents with higher callousness. Furthermore, SPI negatively predicted later social preference mediated through depression, which was strengthened by adolescents’ callousness. This study contributes to understanding adolescents’ social cognition about peer status and personality influence developmental outcomes.
This study examined how individual, relational, and organizational factors relate to school belonging in early adolescence. Multilevel models used population-level data from 23,421 Grade 6-8 students in 365 British Columbia schools, with predictors centered within cluster and school means entered at Level 2 to separate within-from between-school associations. Belonging was lower among students in higher grades. Within schools, optimism, connectedness with adults and peers, and low victimization were associated with greater belonging, and adult and peer connectedness interacted. Between schools, school-average connectedness with adults and, especially, school-average victimization showed stronger associations than their within-school counterparts. Students in standalone middle schools reported lower belonging than students in elementary schools, whereas secondary and K-12 settings did not differ, after adjustment for grade, individual characteristics, and relational climate. The model explained 45.6% of within-school and 73% of between-school variance. Findings position belonging as co-constructed by students, school relational climate, and grade-span configuration.
Studies suggest that men and women with stronger gender stereotypes are more likely to report that men make funnier jokes than women. However, the extent to which this perception is influenced by social context remains unclear. Here, we attempted to provide initial evidence for this question by analysing the interaction between gender stereotypes and the perception and production of humour in 10- to 12-year-old children ( N = 137) in Western Europe. The children rated the funniness of verbal jokes (humour perception) and created humorous jokes themselves (humour production). In humour perception, we found an effect of gender but no significant effect of gender stereotypes. Boys attributed the funniest jokes more often to boys than girls did. Overall, humour production was not significantly associated with gender stereotypes. However, children who rated themselves as being more feminine produced funnier jokes. In summary, this study did not find clear evidence that gender stereotypes influence how 10- to 12-year-old children perceive and produce humour.
