Beverly J. Wilson

The role of attentional processes in children's prosocial behavior with peers: Attention shifting and emotion

This study evaluated the role of attentional shifting in childrens prosocial behavior with peers. Participants were 27 aggressive/rejected and 27 nonaggressive/popular kindergarten and first grade boys and girls. Childrens ability to shift attention from one affective state to another was assessed during: (a) a computerized task that required shifting attention between different affective events (i.e., the Childrens Attentional Shifting Task, CAST) and (b) an analogue entry task with unacquainted peers. Childrens latency for sharing with peers was assessed after they experienced failure during the entry task. Aggressive/rejected children had significant difficulty shifting attention from negative to positive affect during the CAST and were slower to share after experiencing entry failure. In general, aggressive/rejected children were less able to regulate their behavior effectively after experiencing social failure. Girls, regardless of status, had less difficulty than boys shifting attention from one affective state to another during the CAST. In addition, childrens social status/aggressiveness, their ability to regulate emotional behavior after social failure and to shift attention effectively on the CAST predicted approximately 31% of the variance in their latency to share. These findings suggest that the ability to shift attention between different affective states plays a significant role in childrens prosocial behavior with peers.

The Role of Emotion Regulation in the Social Problems of Boys With Developmental Delays

Parents and teachers reported that 6- to 8-year-old boys with developmental delays were less able to regulate their emotions than nondelayed boys matched on chronological age. Compared to nondelayed boys, boys with developmental delays had more social problems, which persisted and increased over a 3-year period. Childrens ability to regulate their emotions explained significant variance in their social problems after controlling for their developmental status. In addition, emotion regulation partially mediated the relationship between childrens developmental status and their social problems. These results suggest that emotion regulation plays a significant role in the social problems of boys with developmental delays. Furthermore, increasing the emotional competence of these children may facilitate their peer relationships and, ultimately, their school adjustment. This research was supported in part by grants from the Washington Association for Retarded Citizens and the University of Washington. Sections of this study served as the doctoral dissertation project for Beverly J. Wilson, submitted to the Department of Psychology, University of Washington. John Gottman, Michael Guralnick, and the Institute on Preschool Integration provided space and equipment for this project, and we sincerely thank them. We want to thank Robert Connor and Elizabeth Hanna for assisting with the cognitive assessments of the children in our sample and Gabriella Snyder and a number of other undergraduate students who assisted with data collection. We also extend our appreciation to Frank Kline and Jim Leffert for their critical reading and helpful suggestions regarding an earlier version of this document. We owe a great debt to the children, parents, and teachers who participated in this project. Without their patience and support, these data would not have been collected.

The relation of parent–child interaction qualities to social skills in children with and without autism spectrum disorders:

This study examined associations between parent–child interactions and the development of social skills in 42 children (21 typically developing and 21 with autism spectrum disorders) between the ages of 3 years, 0 months and 6 years, 11 months. We expected that positive parent–child interaction qualities would be related to children’s social skills and would mediate the negative relation between children’s developmental status (typical development vs autism spectrum disorders) and social skills. Videotapes of parents and children during a 5-min wordless book task were coded for parent positive affect and emotional support as well as parent–child cohesiveness. Emotional support and cohesiveness were significantly related to children’s social skills, such that higher emotional support and cohesiveness were associated with higher social skills, R2 = .29, p = .02, and R2 = .38, p = .002, respectively. Additionally, cohesiveness mediated the relation between children’s developmental status and social skills. These findings suggest that parent emotional support and cohesiveness between parents and children positively influence children’s social skills. Parent positive affect was unrelated to social skills. Implications of these findings for social skills interventions are discussed, particularly for young children with autism spectrum disorders.

Parental emotion coaching: associations with self-regulation in aggressive/rejected and low aggressive/popular children

This study investigated associations between maternal and paternal emotion coaching and the self-regulation skills of kindergarten and first-grade children. Participants were 54 children categorized as either aggressive/rejected or low aggressive/popular by peer reports. Findings indicated a statistical trend for fathers of low aggressive/popular children to engage in more emotion coaching than fathers of aggressive/rejected children. Paternal emotion coaching accounted for significant variance in childrens regulation of attention. Maternal emotion coaching moderated the relation between childrens status and regulation of emotion. Findings suggest that interventions focused on parental emotion coaching may prove beneficial for increasing the self-regulation and attention skills of children with social and conduct problems.

A longitudinal analysis of parent and teacher ratings of problem behavior in boys with and without developmental delays.

This study investigated parent and teacher ratings of behavior problems in children with and without intellectual disabilities at three time points over the course of 9 years. The group of children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) had higher behavior problem ratings than the group of children with no IDs (NIDs) across the three time points. Parents and teachers generally agreed on behavior, with the exception of attention problems and externalizing problems. The ratings of problem behavior remained stable over the three time points. Our findings imply that children with ID may be more likely to be perceived as having greater externalizing behaviors by teachers than by parents and that parents may perceive children as having greater attention problems than teachers. For the majority of the subscales, the lack of differences between parent and teacher ratings over time implies relative stability of ratings over a 9-year period from young childhood through adolescence for individuals with and without ID.

ADHD Symptoms Moderate the Relation between ASD Status and Internalizing Symptoms in 3-6-Year-Old Children.

The current study sought to understand the relation between diagnostic status (autism spectrum disorders [ASD] versus typically developing) and internalizing problems in children with and without co-occurring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Participants were 88 children, ages 3:0–6:11, their parents and teachers. Findings indicated that ADHD symptoms moderated the relation between diagnostic status and depressive and somatic symptoms. High ADHD symptoms in children with ASD were associated with increased depressive and somatic symptoms compared to children with typical development. Findings suggest poor prognostic outcomes for children with ASD and co-occurring ADHD symptoms and highlight the need for early identification and targeted intervention.

The Attention Skills and Academic Performance of Aggressive/Rejected and Low Aggressive/Popular Children

Research Findings: Aggressive/rejected children are at risk for continuing conduct and school problems. Some limited research indicates that these children have attention problems. Previous research has linked attention problems with academic performance. The current study investigated group differences in attention skills and the role of these skills in childrens academic performance. Kindergarten and 1st-grade children (n = 54, 52% female) were identified as either aggressive/rejected or low aggressive/popular by peer sociometric interviews. Attention was assessed with a novel computer task, the Childrens Space Game, as well as parent and teacher report. Teachers reported on childrens academic performance. Aggressive/rejected children had lower adult-reported attention skills and academic performance than low aggressive/popular children. Aggressive/rejected children also had lower skills on the computer task. Support was found for an additive model of the influence of childrens status and attention skills on their academic performance even after controlling for maternal education and family income but no evidence was found that attention moderated the relation between childrens status and their academic performance. Practice or Policy: Aggressive/rejected children appear at significant risk for attention problems and these problems predict their academic performance. Future research should investigate whether these children would benefit from additional support of their attention skills.

The attention skills of boys with and without developmental delays: associations with academic performance

Our study investigated the role of attention skills in the academic performance of 20 boys with developmental delays (DDs) and 20 boys without delays. Childrens attention abilities were estimated from their performance on a novel assessment of sustained attention, as well as teacher reports of attention in the classroom. Children with DDs had slower reaction times, lower hit rates, higher errors of omission, and lower perceptual sensitivity on the attention task. However, the two groups did not differ on proportion of errors of commission. Participants’ teachers also rated boys with DDs as having greater attention problems and lower academic performance than boys without delays. Attention skills moderated the relation between developmental status and academic performance. The academic performance of children without delays was higher when they had higher attention skills. The academic performance of children with delays did not appear to differ based on their attention skills.

Children's responses to entry failure: attention deployment patterns and self-regulation skills

ABSTRACT In this study the authors investigated associations among childrens observed responses to failure in an analogue entry situation, their attention deployment patterns, and skills and processes associated with self-regulation. Participants were 54 kindergarten and first-grade students who were either aggressive-rejected or low aggressive-popular based on peer nominations. Inhibitory control predicted the tendency to respond to entry failure by stopping and watching the groups activity. Baseline vagal tone and other-directed attention predicted childrens tendency to change entry strategies after failure. Parent-rated attention skills moderated the relation between childrens attention deployment patterns during the entry task and their responses to entry failure. Children who engaged in more other-directed attention were less likely to turn to solitary play after entry failure but only if they had high or moderate levels of attentional control. Other-directed attention was related to repeating previous entry bids without modification after entry failure but only when children had high levels of attention problems.