David S. Crystal

Multimethod assessment of psychopathology among DSM-IV subtypes of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: self-, parent, and teacher reports.

Using data based on self-, parent, and teacher reports, we assessed various aspects of psychopathology in a large sample of control children and those with ADHD. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to extract response bias from latent constructs of aggression, anxiety, attention problems, depression, conduct disorder, and hyperactivity. These latent constructs were then entered into logistic regression equations to predict membership in control versus ADHD groups, and to discriminate between ADHD subtypes. Results of the regression equations showed that higher levels of attention problems and aggression were the best predictors of membership in the ADHD group relative to controls. Logistic regression also indicated that a higher degree of aggression was the only significant predictor of membership in the ADHD-Combined group compared to the ADHD-Inattentive group. However, when comorbid diagnoses of Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder were controlled for in the logistic regression, greater hyperactivity rather than aggression was the sole variable with which to distinguish the ADHD-Combined from the ADHD-Inattentive subtype. Results are discussed in the context of the DSM-IV ADHD nosology and the role of instrument and source bias in the diagnosis of ADHD.

Evaluations of interracial peer encounters by majority and minority US children and adolescents

US majority (European-American) and minority (African-American, Latin-American, Asian-American) children were interviewed regarding race-based and non-race based reasons for exclusion in interracial peer contexts (N = 685), evenly divided by gender at 9, 12, and 15 years of age (4th, 7th, and 10th grades) attending 13 US public schools. All children judged race-based exclusion as wrong using moral reasons. In contrast, non-race based reasons such as lack of shared interests, parental discomfort, and peer pressure were viewed as more wrong by minority children than by majority children. This pattern decreased with age for all participants. Further minority children were more likely to expect that racial exclusion occurs, indicating that ethnic background, social experience, and age are significantly related to interpretations of interracial peer motives for exclusion.

European American children’s and adolescents’ evaluations of interracial exclusion

No research, to date, has investigated the role of ethnic school composition (and intergroup contact) on European American youth’s use of stereotypes to explain interracial discomfort in the context of peer exclusion. In this study, European American fourth-, seventh- and 10th-grade students (N = 414), attending low and high ethnically-diverse public schools (with low and high self-reports of cross-race/ethnic friendships respectively) evaluated three contexts of interracial exclusion (at lunch time, at a school dance, and at a sleepover). In addition to age and context effects, participants enrolled in high-diversity schools were less likely to use stereotypes to explain racial discomfort, more likely to view racial exclusion as wrong, and more likely to estimate that racial exclusion occurs, than were participants enrolled in low-diversity schools. These findings have implications for the role of social experience on racial attitudes and judgments about exclusion.

Concepts of Human Differences: A Comparison of American, Japanese, and Chinese Children and Adolescents.

Concepts of human differences were studied among 5th and 11th graders in the United States (n = 175), Japan (n = 256), and the Peoples Republic of China (n = 160). Relative to their peers in the other 2 cultures, more American students noted differences in appearance and attractiveness and material resources; more Japanese students noted various physical features, and more Chinese students noted specific behaviors. On the whole, Japanese responses resembled those of the American students more closely than those of the Chinese students. With increasing age, American students reported a larger number, whereas Asian students tended to report a smaller number of distinct categories of human differences. Results are discussed in terms of cultural construals of self and theories of cognitive development.

Examining relations between shame and personality among university students in the United States and Japan: A developmental perspective

American and Japanese university students’ shame (haji)-related reactions across a number of diverse situations, and the personality correlates of these reactions, were studied. With age, shame ratings decreased significantly in situations describing defects in the “private selffiamong American students, and haji ratings decreased significantly in situations in which the “public selffiwas ridiculed or discomforted among Japanese students. Also with age, individual differences in personality, particularly internal self-introspection, played an increasingly important role in predicting shame reactions among American students, whereas among Japanese students, individual personality differences became increasingly unimportant in determining haji-related phenomena. Finally, American students showed an increasing, and Japanese students a decreasing, integration of internal- and external-oriented elements of personality with development. Results are discussed in terms of theories of emotional development and cultural differences in self-concept.

Children’s Reactions to Physical Disability: A Cross-national and Developmental Study:

This study examined reactions to physical disability among 5th and 11th graders in the United States and Japan. Students were presented with a drawing of four children standing next to a child in a wheelchair, and told that this group was going swimming. Students were asked to describe and explain their feelings, first, as the disabled person, and then as a nondisabled group member. Although cultural differences in specific response categories were found in both hypothetical roles, on the whole, Japanese and American children appeared to be more similar than different in their reactions to physical disability. Patterns of developmental differences, however, varied by culture. Japanese adolescents were more likely than their younger peers to worry about imposing on others in the disabled role, whereas Japanese 5th graders were more likely than 11th graders to make empathic responses in the interactant role. In addition, there was a tendency for more American 11th than 5th graders to express embarrassment in the disabled role. Findings are discussed in terms of Goffman’s (1963) model of “stigma”, the individualism-collectivism paradigm, and theories of cognitive development.

Concepts of Adaptive and Maladaptive Child Behavior A Comparison of U.S. and Japanese Mothers of Preschool-Age Children

Maternal concepts of desirable and undesirable child characteristics were compared across two contrastive cultures: Japan and the United States. Sixty mothers of preschool-age children, half from Japan and half from the United States, were asked to describe the behavioral characteristics they found most desirable and undesirable in young children and to choose one characteristic in each list that they considered most highly positive or negative. In describing positive characteristics, mothers in both cultures tended to emphasize social cooperativeness and interpersonal sensitivity. However, concerns about positive emotional adjustment were more salient among U.S. than Japanese mothers. Comparisons of negative behaviors revealed striking cultural contrasts. U.S. mothers were far more likely than Japanese mothers to designate aggressive and disruptive behaviors as negative, whereas Japanese mothers tended to highlight social insensitivity and uncooperativeness. Moreover, qualities of emotional maladjustment were described by U.S. mothers, but did not appear in the Japanese protocols.

Korean, Japanese, and US students’ judgments about peer exclusion: Evidence for diversity

Children and adolescents (4th-, 7th-, and 10th-graders) from Korea (N 1/4 553) were surveyed regarding their evaluations of peer group exclusion of atypical peers: aggressive behaviour, unconventional appearance, acting like a clown, cross-gender behaviour, slow runner, and sad personality. The data were compared to a previously collected data set from Japan (N = 513), and the US (N 1/4 542) using the identical assessment. It was hypothesised that differences between Korean and Japanese cultures would be found, which would support our proposal that Asian cultures should not be automatically grouped as one monolithic “collectivistic” culture. Further, it was expected that students’ judgments of exclusion, conformity, and self-perceived differences would vary by the context of exclusion in all three cultures as well as by age and gender of the participants. The results for the exclusion judgments confirmed our hypotheses regarding within-Asian cultural differences, and the findings for judgments about conformity and self-perceived differences provide a mixed picture of confirmation for our expectations. In general, the results support our theory of developmental social cognition in which multiple sources of influence have a significant effect on social decision-making involving the exclusion of others.

Reactions to Morphological Deviance: A Comparison of Japanese and American Children and Adolescents

Fifth and eleventh graders in the United States (n = 175) and Japan (n = 257) were asked to describe and explain their reactions to obesity and facial disfigurement, both as a deviant member (one having these forms of morphological deviance) and as an interactant member (a normal child interacting with the deviant peer) of a group of 5 children. In the obesity scenario, the group was going shopping for clothes. In the facial disfigurement scenario, the group was having their photographs taken for the school yearbook. In both cultures for both scenarios, negative emotions predominated when students took the deviant role. As interactants, more Japanese than American respondents expressed positive and inclusive attitudes toward the deviant child. Developmental differences varied by culture. Most notable was the tendency of Japanese eleventh graders to become similar to their American counterparts in their decreasing willingness to participate with, include, and be influenced by their peers. Results are discussed in terms of Goffman’s (1963) model of ‘stigma’ and the individualism-collectivism paradigm.

Revolutions, Samurai, and Reductons: The Parodoxes of Change and Continuity in Iran and Japan

This paper assesses policies for managing cultural diversity in Iran and Japan, with particular focus on the treatment of women as a cultural minority. Following social reducton theory, the distinction between rates of cultural change at macro- and microlevels is highlighted. It is argued that macro political and economic changes have taken place fairly rapidly, but micro changes in everyday social practices have changed much more slowly. The latter, it is argued, are structured by social reducton systems, which can act to slow down societal change. This insight is used to cast light on the situation of women and other minorities in North America. Language: en