Eric W. Lindsey

Marital Conflict and the Quality of Young Children's Peer Play Behavior: The Mediating and Moderating Role of Parent―Child Emotional Reciprocity and Attachment Security

Parent-child attachment security and dyadic measures of parent-child positive and negative emotional reciprocity were examined as possible mediators and moderators of the connection between marital conflict and childrens peer play behavior. Eighty parents were observed in a laboratory play session with their 15- to 18-month-old child. Subsequently, at 36 months children were observed interacting with peers at their child care setting. Connections between marital conflict and childrens positive peer interaction were mediated by mother-child attachment security, mother-child positive emotional reciprocity, and father-child negative emotional reciprocity. Connections between marital conflict and childrens negative peer interaction were mediated by mother-child positive emotional reciprocity and father-child attachment security. Parent-child attachment security and negative emotional reciprocity emerged as important moderators of the connection between marital conflict and childrens peer play behavior.

Pretend and Physical Play: Links to Preschoolers' Affective Social Competence

This study investigated different forms of pretend and physical play as predictors of preschool children’s affective social competence (ASC). Data were collected from 122 preschool children (57 boys, 65 girls; 86 European American, 9 African American, 17 Hispanic, and 10 other ethnicity) over a 2-year period. Children participated in emotion knowledge interviews, mothers rated children’s emotion regulation skill, and observations were conducted of children’s emotional expressiveness with peers in both Years 1 and 2. Naturalistic observations of children’s peer play behavior were conducted to assess the proportion of time children spend in pretend and physical play in Year 1. Analyses revealed that sociodramatic play predicted children’s emotional expressiveness, emotion knowledge, and emotion regulation 1 year later, after controlling for Year 1 ASC skills. Rough-and-tumble play predicted children’s emotional expressiveness and emotion regulation 1 year later, whereas exercise play predicted only emotion regulation. Some associations between sociodramatic play and rough-and-tumble play and children’s ASC were moderated by gender.

Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Among Young Adults: Connections to Gender Role Identity, Gender-Typed Activities, and Religiosity

Individual differences in attitudes toward homosexuality have been linked to numerous personality and demographic variables. This study investigated the influence that gender role identity, involvement in gender-typed activities, and religiosity plays in this relationship. The sample included 194 undergraduate students from a Northeastern university. Analyses revealed that both males and females who held a more masculine gender role identity and individual commitment to religion scored higher on measures of homophobia and heteronormativity, whereas there was no association between spiritual meaning in life and attitudes toward homosexuality. Among males, but not females, more masculine gender identity and less spiritual meaning in life was associated with greater homophobia. The importance of the findings for research on the origins of attitudes toward individuals with a homosexual orientation are discussed, as well as the potential directions for future research on connections between gender role identity, religious affiliation, and attitudes toward gays and lesbians.

Mother–child and father–child emotional expressiveness in Mexican-American families and toddlers' peer interactions

The present investigation explored the association of mother–child and father–child emotional expressiveness during toddlerhood to childrens prosocial and aggressive behaviour with peers. Data were collected from 62 Mexican-American families with toddlers (29 females, 33 males) during a home visit. Childrens peer interactions were also observed approximately eight months later at their child-care setting. Observed mother–child and father–child interaction was coded for positive and negative emotional expressiveness, including shared positive and negative emotion. Observed child–peer interactions were coded for prosocial and aggressive behaviour. Data revealed that mother and fathers expression of positive and negative emotion were uniquely related to childrens prosocial and aggressive behaviour with peers. Childrens expression of negative emotion with mothers and fathers was related to higher levels of peer aggression. Mother–child shared positive emotion predicted less peer aggression, whereas mother–child shared negative emotion predicted less prosocial behaviour and more peer aggression. Father–child shared positive emotion predicted more prosocial behaviour and less aggression. The associations between dyadic measures of parent–child shared emotion and peer interaction variables were significant even after the variance accounted for by the individual parent and child emotional expressiveness variables were included in regression equations. This suggests that the shared emotion measure captures a quality of the parent–child relationship that has links to childrens social adjustment with peers extending beyond the individual behaviour of either parent or child. The role that mother–child and father–child emotional expressiveness may play in childrens development of peer interaction skills is discussed.

Cognitive Attributions and Emotional Expectancies Predict Emotions in Mother-Adolescent Interactions.

The purpose of this study was to examine adolescent’s hostile attributions of mother’s intent and emotional self-expectancies as contributors to expression of emotion between mothers and adolescents. Data were collected from 268 10- to 12-year-olds (133 girls, 135 boys) and their mothers. Each dyad was observed in a conversational activity that was coded for both partners’ expressions of four discrete emotions: happiness, anger, sadness, and fear. Adolescents responded to hypothetical stories to assess their emotional expectancies and attributions. Regression analysis revealed that adolescents’ hostile attributions and emotional expectancies made independent contributions to the expression of happiness and anger with their mother. Adolescents who interpreted their mother’s hypothetical behavior as hostile, and who expected to feel less happiness and more anger in response to their mother’s hypothetical behavior, expressed less happiness and more anger with their mother. The findings support the conceptual distinction between hostile attributions and emotional expectancies.

Cultural Values and Coparenting Quality in Families of Mexican Origin

This study examined associations between Mexican-origin parents’ cultural values in relation to supportive and undermining coparenting behavior. Data were collected from 80 sets of parents, 160 parents total, with a preschool-age child (M = 63.60 months old; 39 boys, 41 girls) who were of Mexican origin (22% of mothers and 28% of fathers born in Mexico). Mothers and fathers independently completed questionnaires assessing their cultural values of (a) familismo (i.e., loyalty to family), (b) machismo (i.e., adherence to masculine/feminine gender roles), (c) respeto (i.e., respect for self and others), and (d) simpatía (i.e., maintenance of interpersonal harmony). Mother–father–child triads were observed during a structured play session from which supportive and undermining coparenting behavior was coded. Mothers and fathers who held stronger familism beliefs were characterized by more supportive coparenting behavior. Mothers and fathers who held stronger simpatía beliefs were characterized by less undermining coparenting behavior. Fathers who held stronger respeto beliefs showed more supportive coparenting behavior, whereas mothers who held stronger machismo beliefs were characterized by more undermining coparenting behavior. Mother–father dyads with higher agreement on familism displayed more supportive coparenting behavior, and mothers and fathers who had higher agreement on simpatía beliefs engaged in less undermining coparenting. Results suggest that the cultural values held by both mothers and fathers of Mexican origin are significantly associated with the quality of their coparenting relationship.