Lia Beatriz de Lucca Freitas

Preschool-aged children's understanding of gratitude: Relations with emotion and mental state knowledge

Developmental precursors to childrens early understanding of gratitude were examined. A diverse group of 263 children was tested for emotion and mental state knowledge at ages 3 and 4, and their understanding of gratitude was measured at age 5. Children varied widely in their understanding of gratitude, but most understood some aspects of gratitude-eliciting situations. A model-building path analysis approach was used to examine longitudinal relations among early emotion and mental state knowledge and later understanding of gratitude. Children with a better early understanding of emotions and mental states understand more about gratitude. Mental state knowledge at age 4 mediated the relation between emotion knowledge at age 3 and gratitude understanding at age 5. The current study contributes to the scant literature on the early emergence of childrens understanding of gratitude.

Sentimento de gratidão em crianças de 5 a 12 anos

Results are presented from a study about the development of the feeling of gratitude in childhood. The participants were 12 children, distributed equally across three age groups (5-6, 7-8, and 11-12 years) and by sex. The study used three stories about hypothetical situations, each focusing on a different type of benevolent action. Following each story, a clinical interview was conducted with each child. The results suggest a difference among the age groups in terms of the types of positive feeling attributed to the beneficiary of the action. Although few participants referred explicitly to this, considering the beneficiarys changed feeling state appears to contribute to the understanding of gratitude. The results reveal significant differences among the three age groups in the types of relation established between the satisfaction felt by the beneficiary and the benefactor. These results, discussed in light of the literature, suggest new research questions.Results are presented from a study about the development of the feeling of gratitude in childhood. The participants were 12 children, distributed equally across three age groups (5-6, 7-8, and 11-12 years) and by sex. The study used three stories about hypothetical situations, each focusing on a different type of benevolent action. Following each story, a clinical interview was conducted with each child. The results suggest a difference among the age groups in terms of the types of positive feeling attributed to the beneficiary of the action. Although few participants referred explicitly to this, considering the beneficiary’s changed feeling state appears to contribute to the understanding of gratitude. The results reveal significant differences among the three age groups in the types of relation established between the satisfaction felt by the beneficiary and the benefactor. These results, discussed in light of the literature, suggest new research questions.

Child-Rearing Values in Southern Brazil: Mutual Influences of Social Class and Parents’ Perceptions of Their Children’s Development

The authors examine social-class differences in parents’ child-rearing values for autonomy, self-direction, and conformity and the extent to which their values are influenced by their perceptions of their developing children’s characteristics. Parents from 25 middle-class or working-class families in a Brazilian city participated in interviews, observations, and completed Kohn’s Q-Sort measure when their children were 3, 36, and 72 months of age. Parents’ child-rearing values differed significantly by social class: middle-class parents were more likely to value autonomy and self-direction in their children, whereas working-class parents were more likely to value conformity. In addition, the strength and direction of parental values changed significantly as their children developed. Parents were less likely to value autonomy and self-direction when their children were 36 months than when they were either 3 or 72 months. Middle-class parents were more likely to value conformity when their children were 36 than when they were younger or older.

A Compreensão da Gratidão e Teoria da Mente em Crianças de 5 Anos

We examined relations between the understanding of gratitude (GRA) and the development of a theory of mind (TOM). The study was done with 228 5-year-old North American children (53% female). We tested the following hypotheses: (a) there are no sex differences in GRA or TOM, (b) children who perform better on TOM tasks have better GRA, (c) TOM is a necessary condition for GRA. We used three tasks to evaluate TOM: visual perspective taking, first-order false belief, and second-order false belief. The children were read two vignettes about gratitude. GRA was evaluated based on childrens responses to questions asked after each vignette was read. The first two hypotheses were supported. The hypothesis that TOM would be a necessary condition for GRA did not receive sufficient empirical support.

Deve-se retribuir? Gratidão e dívida simbólica na infância

Should one return a favor? Gratitude and symbolic debt in childhood. The goal of this study was to investigate whether children feel an obligation to return a favor by focusing on their justifications. Individual interviews were conducted with 30 children from three age-groups (5-6, 7-8, and 11-12 years). We used a story in which an adult (benefactor) helps a child (beneficiary) and investigated whether the beneficiary should return the favor. Results demonstrated an evolution in the form in which children conceive of the obligation to return a favor: (a) all the 5- to 6-year-olds focused on the consequences to the benefactor; (b) this justification diminshed over time; (c) returning a favor to avoid a negative judgment was the most common explanation given by children aged 7 and older; (d) returning a favor as a moral value appeared solely among 11- to 12-year-olds. This study contributes to the understanding of differences between gratitude and obligation and has implication for educational interventions.

Methods for Studying the Virtue of Gratitude Cross-Culturally:

Considering gratitude as a virtue, rather than a positive emotion, requires measures different from those more commonly used and which conflate gratitude with appreciation. We here describe those measures, explaining why they are appropriate to the study of gratitude as a virtue. We then discuss how each measure was coded for this special issue, the manner of recruitment of our participants across the seven research sites (Brazil, Guatemala, the United States, Russia, Turkey, China, and South Korea), the overall hypotheses, and the analytic strategies used.

The Virtue of Gratitude: A Developmental and Cultural Approach

There has been a burgeoning interest in gratitude in adults, adolescents, and children, with most scholars examining the relations between variations in level of gratitude, treated largely as an emotional state, and measures of well-being. In this paper we explain why we think that gratitude should be defined as a virtue, as discussed by neo-Aristotelian virtue ethicists, rather than simply as an emotional state. Defining gratitude as a virtue has clear developmental implications (no child or adolescent could be considered virtuous in the Aristotelian sense), allowing us to consider its likely precursors. It also has cultural implications, as one might expect cultural variations in how gratitude is cultivated in the young. We then discuss methods we think are helpful in allowing an understanding of the development of gratitude, and provide some supportive evidence for its development in different cultural contexts.

Um dia na vida de irmãos que cuidam de irmãos

The objective of this paper is to describe the daily routines of low-income adolescents, focusing particularly on those who look after their siblings. The description is based on a study conducted with 20 adolescents of 12 to 16 years of age. The instruments were: a record of socio-demographic data, a family genogram, and a semi-structured interview about a typical day. The activities described were organized into: personal care, sibling care, domestic tasks, school tasks, and leisure. The participants were divided into three groups based on type of care: those responsible for sibling care, those who helped their mothers with sibling care, and those without such responsibilities. The results showed that adolescents of both sexes took care of siblings, but females were more likely to take on domestic chores. School and leisure activities of adolescents were prejudiced when they were responsible for care.

Leitura/escrita de crianças: comparações entre grupos de diferentes escolas públicas

A fim de tracar perfis e comparar o desempenho de leitura/escrita de 110 criancas de 2a serie de cinco escolas publicas, foram avaliadas leitura e escrita de palavras/pseudopalavras isoladas e compreensao de leitura textual. Na analise de cluster, identificaram-se tres subgrupos: desempenho elevado em leitura/escrita (86,36%); desempenho baixo em leitura/escrita (10%) e desempenho muito baixo em leitura/escrita (3,64%). Um total de 15 criancas (13,64% da amostra) apresentou alguma dificuldade de leitura e escrita de palavras. As diferencas de desempenho nao foram estatisticamente significativas para a leitura de palavras, mas na escrita o desempenho das criancas da escola 3 foi significativamente superior ao das criancas das escolas 1, 2 e 5. Mesmo sendo todas escolas publicas, que atendiam a uma populacao predominantemente de classe media-baixa, houve variabilidade de desempenhos em leitura e escrita, mais expressiva na escrita e na compreensao de leitura textual.A fim de tracar perfis e comparar o desempenho de leitura/escrita de 110 criancas de 2a serie de cinco escolas publicas, foram avaliadas leitura e escrita de palavras/pseudopalavras isoladas e compreensao de leitura textual. Na analise de cluster, identificaram-se tres subgrupos: desempenho elevado em leitura/escrita (86,36%); desempenho baixo em leitura/escrita (10%) e desempenho muito baixo em leitura/escrita (3,64%). Um total de 15 criancas (13,64% da amostra) apresentou alguma dificuldade de leitura e escrita de palavras. As diferencas de desempenho nao foram estatisticamente significativas para a leitura de palavras, mas na escrita o desempenho das criancas da escola 3 foi significativamente superior ao das criancas das escolas 1, 2 e 5. Mesmo sendo todas escolas publicas, que atendiam a uma populacao predominantemente de classe media-baixa, houve variabilidade de desempenhos em leitura e escrita, mais expressiva na escrita e na compreensao de leitura textual.

Wishes and Gratitude of Students from Private and Public Schools

We examined social class (measured by attendance in public or private schools), gender, and age-related variations in the expression of wishes and gratitude of 430 7- to 14-year-olds (181 male, 62.1% from public schools). Chi-square analysis indicated that students from private schools expressed significantly more social-oriented wishes and connective gratitude, whereas those from public schools expressed significantly more self-oriented wishes. Girls in the public schools expressed significantly more self-oriented wishes and verbal gratitude than did boys. Regression analysis (curve estimation) indicated that verbal gratitude, self- and social oriented wishes increased and concrete gratitude decreased significantly with age, but connective gratitude tended to increase. These findings support the idea that gratitude and wish types involve the development of cognitive aspects, such as taking others into account and thinking about the future, but it is also influenced by the social contexts in which children live, such as their social class.