Ronald J. Iannotti

Antecedents of problem behaviors in children of depressed mothers

Aggression observed in 2-year-old children of well and depressed mothers was examined in relation to problem behaviors at ages 5–6. Both normative (e.g., object struggles, rough play) and maladaptive (e.g., dysregulated, out-of-control behavior) forms of toddler aggression were identified. Dysregulated aggression predicted (a) externalizing problems reported by mothers when children were 5 years old, and (b) childrens reports of difficulties during a structured psychiatric interview at age 6. Problems were more frequent and continuity patterns more evident in children of depressed, than well, mothers. Early maladaptive aggression was a better predictor of later externalizing, than internalizing problems. Childrearing practices of mothers of toddlers also appeared to contribute to later outcomes: negative influences were evident but protective patterns were present as well. Depressed mothers who used proactive childrearing approaches (e.g., anticipating the childs point of view; exerting modulated, respectful control; providing structure and organization during play environment) had children who showed fewer externalizing problems 3 years later.

Altruism and aggression : biological and social origins

List of contributors, Editorial preface Introduction Part I. Biological, sociobiological, and ethological approaches to the stud of altruism and aggression: 1. The psychobiology of prosocial behaviors: separation distress, play, and altruism Jaak Panksepp 2. An evolutionary and developmental perspective on aggressive patterns Robert B. Cairns 3. Development in reciprocity through friendship James Youniss 4. The prosocial and antisocial functions of preschool aggression: an ethological study of triadic conflict among young children F. F. Strayer and J. M. Noel Part II. Development, socialization, and mediators of altruism and aggression in children: 5. A conception of the determinants and development of altruism and aggression: motives, the self, and the environment Ervin Staub 6. Early organization of altruism and aggression: developmental patterns and individual differences E. Mark Cummings, Barbara Hollenbeck, Ronald Iannotti, Marian Radke-Yarrow, and Carolyn Zahn-Waxler 7. Aggression and altruism: a personality perspective Seymour Feshbach and Norma Deitch Feshbach 8. The socialization of prosocial behavior: theory and reality Joan E. Grusec and Theodore Dix 9. Social-interactional patterns in families of abused and nonabused children John B. Reid 10. Naturalistic observation of cooperation, helping, and sharing and their associations with empathy and affect Robert F. Marcus 11. Social information-processing variables in the development of aggression and altruism in children Kenneth A. Dodge Conclusions Indexes.

A Children??s Health Belief Model

The classic Health Belief Model (HBM) was adapted to explain children’s expected medicine use for five common health problems. To evaluate this Children’s Health Belief Model (CHBM), 270 urban preadolescents, stratified by socioeconomic status, grade level, and sex, and their primary caretakers (93% mothers) were individually interviewed. Analyses were performed in two steps. First, regression analysis evaluated the influence of the child’s primary caretaker on the child’s expected medicine use; Individual differences in children’s motivations, perceived benefits and threats, and expectations to take medicines were partially explained by caretakers’ perceptions of these children. Second, path analysis evaluated hypothesized causal relationships in the CHBM, accounting for 63% of the adjusted variance in children’s expected medicine use. Two readiness factors, perceived severity of illness and perceived benefit of taking medicines, had the highest path coefficients, with illness concern and perceived vulnerability to illness accounting for a smaller, but significant, portion of the variance. Cognitive/Affective variables, notably children’s health locus of control, contributed to indirect paths between demographic and readiness factors. The CHBM appears to be a promising model for studying the development of children’s health beliefs and expectations.

Origins and stability of children's health beliefs relative to medicine use

Two hundred and seventy urban school children and their primary caretakers (93% mothers) were interviewed in Washington, D.C., about their health beliefs and behaviors relative to medicine use and expected medicine use for common health problems to test hypotheses about the development of childrens health beliefs and behaviors. Results indicated that mothers have a stronger influence on health related orientations of children than previously indicated and that these orientations are relatively stable by school age. Strong similarities were observed between primary caretakers and their children in a health belief based model to predict expected medicine use, and significant correlations between primary caretakers and children were observed for almost three-fourths of the variables in the model; correlations were not higher between mothers and older children than between mothers and younger children, nor were means of variables closer to those of mothers for older than for younger children. Most model variables were stable for children over a 3 year period, and measurement in the earlier period predicted medicine use and expected medicine use 3 years later. Only weak developmental effects were suggested, primarily by perceived vulnerability to illness, a powerful predictor in adult representations of the Health Belief Model, but relatively weak in childrens representations.

Associations of Television Viewing With Eating Behaviors in the 2009 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study

OBJECTIVE To examine associations of television viewing with eating behaviors in a representative sample of US adolescents. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. SETTING Public and private schools in the United States during the 2009-2010 school year. PARTICIPANTS A total of 12,642 students in grades 5 to 10 (mean [SD] age, 13.4 [0.09] years; 86.5% participation). MAIN EXPOSURES Television viewing (hours per day) and snacking while watching television (days per week). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Eating (≥1 instance per day) fruit, vegetables, sweets, and sugary soft drinks; eating at a fast food restaurant (≥1 d/wk); and skipping breakfast (≥1 d/wk). RESULTS Television viewing was inversely related to intake of fruit (adjusted odds ratio, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.88-0.96) and vegetables (0.95; 0.91-1.00) and positively related to intake of candy (1.18; 1.14-1.23) and fast food (1.14; 1.09-1.19) and skipping breakfast (1.06; 1.02-1.10) after adjustment for socioeconomic factors, computer use, and physical activity. Television snacking was related to increased intake of fruit (adjusted odds ratio, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.02-1.10), candy (1.20; 1.16-1.24), soda (1.15; 1.11-1.18), and fast food (1.09; 1.06-1.13), independent of television viewing. The relationships of television viewing with fruit and vegetable intake and with skipping breakfast were essentially unchanged after adjustment for television snacking; the relationships with intake of candy, soda, and fast food were moderately attenuated. Age and race/ethnicity modified relationships of television viewing with soda and fast food intake and with skipping breakfast. CONCLUSION Television viewing was associated with a cluster of unhealthy eating behaviors in US adolescents after adjustment for socioeconomic and behavioral covariates.

Message framing and mammography screening: a theory-driven intervention.

Abstract Although the rising incidence of breast cancer has prompted a surge of intervention strategies aimed at increasing womens use of mammography screening, the majority of patient-directed interventions have not been driven by relevant theoretical work on persuasive health communication. The authors evaluated an intervention derived from prospect theory that was designed to increase womens adherence to recommendations for annual mammography screening. They sent 1 of 3 reminder letters (positive frame, negative frame, or standard hospital prompt) to 929 randomly selected women who were due for mammography screening and had been identified as having either a positive or negative family history of breast cancer. The primary hypothesis that women with a positive history would be more responsive to negatively framed messages, whereas women with a negative history would be more responsive to positively framed letters, was not confirmed. The lack of support for predictions derived from prospect theory raises important questions about the generalizability of laboratory research to natural settings.

PARENTAL AND PEER INFLUENCES ON FOOD CONSUMPTION OF PRESCHOOL AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHILDREN

Sources of social influence on urban African-American preschool childrens food consumption were coded from videotapes of noontime and evening meals of 42 children. The frequency of eating prompts was associated with the age of the child, the source (mothers, fathers, age mates, other adults, and day-care staff), and socioeconomic status. The success of the prompt in changing the childs eating behavior was dependent on the type of prompt.

Health beliefs, salience of breast cancer family history, and involvement with breast cancer issues: adherence to annual mammography screening recommendations

Involvement in breast cancer (BC) issues, and the degree to which family history of BC influences perceived risk (salience of family history), have been proposed as additions to the Health Belief Model as applied to mammography adherence. Barriers and benefits of mammography, perceived susceptibility, severity, cues to action, salience of family history, and issue involvement with respect to BC were examined in adherent (n=97) and non-adherent (n=213) women. Adherent women with positive family histories reported greater benefits of mammography, greater response to cues to action, and higher salience of family history than women with negative family histories. Non-adherent women with positive family histories reported fewer benefits of mammography and greater issue involvement, and perceived BC as less severe than those with negative family histories. Benefits (OR=1.51), susceptibility (OR=1.41), issue involvement (OR=1.59), severity (OR=0.66), and cues to action (OR=0.75) were significantly associated with adherence. Results have implications for evidence-based interventions.

Social competence in young children's peer relations: Patterns of development and change.

Patterns of developmental change and individual differences in social competence were examined in children of depressed and psychiatrically well mothers, during the toddler-to-late-preschool period. Forty-one children were observed in peer interaction at ages two and five under semi-naturalistic laboratory conditions intended to elicit a range of emotions and social skills. Social competence increased with age, but patterns of developmental change were moderated by maternal diagnosis. Low levels of individual stability were identified in childrens social competence.

Peers and Prosocial Development

Piaget (1965) described children’s social interactions, particularly during the middle years of childhood, as essential to the development of mature, relativistic moral thought. During middle childhood, there was hypothesized to be a decline in egocentrism, an increase in role-taking skills, and heightened sensitivity to the experiences of others. A primary catalyst for these changes was thought to be the increased reciprocity and egalitarianism that comes to characterize peers’ social interactions. Piaget’s observations have been interpreted by some investigators as indicating that peer relations in the elementary school years also may be particularly important for the development of altruism. From a psychoanalytical perspective, Sullivan (1953), too, emphasized the value of friendships between preadolescents for the organization and consolidation of prosocial patterns of interaction.