13 research outputs found

    Food sharing with friends and acquaintances: A study in preschool boys and girls

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    INTRODUCTION: The current study examined whether preschoolers in a (semi-)natural situation shared more food with friends or acquaintances, and whether this was different between boys and girls, older and younger children, and for preferred and non- preferred food. In order to do so, we replicated and extended the classical work of Birch and Billman in a Dutch sample. METHODS: Participants included 91 children aged between 3 to 6 years (52.7% boys, 93.4% Western European) from a middle- to upper-middle-class neighborhood in the Netherlands. RESULTS: The results revealed that children shared more non-preferred than preferred food with others. Girls gave more non-preferred food to acquaintances than to friends, whereas boys gave more to friends than to acquaintances. No effect of relationship was found for preferred food. Older children shared more food than younger children. Compared to acquaintances, friends made more active attempts to get food. Moreover, children who were not shared with were just as likely to share food as children who were shared with. DISCUSSION: Overall, only a small degree of agreement with the original study was found: Some significant findings could not be replicated, and some unconfirmed hypotheses of the original study were supported. The results underscore both the need for replications and studying the effect of social-contextual factors in natural settings

    The role of sex and gender in anxiety disorders: Being scared “like a girl”?

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    Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental disorders, and women are at much higher risk to develop an(y) anxiety disorder. Women seem to experience more severe and long-lasting symptoms than men. Sex differences regarding etiology can be best understood from a vulnerability-stress perspective. A different exposure to psychosocial stressors and an increased biologic and/or psychologic vulnerability toward anxiety in women may contribute to the sex differences in anxiety disorders. Evidently, these findings have implications for both the diagnosis and treatment of patients with anxiety disorders. Therapists should be aware of gender bias during the diagnostic process and be sensitive for self-reporting bias (i.e., the reluctance to report “female-like” symptoms by men). Research on sex differences with respect to treatment is lacking and gender-related knowledge has rarely been integrated into clinical interventions. Interventions aimed at transdiagnostic factors that have been shown to relate to sex differences in anxiety seem rather promising and have the potential to enhance the care for both men and women with anxiety disorders

    No! Don't touch the toys : Preschoolers' discipline towards their younger siblings

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    Parental limit setting is a challenging and common situation in the daily lives of young children. During these situations, older siblings may use their more advanced cognitive skills and their greater physical strength to discipline their younger sibling and prevent or correct noncompliant behavior. This is the first study to examine preschoolers' discipline towards their toddler siblings during parental limit setting. In addition to observing preschoolers' sibling discipline, associations with their inhibitory control and externalizing behavior, their sibling's noncompliance and both children's gender were investigated. Sibling discipline was observed during parental limit setting in 285 families during one home visit with the mother and one home visit with the father. Preschoolers did discipline their younger siblings without being asked in the majority of the families, with girls displaying more disciplining behavior than boys. Toddlers' noncompliance was related to increased sibling discipline when their older siblings showed high levels of externalizing behavior themselves, although no such relation was found in case of older siblings with low levels of externalizing behavior. Sibling discipline was not related to preschoolers' inhibitory control or toddler's gender. Sibling discipline might thus be an expression of power assertion of the older sibling, instead of the moral urge to prevent transgressions. Highlights: Preschoolers' discipline towards their toddler siblings was examined during parental limit setting, as well as associations with characteristics of both children. Observed discipline towards a younger sibling was related to externalizing behavior and not to inhibitory control of the older sibling. Sibling discipline seems to be an expression of older siblings' power assertion, instead of a moral urge to prevent transgressions

    Sibling Gender Configuration and Family Processes

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    The current study focuses on the effects of sibling gender configuration on family processes during early childhood. In a sample of 369 two-parent families with two children (youngest 12 months, oldest about 2 years older), both siblings’ noncompliant and oppositional behaviors and fathers’ and mothers’ sensitivity and discipline strategies were observed. Both siblings’ aggressive behaviors and empathy of the oldest sibling were assessed with parent-reports. Children in families with two sons showed more problematic interaction patterns compared with children in families with an oldest girl. In families with two boys, older siblings were more aggressive and fathers were less sensitive toward their youngest child in comparison with families with two girls. Furthermore, in boy–boy families older siblings showed more oppositional behavior and younger siblings more noncompliance compared with girl–boy families. These findings highlight the importance of sibling gender configuration in the development of child behavior and parent–child interactions

    Gender Differences in Child Aggression: Relations With Gender-Differentiated Parenting and Parents' Gender-Role Stereotypes

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    This longitudinal study examines the association between child gender and child aggression via parents' physical control, moderated by parents' gender-role stereotypes in a sample of 299 two-parent families with a 3-year-old child in the Netherlands. Fathers with strong stereotypical gender-role attitudes and mothers were observed to use more physical control strategies with boys than with girls, whereas fathers with strong counterstereotypical attitudes toward gender roles used more physical control with girls than with boys. Moreover, when fathers had strong attitudes toward gender roles (stereotypical or counterstereotypical), their differential treatment of boys and girls completely accounted for the gender differences in children's aggressive behavior a year later. Mothers' gender-differentiated parenting practices were unrelated to gender differences in child aggression

    To share or not to share : Parental, sibling, and situational influences on sharing with a younger sibling

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    Sharing is an important indicator of internalised prosocial values. We examined predictors of sharing of 302 preschoolers with their younger siblings in a one-year longitudinal study. Sharing was observed during different home visits, once with father and once with mother. We examined the following predictors: both children's externalising behaviour, observed parental sensitivity, and situational factors. Preschoolers' sharing was stable and increased with age. Preschoolers shared more when sharing was preceded by a structured interaction with a parent compared to free play with an unfamiliar adult. At age 4 they shared more in fathers' presence than in mothers' presence. Neither parental sensitivity nor child behaviour were related to sharing. These findings demonstrate stability and the importance of situational factors in the development of prosocial behaviour

    Gender Differences in Child Aggression : Relations With Gender-Differentiated Parenting and Parents' Gender-Role Stereotypes

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    This longitudinal study examines the association between child gender and child aggression via parents' physical control, moderated by parents' gender-role stereotypes in a sample of 299 two-parent families with a 3-year-old child in the Netherlands. Fathers with strong stereotypical gender-role attitudes and mothers were observed to use more physical control strategies with boys than with girls, whereas fathers with strong counterstereotypical attitudes toward gender roles used more physical control with girls than with boys. Moreover, when fathers had strong attitudes toward gender roles (stereotypical or counterstereotypical), their differential treatment of boys and girls completely accounted for the gender differences in children's aggressive behavior a year later. Mothers' gender-differentiated parenting practices were unrelated to gender differences in child aggression

    No! Don't touch the toys : Preschoolers' discipline towards their younger siblings

    Full text link
    Parental limit setting is a challenging and common situation in the daily lives of young children. During these situations, older siblings may use their more advanced cognitive skills and their greater physical strength to discipline their younger sibling and prevent or correct noncompliant behavior. This is the first study to examine preschoolers' discipline towards their toddler siblings during parental limit setting. In addition to observing preschoolers' sibling discipline, associations with their inhibitory control and externalizing behavior, their sibling's noncompliance and both children's gender were investigated. Sibling discipline was observed during parental limit setting in 285 families during one home visit with the mother and one home visit with the father. Preschoolers did discipline their younger siblings without being asked in the majority of the families, with girls displaying more disciplining behavior than boys. Toddlers' noncompliance was related to increased sibling discipline when their older siblings showed high levels of externalizing behavior themselves, although no such relation was found in case of older siblings with low levels of externalizing behavior. Sibling discipline was not related to preschoolers' inhibitory control or toddler's gender. Sibling discipline might thus be an expression of power assertion of the older sibling, instead of the moral urge to prevent transgressions. Highlights: Preschoolers' discipline towards their toddler siblings was examined during parental limit setting, as well as associations with characteristics of both children. Observed discipline towards a younger sibling was related to externalizing behavior and not to inhibitory control of the older sibling. Sibling discipline seems to be an expression of older siblings' power assertion, instead of a moral urge to prevent transgressions

    Sibling Gender Configuration and Family Processes

    Full text link
    The current study focuses on the effects of sibling gender configuration on family processes during early childhood. In a sample of 369 two-parent families with two children (youngest 12 months, oldest about 2 years older), both siblings’ noncompliant and oppositional behaviors and fathers’ and mothers’ sensitivity and discipline strategies were observed. Both siblings’ aggressive behaviors and empathy of the oldest sibling were assessed with parent-reports. Children in families with two sons showed more problematic interaction patterns compared with children in families with an oldest girl. In families with two boys, older siblings were more aggressive and fathers were less sensitive toward their youngest child in comparison with families with two girls. Furthermore, in boy–boy families older siblings showed more oppositional behavior and younger siblings more noncompliance compared with girl–boy families. These findings highlight the importance of sibling gender configuration in the development of child behavior and parent–child interactions
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