Caregivers' everyday moral reasoning predicts young children's aggressive, prosocial, and moral development: Evidence from ambulatory assessment

Developmental theories have proposed caregiver reactions, in particular caregivers' moral reasoning with their children, as crucial factors in children's developing morality. Yet, empirical evidence is scarce and mainly restricted to laboratory contexts. Here, we used the ambulatory assessment method to investigate how caregiver responses to moral transgressions longitudinally relate to children's emerging moral agency. On the first measurement point, mothers (N = 220) reported on nine consecutive evenings on a moral transgression of their 5- to 46-month-olds', their emotional and verbal reactions, and how in turn their child reacted. Five months later, mothers reported on their child's aggressive and prosocial (helping, sharing, comforting) behavior. Our results demonstrated that (1) caregiver reasoning supported children's sharing and comforting behavior and was related to lower levels of children's aggressive behavior half a year later, that (2) caregiver reasoning reactions supported children's negative evaluations of their own transgressions while compliance-based caregiver reactions (e.g., physical interventions, reprimands) were predictive of children's subsequent emotional distress and anger, and that (3) caregiver social conformity and reflective functioning abilities emerged as determinants of caregiver negative moral emotions. Thus, this study uses an innovative methodological approach to uncover key characteristics of caregiver moral reactions supporting the development of morality

Robin Hood or Matthew? Children’s Reasoning About Redistributive Justice in the Context of Economic Inequalities

How should one respond to ubiquitous economic inequalities? The legend Robin Hood suggests to take away from the wealthy to benefit the poor, whereas another strategy holds the opposite (Matthew effect). Here, 3- to 8-year-old children (N = 140) witnessed protagonists performing redistributions (e.g., Robin Hood, Matthew) of necessary and luxury resources between a wealthy and a poor child. Results showed that, with age, children increasingly approved of Robin Hood and increasingly disapproved of Matthew. In addition, reasoning about others’ welfare mediated the effect of age on children’s evaluation of Robin Hood, but only for necessary resources. This suggests that children regard restorative justice actions as a strategy to address social inequalities when it increases the welfare of disadvantaged agents

Longitudinal Relations Between Parental Strain, Parent-Child Relationship Quality, and Child Well-Being During the Unfolding COVID-19 Pandemic

As COVID-19 sweeps across the globe, scientists have identified children and families as possibly particularily vulnerable populations. The present study employed a developmental framework with two measurement points (the first at the peak of the lockdown restrictions (N = 2,921), the second after restrictions had been majorly loosened (N = 890)) to provide unique insights into the relations between parental strain, child well-being, and child problem behavior. Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed longitudinal effects of child well-being and problem behavior at T1 on parental strain at T2 with parent-child relationship quality as a moderator. True intraindividual change models showed that decreases in parental strain between measurement points predicted increases in child well-being and decreases in child problem behavior. Thus, the present research points to parental stress coping and child emotional adjustment as promising avenues for professionals and policy makers in their efforts to ensure child and family well-being throughout the pandemic

Children’s psychological well-being and problem behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic: An online study during the lockdown period in Germany

As COVID-19 dramatically changes human social life, restrictive lockdown periods to slow the spread of the virus have been suggested to particularly affect the psychological well-being of children and their families. To capture lockdown-related effects on a large scale, the present study used an online questionnaire completed by parents of 3-10-year-olds during the most restrictive lockdown period in Germany thus far (N = 2,672). Parents reported their stress level, their child’s well-being, and their child’s problem behaviors among others. Results showed that most parents and children experienced lockdown-related stress. Concerning children, not being able to meet with friends and family members outside the household emerged as the primary challenge. Older children (7–10 years) evidenced more emotional symptoms as well as less conduct problems and hyperactivity than younger children (3–6 years). Children’s own and their parents’ stress level, the degree to which children missed other children, and children’s age all showed to be negatively related to children’s general life satisfaction. Single parenthood and being an only child were associated with higher levels of child problems. Taken together, these findings shed light on the psychological well-being of children and their families during governmental lockdown measures, as well as on relations between children’s coping and demographic background. They have implications for possible avenues for interventions, inter alia by encouraging policies that facilitate the maintenance of social relationships and focus particularly on children from single parent families, on only children as well as on families in challenging housing situations

Phase Structure of lattice SU(2)xU_S(1) three-dimensional Gauge Theory

We discuss a phase diagram for a relativistic SU(2) x U_{S}(1) lattice gauge theory, with emphasis on the formation of a parity-invariant chiral condensate, in the case when the $U_{S}(1)$ field is infinitely coupled, and the SU(2) field is moved away from infinite coupling by means of a strong-coupling expansion. We provide analytical arguments on the existence of (and partially derive) a critical line in coupling space, separating the phase of broken SU(2) symmetry from that where the symmetry is unbroken. We review uncoventional (Kosterlitz-Thouless type) superconducting properties of the model, upon coupling it to external electromagnetic potentials. We discuss the r\^ole of instantons of the unbroken subgroup U(1) of SU(2), in eventually destroying superconductivity under certain circumstances. The model may have applications to the theory of high-temperature superconductivity. In particular, we argue that in the regime of the couplings leading to the broken SU(2) phase, the model may provide an explanation on the appearance of a pseudo-gap phase, lying between the antiferromagnetic and the superconducting phases. In such a phase, a fermion mass gap appears in the theory, but there is no phase coherence, due to the Kosterlitz-Thouless mode of symmetry breaking. The absence of superconductivity in this phase is attributed to non-perturbative effects (instantons) of the subgroup U(1) of SU(2).Comment: 51 pages latex, 10 figures incorporate