Emotion recognition abilities and empathy of victims of bullying

Objectives: Bullying is a form of systematic abuse by peers with often serious consequences for victims. Few studies have considered the role of emotion recognition abilities and empathic behaviour for different bullying roles. This study investigated physical and relational bullying involvement in relation to basic emotion recognition abilities, and empathic styles in children. Using the framework of the Social Information Processing model, it was expected that victims would have poor emotion recognition abilities, and that bullies would demonstrate low levels of empathy. Methods: Data was collected from UK children (N = 373) aged 9-11 years who completed a bullying instrument, the Bryant Index of Empathy measurement, and the DANVA (Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy) to assess emotion recognition abilities. Children were classified into physical and relational bullying roles (bully, victim, bully/victim neutral) for analytical purposes. Results: While physical victims, bullies and neutrals differed little in their emotion recognition abilities, relational victims were particularly poor in recognising negative emotions of anger and fear in faces. No differences were found in empathy scores, according to bullying roles. Conclusions: Children who are relationally victimised are poorer in understanding emotional information than bullies and non-involved children. In light of previous research that victims of bullying more frequently experience child abuse, future interventions should consider the importance of emotion and social skills training for these vulnerable children

Father Locus of Control and Child Emotional and Behavioral Outcomes: A Prospective Study

This prospective longitudinal study examined the associations between parent locus of control of reinforcement (LOCR), measured before the birth of a child, and behavioral/emotional outcomes in that child at age seven years. Three hundred seven couples completed questionnaires regarding their emotional status and LOCR at their first prenatal care appointment. When their children turned seven years old, teachers completed questionnaires regarding each participating child’s behavior. Findings indicate significant associations between fathers’ prenatal LOCR and child outcomes, particularly hyperactivity in sons. Hyperactivity and behavioral/emotional problems in girls, in contrast, were better predicted by maternal prenatal emotional distress. Results provide evidence that both paternal and maternal characteristics that predate the birth of a child relate to later behavioral outcomes in that child. Implications for prevention of child psychopathology are discussed

Policy analysis: Compressed workweek

Today the economy has slowed down and inflation has risen to near record highs. Corporations, governments, and agencies are looking at ways to save costs. Budget expenditures on payroll are addressed as well as the cost of utilities, resources, and the costs of doing business. One implicated method to help solve these problems is for the use of compressed workweeks. Compressed workweeks are both beneficial to the agencies and the employees. The employee can have more time for home life while putting in the same amount of hours at work, and save money on commuting to work. Additionally the agency is saving on the budget, because of an extended weekend for the worker. An employer can shorten its workweek and lower operational costs, while improving employee attendance through the use of compressed workweeks. This study is going to examine the different workweeks for differences in attendance, the best measurable variable in favor for the agency. The study will focus on the Clark County, Nevada, the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJS), which has an identical job classification working both traditional workweeks and compressed workweeks. This type of study is rare in that the comparison group is within the same agency and job classification as the experimental group. This examination of compressed work weeks comes at a time where most work in the area of compressed work weeks remain exploratory (Pierce & Dunham 1992), and current agencies, and even entire government agencies are moving radically toward compressed workweeks because of the slowing of the economy and increased inflation

The impact of prenatal parental locus of control on children's psychological outcomes in infancy and early childhood:a prospective 5 year study

Locus of control is one of the most widely studied concepts in the history of personality psychology. In spite of its popularity and its associations with numerous relevant outcomes, the ability of locus of control to predict future behaviors involving parenting effectiveness has been under researched. The few parent locus of control children's outcome studies are characterized by cross-sectional methodologies that focus on mothers. The present study uses a prospective methodology to compare data on mothers' and fathers' locus of control with their child's behavior outcomes from a large scale research project, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Based on Rotter's Social Learning Theory published in 1954 and past empirical research, it was predicted and found that parent internality was associated with more positive child outcomes than parent externality. More specifically, when both parents were internal, their children had more positive outcomes in sleeping, eating, and tantrum behavior as compared to any other parent locus of control combination. However external parents had a less restrictive attitude which appeared to have a more beneficial effect on picky eating. Results confirmed how important parent locus of control is in the lives of children. Based on the findings, researchers are urged to develop interventions to change advice to parents and promote more internal locus of control among parents

Family Correlates of Daughter’s and Son’s Locus of Control Expectancies during Childhood

Children who expect they can bring about good outcomes and avoid bad outcomes tend to experience more personal successes. Little is known about factors that contribute to these ‘control expectancies’. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether children’s internal control expectancies occur in the context of parents’ internal control expectancies, low family strain, and high family cohesiveness and whether these factors are more strongly related to daughters’ than sons’ control expectancies. A community sample of 85 children aged 9 to 11 years old and their parents (85 mothers; 63 fathers) completed rating scales. Fathers’ more internal control expectancies and mothers’ reports of fewer family strains were associated with daughters’ but not sons’ greater internal control expectancies, and greater family cohesiveness was related to both daughters’ and sons’ internal control orientations. These findings suggest that family factors may contribute to children’s, particularly daughters’, development of internal control expectancies