Assessment of children's social problem-solving skills in hypothetical and actual conflict situations

Vitaro, Frank; Pelletier, Daniel

doi:10.1007/bf00925817

Cited by 29 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…There are some limitations regarding the current findings, which will have implications for future work. First, data in studies 1 and 2 were gathered by children's responses to hypothetical scenarios, which rely on children's explicit recognition and reporting of often-unconscious processes (Orobio de Castro et al, 2002;Vitaro & Pelletier, 1991). Studies 1 and 2 also use self-reports of loneliness, depressive symptoms, and cognitions, which could have resulted in the problem of shared method variance.…”

Section: Implications For Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Hypervigilance for Social Threat of Lonely Children

Qualter¹,

Rotenberg

Barrett³

et al. 2012

J Abnorm Child Psychol

102

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This series of studies is the first to examine hypervigilance for social threat among lonely children and the first to establish this link using eye-tracking technology. Hypervigilance for social threat was operationalised as hostility to ambiguously motivated social exclusion in a variation of the hostile attribution paradigm (Study 1), scores on the Children's RejectionSensitivity Questionnaire (Study 2), and visual attention to socially threatening stimuli (Study 3). The participants were 185 children (11 years -7 months to 12 years -6 months), 248 children (9 years -4 months to 11 years -8 months) and 147 children (8 years -10 months to 12 years -10 months) in the three studies, respectively. Regression analyses showed that, with depressive symptoms covaried, there were quadratic relations between loneliness and these different measures of hypervigilance to social threat. As hypothesized, only children in the upper range of loneliness demonstrated elevated hostility to ambiguously motivated social exclusion, higher scores on the rejection sensitivity questionnaire, and disengagement difficulties when viewing socially threatening stimuli. We found that very lonely children are hypersensitive to social threat.Key words: Loneliness; Children; Hypervigilance; Social Threat; Rejection; Hypersensitivity, Rejection-sensitivity; Eye movement; Attentional bias.Running Head: LONELINESS AND HYPERVIGILANCE TO SOCIAL THREAT 4 Investigating Hypervigilance for Social Threat of Lonely ChildrenResearchers have examined the social information processing biases that serve to maintain loneliness. One such bias is conceptualized as the 'hypervigilance for social threat hypothesis' (HSTH), where it is argued that rejection sensitivity contributes to behavioral deficiencies (e.g., withdrawal) that undermine the opportunities to develop and maintain positive social relationships (Cacioppo & Hawkley, 2009). Several studies provide support for the HSTH in adults (Jones & Carver, 1991;Jones, Freemon & Goswick, 1981;Sloan & Solano, 1984), but there has been little work on this in children. Confirming the HSTH during childhood is important because it would indicate that this form of social information bias is evident during development and, therefore, a potential contributor to the persistence of loneliness from childhood through to adulthood, which itself predicts mental and physical health. Loneliness and social information processing biasesLoneliness is an unpleasant state that arises from a discrepancy between the interpersonal relationships people want to have, and those they perceive they currently have (Peplau & Perlman, 1982). Loneliness is not linked to the number of friends that a person has (Young, 1982;Qualter & Munn, 2005). It is a prevalent problem in children, adolescents and adults (Cacioppo & Patrick, 2008; Rotenberg & Hymel, 1999), and is acknowledged in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR: American Psychiatric Association, 2000) because it often causes significant distress a...

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Section: Implications For Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Hypervigilance for Social Threat of Lonely Children

Qualter¹,

Rotenberg

Barrett³

et al. 2012

J Abnorm Child Psychol

102

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“…In contrast, in the study by Mize & Cox (1990), a relationship was found between hypothetical responses and both behavioural observations and evaluations by others. It may be that role‐playing is too artificial and unrealistic to be used as a measure of real‐life behaviour, as both Mize & Cox (1990) and Vitaro & Pelletier (1991) have suggested.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only three studies have – to our knowledge – assessed both hypothetical responses and actual behaviour in comparable conflict situations (Dodge 1986; Vitaro et al. 1989; Vitaro & Pelletier 1991). Real‐life situations were found to better differentiate between children with and without behaviour problems than hypothetical situations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do children do what they say? Responses to hypothetical and real‐life social problems in children with mild intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems

Nieuwenhuijzen

Bijman

Lamberix

et al. 2005

J intellect Disabil Res

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“…In de realistische Dominosituatie lieten de LVB-kinderen met externaliserende gedragsproblemen meer agressief gedrag zien dan de LVB-kinderen zonder deze problemen. In tegenstelling tot onderzoek bij normaal begaafde kinderen waarin steeds slechts e´e´n van beide methoden onderscheid maakte tussen kinderen met en zonder gedragsproblemen (Mize & Cox, 1990;Mize & Ladd, 1988;Vitaro & Pelletier, 1991), liet dit onderzoek zien dat zowel de hypothetische als de realistische testsituatie onderscheid kan maken tussen de twee groepen.…”

Section: Resultatenunclassified

Sociale informatieverwerking van kinderen met lichte verstandelijke beperkingen

Nieuwenhuijzen¹,

Bijman²,

Lamberix³

et al. 2007

Kind Adolesc.

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Van Nieuwenhuijzen, M., Bijman, E. R., Lamberix, I. C. W., Orobio de Castro, B., Vermeer, A., & Matthys, W. (2007). Social information processing in children with mild intellectual disabilities: validation of two measurements, Kind en Adolescent, 28 (3), 149-159.The aim of the present study was to validate two methods to assess social information processing (SIP) in children with mild intellectual disabilities (MID). Fifty-six 10 to 14-year-old children with MIDSIP were assessed by means of responses to hypothetical situations, and observation of actual behaviour in comparable staged standardized real-life conflict situations. The results show both methods discriminate between children with and without accompanying externalizing behaviour problems. In addition, there was a correlation between the spontaneous responses in the hypothetical situations and actual behaviour in the staged real-life situations, and responses in both methods were related to teacher-rated aggressive behaviour in the classroom. The conclusion is that both methods are useful in children with MID for assessing different aspects of SIP.Keywords: social information processing, mild intellectual disabilities, behaviour problems. Samenvatting Het doel van dit onderzoek was het valideren van twee methoden om sociale informatieverwerking te meten bij kinderen met lichte verstandelijke beperkingen (LVB-kinderen). Bij 56 tien-tot veertienjarige LVB-kinderen werd de sociale informatieverwerking vastgesteld door middel van antwoorden op hypothetische probleemsituaties en observatie van hun gedrag in gestandaardiseerde realistische conflictsituaties. De resultaten laten zien dat beide methoden onderscheid maken tussen LVB-kinderen met en zonder externaliserende gedragsproblemen, dat de antwoorden op de hypothetische situaties correleerden met het gedrag in de realistische situatie, en dat antwoorden en reacties bij beide methoden correleerden met gedrag in de klas. Geconcludeerd wordt dat beide methoden bruikbaar zijn voor de LVB-populatie om diverse aspecten van sociale informatieverwerking vast te stellen.Kinderen met lichte verstandelijke beperkingen en zwakbegaafde kinderen (hier samen LVB-kinderen genoemd) hebben doorgaans beperkingen in sociale vaardigheden, worden minder geaccepteerd dan normaal begaafde kinderen of zelfs afgewezen door leeftijdgenoten en hebben moeite om relaties met leeftijdgenoten op te bouwen (Freeman, 2000;Gresham & MacMillan, 1997;Guralnick, 1997). Bovendien vertonen ze meer emotionele en gedragsproblemen dan normaal begaafde kinderen en lopen ze een groter risico om emotionele en gedragsproblemen en delinquent en crimineel gedrag te ontwikkelen op latere leeftijd (Dekker, Koot, Van der Ende, & Verhulst, 2002;Einfeld & Tonge, 1996;. Om tot de juiste interventies te kunnen komen, is het van belang te onderzoeken welke mechanismen ten grondslag liggen aan sociaal inadequaat gedrag van LVB-kinderen. Bovendien zijn goede meetinstrumenten nodig om deze mechanismen vast te stellen voor diagnostiek en interventie.Verschi...

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Assessment of children's social problem-solving skills in hypothetical and actual conflict situations

Cited by 29 publications

References 40 publications

Investigating Hypervigilance for Social Threat of Lonely Children

Investigating Hypervigilance for Social Threat of Lonely Children

Do children do what they say? Responses to hypothetical and real‐life social problems in children with mild intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems

Sociale informatieverwerking van kinderen met lichte verstandelijke beperkingen

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