Recent re-conceptualisation of paternal involvement (Pleck, J. H. (2010). Paternal involvement: Revised conceptualization and theoretical linkages with child outcomes. In M. Lamb (Ed.), "The role of the father in child development" (5th ed., pp. 67-107). London: Wiley), while proving fruitful, has yet to be applied to investigations into…

A systematic analysis was made of the communications of 5- and 6-year-old children in two kindergarten classrooms to discover whether children's face-to-face interactions with peers included "face work" components (rituals through which individuals manage impressions when it becomes difficult to maintain a social situation) and, if so,…

This study was designed to identify aggressive actions in 12-, 18-, and 24-month-old infants and to investigate what type of responses these actions elicit in peers. Nine infants were observed and videotaped in interaction with each other and with toys. The focus was on four 18-month-olds observed in two sessions, one with an older child, the…

Kindergarten children (N=90) were given opportunities to report to their class during "sharing time" the cooperative or friendly behaviors of their peers which had occurred during the day. Cooperative behavior increased and aggressive acts decreased when peers reported prosocial behavior to the class. (Author)

This study of the behavior of a mixed group of male and female preschoolers in an indoor, free-play setting was designed to clarify two general issues: (1) the ratio of aggressive to non-aggressive disputes and the factors in the situation which may be associated with this relationship; and (2) the factors in the conflict episodes themselves which…

This essay attempts to describe how age relations are important to the social behavior of preschool children. Major behaviors examined are sociability, friendship, aggression, and dominance. Imitation, cognitive development, social cognition, nurturance, and prosocial behavior are also briefly considered. (Author/SJL)

The extent of isomorphism between parent-child to child-friend microsocial interactions was studied by means of videotaped laboratory and observation coding procedures. Similar tasks, coding systems, and behavior clusters were used to describe the topography of parent-child and child-friend interactions. A total of 200 boys were observed while…

This research describes the attempts of 24 male and 24 female Kikuyu children (aged 2-9 years) to persuade other Kikuyu children and adults to comply to their demands. Examined was the sequence of behaviors beginning when a child encountered a noncompliant response from a target, and continuing until the child either gained compliance or gave up…

Direct observation and sequential analytic techniques were used to analyze rates, antecedents, and predictive sequences of aggressive behavior for 28 elementary school-aged children with emotional/behavioral disorders. Results indicated that low rates of positive social interactions characterized the daily classroom ecology of students displaying…

This paper presents some background information and a brief report on the progress of the first two and one-half months of the Synanon study of the social behavior of communally-reared children in which an attempt is being made to apply ethological methods of observation and analysis to human infant behavior. The children range in age from 6 to 40…

This study is an attempt to apply ethological tools of observation and analysis to the social behavior of 25 communally-reared children, ages 6 months to 4 years. The focus of this analysis is aggression and dominance relations. Findings indicate that: (1) agonistic behavior reveals stable and linear dominance hierarchies for children from 6…