Examined parents' emotional responses to aggression and social withdrawal in early childhood, beliefs about the causes of problematic social behaviors, and strategies for responding to aggression and withdrawal. Considered variation in parental beliefs as a function of child sex and differences between mothers and fathers. (RH)

This issue consists of 1 study which describes staff and child responses to aggressive and withdrawn behavior in 79 children at 6 day nurseries. Children were appropriately occupied and staff provided a setting and materials that promoted play. Although there was positive social interaction between children, rates of aversive behavior were high.…

This study investigated behavior problems in 66 school-aged physically abused, neglected, and control group children in the Basque Country, Spain. Abused and neglected children had higher subscale scores for social problems, delinquent behavior, and attention problems and showed lower school adjustment. Neglected children appeared more aggressive,…

Three studies examined children's ability to differentiate aggression and social withdrawal using attributional constructs. Found that even very young children understand the meaning of responsibility and are capable of using it to act as intuitive judges, weighing the evidence to make inferences about responsibility and then meting out judgments…

This study examined the effectiveness of the Behavior Summarized Evaluation to discriminate 58 autistic from 58 nonautistic mentally retarded children. The measure clearly separated the two samples with between-group differences highest on four items indicating the most particular pattern in autistic children was the association of autistic…

High-probability requests were used to increase responsiveness to low-probability requests to initiate social interactions in three young boys with severe disabilities who were severely socially withdrawn. Increases were also found in unprompted social initiations and generalizations to a nontraining setting. Maintenance after training was also…

Aggressive unpopular, withdrawn unpopular, aggressive-withdrawn unpopular, and average status children were identified by peer evaluation and compared in terms of peer and self-perceptions of competence in various social and nonsocial domains. Results indicated that the three groups of unpopular children exhibited distinct profiles according to…

Data collected from 128 third through sixth graders over a 1-year period demonstrated that individuals with withdrawn social behavior, low peer acceptance, few or no friendships, and an internal-stable attributional style were more likely to have higher levels of concurrent and future loneliness than individuals not exhibiting these…

Twelve autistic children (ages 4-6) were given a choice between their mothers' speech and the noise of superimposed voices. In contrast to comparison groups of mentally retarded and normally developing children, the autistic children actively preferred the superimposed voices or showed a lack of preference for either audio segment. (Author/JDD)

Elementary classroom teachers rated the withdrawn and social behaviors of 41 children with language impairments (LI) and 41 typically developing peers using the Teacher Behavioral Rating Scale. Teachers rated children with LI as more reticent than typically developing children, and boys with LI as displaying more solitary-active withdrawal…

This pilot study examined the playground social behaviors of eight children (ages 6-10) with language impairments (LI) and their typical peers. Analysis of videotape recordings found LI children spent significantly less time interacting with peers and demonstrated significantly more withdrawn behaviors than did their peers, with group membership…

Background: Although the prevalence of bully/victim problems in school-age children and adolescents has been investigated in many countries, only a few studies have been carried out among younger children. This study examines social behaviors and peer relationships of children involved in bully/victim problems in kindergarten. Methods: Three…

Research suggests that the use of disengaged or avoidant strategies to cope with interpersonal violence contributes to the development of depressive symptoms and other psychological difficulties. Survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) who are exposed to subsequent episodes of abuse may be more likely to rely on disengaged coping strategies,…

Research has shown that too little stress or stimulation can increase health risks. To determine the effectiveness of mild stimulation on the depression levels and feelings of self-worth of the elderly, 24 withdrawn nursing home residents participated in a non-judgemental 6-month art expression group. Half the group were assigned to a control…