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Biomedical subjects

J E Bates

Publications and source records attributed to J E Bates.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Gender typing of game choices and qualities of boys' play behavior.

Relationships between gender choices and both movement patterns and social behavior were studied in first- and second-grade boys. Three-child, structured play groups were each composed of a boy whose mother saw him as high masculine in play preference on the Games Inventory, one seen as average, and one low masculine. Behaviors rated from videotapes included gender presentation variables, (e.g., leg separation), indicators of dominance and personal comfort (e.g., range of movements), and indicators of social skill and peer response (e.g., interaction initiations). The low masculine boys were found to be the most feminine in their gender presentation, least dominant and aggressive, and the lest socially successful of the boys. The greatest difference was between the low and the high masculine boys. The average masculine boys' scores were generally intermediate, but more similar to the low masculine boys on some variables and more similar to the high masculine boys on others. These conclusions apply to a grou interaction play task, but not to an initial noninteractive play task. A secondary study in which girls played with low and average masculine boys is also reported. Here it was found that low masculine boys were generally intermediate between average boys and girls on gender presentation and dominance variables, but lowest of the groups on social interaction variables.

Child Behavior↗

Gender-deviant boys compared with normal and clinical control boys.

The physical movement and social characteristics of effeminate behavior-problem, referred boys (N = 13) were compared with those of normal boys (N = 25) and boys (N = 12) referred for nongender problems. Parent reports, observer ratings, and videotapes were collected in a series of structured tasks. As expected, mothers described gender-problem sons as much more feminine than the other two groups in interests, activities, and mannerisms. Gender-problem sons were also seen as relatively inactive and introverted. Further, they were nonsignificantly lower than the clinical control boys in perceived behavior problems, but both groups had marginally more problems than the normal boys. Gender-problem and clinical control boys both showed more body constriction than normal boys in ratings of a videotaped interview. They also both showed less ideal ball-throw form than normal boys on a set of variables scored with slow-motion video. However, in a set of behaviors directly rated in the various tasks, the gender-problem boys gave a uniquely general impression of uncoordination. The groups did not differ on seven additional variables.

Adolescent↗

Measurement of infant difficultness.

The Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ) was developed as a short, factor-analytic screening device for difficultness. Responses of 322 mothers of 4-6-month-old infants suggested that they regard the fussy, hard-to-soothe, labile infant as difficult. Mother report on the ICQ, particularly on the main fussy-difficult factor was found to have adequate reliability over time and convergence with the Carey Survey of Temperamental Characteristics, with father report on the ICQ, and, to a lower degree, with home data collected by independent observers. It was also found that mother characteristics may affect perceptions of infant difficultness: multiparous, extraverted mothers tended to rate their infants as easy.

Child Behavior Disorders↗

Satisfaction in male homosexual couples.

Little information exists regarding factors in the satisfaction and stability of male homosexual relationships. On the basis of interviews with 14 male couples an open-ended questionnaire was developed concerning gay couples' relationships. This questionnaire and a modified version of the Marital Relationship Inventory, called here the Couples Relationship Inventory (CRI), were administered to 28 couples who described themselves as in a primary, relatively long-term relationship. Couples' descriptions of the successfulness of their relationships in conventional, heterosexual-oriented terms on the CRI were similar to their descriptions on the more homosexual-oriented, open-ended questionnaire. The study is seen as providing a point of departure for future research on gay relationships and the behavior transactions that may differentiate satisfying from unsatisfying relationships.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Human figure drawings of gender-problem and school-problem boys.

In this study 19 boys aged 4 through 13 years referred for gender problems were compared with 35 similar-aged boys referred for school problems on variables derived from sets of human figure drawings. The results indicated that gender-problem boys, relative to school-problem boys, were more likely to draw female figures in response to a Draw-a-Person (DAP) instruction, were more likely to draw figures with good rather than average body proportion, tended to draw more articles of clothing on their figures, and tended to draw their female figures larger than their male figures. There were no differences between the groups in the frequency of emotional disturbance indicators, frequency of age-expected or age-exceptional figure details, and total number of body features. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for the validation of the DAP procedure, their contribution to an understanding of boyhood effeminacy, and their implications for the role of the DAP test as a clinical assessment procedure only in conjunction with other sources of information.

Adolescent↗

The impact of after-school peer contact on early adolescent externalizing problems is moderated by parental monitoring, perceived neighborhood safety, and prior adjustment.

Unsupervised peer contact in the after-school hours was examined as a risk factor in the development of externalizing problems in a longitudinal sample of early adolescents. Parental monitoring, neighborhood safety, and adolescents' preexisting behavioral problems were considered as possible moderators of the risk relation. Interviews with mothers provided information on monitoring, neighborhood safety, and demographics. Early adolescent (ages 12-13 years) after-school time use was assessed via a telephone interview in grade 6 (N = 438); amount of time spent with peers when no adult was present was tabulated. Teacher ratings of externalizing behavior problems were collected in grades 6 and 7. Unsupervised peer contact, lack of neighborhood safety, and low monitoring incrementally predicted grade 7 externalizing problems, after controlling for family background factors and grade 6 problems. The greatest risk was for those unsupervised adolescents living in low-monitoring homes and comparatively unsafe neighborhoods. The significant relation between unsupervised peer contact and problem behavior in grade 7 held only for those adolescents who already were high in problem behavior in grade 6. These findings point to the need to consider individual, family, and neighborhood factors in evaluating risks associated with young adolescents' after-school care experiences.

Adolescent↗

The relation between mothers' hostile attribution tendencies and children's externalizing behavior problems: the mediating role of mothers' harsh discipline practices.

This study examined relations among mothers' hostile attribution tendencies regarding their children's ambiguous problem behaviors, mothers' harsh discipline practices, and children's externalizing behavior problems. A community sample of 277 families (19% minority representation) living in three geographic regions of the United States was followed for over 4 years. Mothers' hostile attribution tendencies were assessed during the summer prior to children's entry into kindergarten through their responses to written vignettes. Mothers' harsh discipline practices were assessed concurrently through ratings by interviewers and reports by spouses. Children's externalizing behavior problems were assessed concurrently through written questionnaires by mothers and fathers and in the spring of kindergarten and first, second, and third grades through reports by teachers and peer sociometric nominations. Results of structural equations models demonstrated that mothers' hostile attribution tendencies predicted children's future externalizing behavior problems at school and that a large proportion of this relation was mediated by mothers' harsh discipline practices. These results remained virtually unchanged when controlling for initial levels of children's prekindergarten externalizing behavior problems at home.

Child↗

Antecedents and behavior-problem outcomes of parental monitoring and psychological control in early adolescence.

The early childhood antecedents and behavior-problem correlates of monitoring and psychological control were examined in this prospective, longitudinal, multi-informant study. Parenting data were collected during home visit interviews with 440 mothers and their 13-year-old children. Behavior problems (anxiety/depression and delinquent behavior) were assessed via mother, teacher, and/or adolescent reports at ages 8 through 10 years and again at ages 13 through 14. Home-interview data collected at age 5 years were used to measure antecedent parenting (harsh/reactive, positive/proactive), family background (e.g., socioeconomic status), and mother-rated child behavior problems. Consistent with expectation, monitoring was anteceded by a proactive parenting style and by advantageous family-ecological characteristics, and psychological control was anteceded by harsh parenting and by mothers' earlier reports of child externalizing problems. Consistent with prior research, monitoring was associated with fewer delinquent behavior problems. Links between psychological control and adjustment were more complex: High levels of psychological control were associated with more delinquent problems for girls and for teens who were low in preadolescent delinquent problems, and with more anxiety/depression for girls and for teens who were high in preadolescent anxiety/depression.

Adolescent↗