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Biomedical subjects

J Stevenson-Hinde

Publications and source records attributed to J Stevenson-Hinde.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Shyness, friendship quality, and adjustment during middle childhood.

Whereas many young children show initial wariness on meeting a stranger, shyness that lasts into middle childhood may be indicative of concurrent problems and subsequent disorder. Adjustment problems of an internalising nature, such as low self-esteem, loneliness, and anxiety may occur. Special significance has, however, been ascribed to preadolescent friendships as a means of validating self-worth and buffering against loneliness and anxiety. The main aim of the present study is to examine associations between shyness, perceptions of friendship quality, and indices of adjustment related to internalising problems. The study involves a sample of 8.4-10.6-year-olds (N = 50), preselected at 4.5 years to include a high proportion of shy children. Ratings of shyness to an unfamiliar adult had been made by different observers at 4.5 and 7 years, and at the present ages by another observer, mothers, and teachers. Observer-rated shyness was highly consistent over time and was significantly correlated with mothers' and teachers' ratings, although both significantly underestimated children's shyness relative to observer ratings. Compared with the younger children (mean age of 9 years), observed shyness (a composite over all three age points) increased in salience for the older children (mean age of 10 years), becoming significantly correlated with trait anxiety as well as low global self-worth. Indeed, global self-worth took on a central role for the older children, showing significant correlations not only with observed shyness and internalising problems (loneliness and anxiety), but also with perceptions of social acceptance and classmate support as well as friendship quality, with a named "best friend". Thus by 10 years of age, aspects of peer relationships may influence and be influenced by global self-worth, with a possible buffering effect on any potential detrimental effects of shyness.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Parenting in different cultures: time to focus.

This commentary proposes that cross-cultural studies of parenting, like studies within a culture, should become more focused--with antecedent or concurrent measures selected to provide a clear view toward "child outcome." Furthermore, differences within countries may be as great as differences between countries. Therefore, the relevant cultural context, which itself may be changing, needs careful specification.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Behavioral inhibition, heart period, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia in young children.

Children were selected according to criteria for high or low behavioral inhibition (BI) on the basis of both a maternal questionnaire and interviewer ratings at home. Subsequent laboratory assessments involved further BI ratings as well as heart period (HP) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). BI, HP, and RSA were all moderately stable from 4.5 to 7 years. HP and RSA changed in meaningful ways according to the context of different laboratory episodes. No significant relations emerged between BI and HP or RSA over the whole sample. However, HP predicted which of the children in the high inhibition group would remain inhibited at 7 years: HP at 4.5 years was significantly lower for children with high BI ratings at 4.5 who remained high at 7 years compared with children with high BI at 4.5 years who were less inhibited at 7 years.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1996

Shy girls and boys: a new look.

A new look at shyness in young children involves selecting for shyness, using criteria involving both natural and laboratory contexts, categorizing children (including a group between the two extremes), and including the sex of the child in analyses. Children of both sexes differed significantly across low, medium, and high shy groups, with negative mood, worries and fears, and problem behaviour in preschool being associated with high shyness. Although boys in general and high shy boys in particular had the highest problem behaviour scores in preschool (including acting out behaviour), maternal interactions with high shy boys were positive: significantly more positive than with boys who were high shy in natural settings but low shy in the laboratory, or with high shy girls. Of the girls, maternal style was most positive for the medium shy girls, who also received the highest relative frequency of positive maternal actions during a brief task-significantly higher than medium shy boys, as well as high shy girls.

Affect↗
PubMed1995

4.5 to 7 years: fearful behaviour, fears and worries.

Fearful behaviour, fears and worries of young children are central not only to normal development, but also to the development of anxiety disorders. In a community sample, consistency from age 4.5 to 7 years was significant for all measures of behavioural approach/withdrawal, as well as for the degree of reported fears and worries. Observed approach/withdrawal behaviour was not correlated with fears and worries reported by either mothers or children. There were no sex differences in the levels of measures or their consistency, with one exception: maternal reports of worries were less consistent but possibly more valid for girls than for boys. When interviewed at 7 years, girls expressed worries about family members, while boys tended to worry about their own performance.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1995

The McMaster Model of Family Functioning: observer and parental ratings in a nonclinical sample.

The McMaster Model of Family Functioning defines seven dimensions, which may be assessed either by an observer applying a Clinical Rating Scale (CRS) to a semi-structured interview of the family and/or by family members completing a questionnaire, the Family Assessment Device (FAD). The present article applied both methods of assessment, as well as the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), to a nonclinical sample (N = 105). Interobserver reliability on the CRS was highly significant. Parent (FAD) vs. observer (CRS) agreement was also highly significant, except for Affective Responsiveness and Behavior Control, for which agreement was barely significant. When families were labeled as "healthy" or "unhealthy" according to cut-offs, agreement between observers and parents was high (87%), and disagreements illuminated dynamics of individual families. Finally, the DAS (completed by mothers) was significantly correlated with both the CRS and the FAD, particularly for General Functioning.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Coping with security distress: the Separation Anxiety Test and attachment classification at 4.5 years.

The hypothesis that the same organization of attachment that can been seen in reunion with mother following a separation would be revealed in the child's responses to separation pictures was upheld. This supports the construct of an internal working model of attachment. Children classified as secure in reunion, compared to those classified as insecure, were more emotionally open to appropriate negative feeling, without being over-expressive, and showed a greater ability to tolerate security distress aroused by the separation pictures without raising defences against it. Responses of avoidant, ambivalent and controlling groups showed elements of the same organization revealed in reunion behaviour. These data support the validity of the Separation Anxiety Test (SAT) as an attachment instrument, but are not strong enough to suggest using it as an alternative to classifications.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1985

Temperamental characteristics of three- to four-year-old boys and girls and child-family interactions.

Mothers interviewed in their homes provided information concerning their child's temperamental characteristics, mild behaviour problems and family interactions. The characteristics active, shy (approach/withdrawal; not settling in) and moody/intense were consistent from 42 to 50 months of age for both sexes. No simple sex differences appeared in these three characteristics. There was little evidence for an association between active and either mild behaviour problems or family interactions. For both girls and boys, moody/intense scores were associated with mild behaviour problems and 'negative' family interactions. However, while shy scores of boys were associated with negative family interactions, shy scores of girls were associated with positive interactions, especially at the later age of 50 months.

Child Behavior↗
PubMed1982

Temperament and relationships.

Temperamental characteristics of preschool children were related to relationships, mothers' mood, and children's feelings towards family members. Active scores were correlated with some problem behaviour and with negative aspects of interactions with mother and father. Active children felt themselves to be independent, while Timid children did not. Timid children had relatively more acute illnesses and worries and fears. Difficult scores were correlated with problem behaviour and with negative aspects of all the types of interaction assessed: mother-child, mother-father, father-child, and sibling-child. Furthermore, the more Difficult the child, the more Anxious, Outwardly Irritable, and Inwardly irritable the mother. In turn, Difficult children expressed relatively few positive and dependency feelings towards their mothers, and more negative feelings towards themselves.

Child Behavior↗
PubMed1981

Mothers' characteristics, interactions, and infants' characteristics.

Stable characteristics of rhesus monkey mothers, in terms of Confident and Excitable scores, were significantly positively correlated with the respective scores of their daughters but not their sons. With sons, mothers' Excitable scores were significantly negatively correlated with sons' Confident scores. Correlations of the maternal scores with earlier mother/infant interactions suggest how mothers' characteristics could have influenced infant characteristics. Mothers' Confident scores were negatively correlated with both rejecting and leaving their daughters. When a year old the daughters, on the other hand, left mothers relatively frequently and played a relatively low role in maintaining proximity. For both sons and daughters, mothers' Excitable scores were positively correlated with approaching and leaving their infants, as well as restricting at the age of weaning. Infants approached Excitable mothers relatively frequently, and year-old sons played a relatively high role in maintaining proximity with mother. In terms of attachment theory, Confident mothers appear to provide a "secure base" for their daughters, but reject their sons when very young. Excitable mothers appear to behave inappropriately to both sons and daughters, producing infants who may be "insecurely attached."

Aggression↗
PubMed1977

Development of song and reinforcing effects of song in female chaffinches.

Eight autumn-caught female chaffinches were injected with testosterone in their first spring. They were allowed to perch on a particular perch to produce a playback of a normal, male song. Both the course of their song development and the reinforcing effect of the playback song were comparable to that shown by a group of similarly-treated males.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Behavioral inhibition, heart period, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia: an attachment perspective.

This study shows that relations between behavioral inhibition and cardiac activity may be clarified by identifying attachment status, whereas relations between security of attachment and cardiac activity may be clarified by identifying inhibition status. Assessments at 4.5 years (N = 126) included heart period (HP), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), behavioral inhibition (BI), and security of attachment. There was no main effect of BI status (Low, Medium, High) on either HP or RSA. Instead, it was only the Secure children who showed the predicted relation between low BI and high HP or RSA, with the Low BI-Secure group having significantly higher HP than either the High BI-Secure or the Low BI-Insecure groups. Turning to attachment, both HP and RSA increased significantly from an assessment during separation from mother to an assessment 3 min after reunion. The only subgroups showing a significant increase in HP, however, were those with both secure attachment and an absence of high BI.

Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗