Young children's social information processing: Family antecedents and behavioral correlates.

Abstract

Little research has examined whether social information processing (SIP) measures from early childhood predict externalizing problems beyond the shared association with familial risk markers. In the present study, family antecedents and first-grade externalizing behaviors were studied in relation to preschool and 1st-grade SIP using data from the U.S. National Institute for Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care (N ϭ 1,364). A subgroup of low-risk children reported only benign attributions in preschool and had few externalizing problems in 1st grade according to both teacher and mother reports. After controlling for gender and cognitive functioning, the authors found that maternal education and authoritarian attitudes were key predictors of this "Pollyanna preschooler" status and of SIP in 1st grade. However, small effect sizes for SIP variables underscore the need for new approaches to measurement and for further research on moderators of the link between SIP and children's behavior.Keywords: social information processing, behavior problems, psychosocial development, parentingBeginning with Dodge (1980), a substantial body of research has demonstrated that children with behavior problems often show distinctly maladaptive social information processing (SIP). But answers to the central question of whether SIP plays a causal role in children's behavioral development remain elusive. Unraveling the etiology of aggression-related SIP is important as interventions to address behavior problems in young children increasingly target these processes. But most studies have not adopted a longitudinal design, and when they have, they have not incorporated the range of risk markers that are implicated in the etiology of behavior problems. These past limitations make it difficult to assess whether SIP patterns are more than incidental to the development of behavior problems. Furthermore, little is known about the stability of SIP variables over early childhood or about how individual differences in SIP arise in early childhood. In the present study, we examined whether early SIP measures predict later externalizing tendencies after accounting for antecedent risk markers, and we tested hypotheses about the role of these risk markers in predicting individual differences in children's SIP.

Interactive Links Between Theory of Mind, Peer Victimization, and Reactive and Proactive Aggression

“…What seems to be particularly characteristic of reactively aggressive children is their tendency to suspect hostile intentions in others when a social situation leads to a negative outcome for themselves, even when the other person's intention is ambiguous (Crick and Dodge 1996;Dodge and Coie 1987;Schwartz et al 1998). Some scholars have suggested that this hostile attribution bias may be due to an underlying lack of theory of mind skills (Katsurada and Sugawara 1998;Orobio de Castro et al 2002;Runions and Keating 2007). In support of this notion, our findings showed that low theory of mind skills are indeed related to higher levels of reactive aggression.…”

“…Indeed, evidence suggests that the relation between cognitive skills and social behavior may not be a linear one and is often moderated by social context (Crick and Dodge 1994;Dodge et al 2003;Gibb and Coles 2005). Young children who have difficulties inferring another person's perspective may thus rely on their own perception of reality that is based on previous experiences to interpret the situation (Runions and Keating 2007). If these previous experiences are negative, the child may interpret the situation as threatening and react aggressively.…”

“…However, our findings also reveal that the negative relation between theory of mind skills and reactive aggression is not systematic, but is only evident in children who are frequently victimized by their peers. Children who lack the skills to consider another person's perspective for decoding social cues must rely on their own perception of reality, which is based on previous experiences (Runions and Keating 2007). If previous experiences with others are predominantly negative, these children may be especially prone to interpret the situation as threatening and react aggressively.…”

“…This developmental period was selected because individual differences in theory of mind in preschool children have been found to predict individual differences in social behavior at the beginning of schooling (Cutting and Dunn 2002;Dunn 1995;Runions and Keating 2007;Renouf et al 2010). Moreover, evidence suggests that a substantial amount of kindergarteners are already exposed to peer victimization (Barker et al 2008;Kochenderfer and Ladd 1996).…”

“…Specifically, reactively aggressive children show a hostile attribution bias (i.e., a tendency to suspect hostile intentions in others) when an ambiguous situation leads to a negative outcome for themselves (Crick and Dodge 1996;Dodge and Coie 1987;Schwartz et al 1998). It has been suggested that this hostile attribution bias may be attributable to a lack of theory of mind skills, particularly in young children (Katsurada and Sugawara 1998;Orobio de Castro et al 2002;Runions and Keating 2007). Specifically, children who have difficulties taking into account another person's perspective may be prone to react aggressively during social interactions involving real or perceived provocations or threats, based solely on their own negative outcome of the situation instead of the other person's intention (Pettit et al 1988).…”