Norms For Children Research Articles

Parents’ absence harms norm obedience of girls more than boys

We study how parental absence impacts children's norm obedience. Due to the prevalence of migrant labor in China, 61 million Chinese children have been “left behind,” with one or both parents absent from the home. Using a nationally representative sample of secondary school students, we find that rural “left-behind” girls exhibit norm disobedience at a higher rate than other girls or boys. They are more likely to cheat in school, use offensive language, and display anti-social behavior. We further find that being cared for by grandparents exacerbates the “left-behind” effect in rural girls, but not in other groups. This indicates that the son preference in rural China's older generation may leave rural “left behind” girls in disadvantaged situations. This finding is relevant for policy choices in developing countries, particularly to advancing and empowering women.

Can social robots affect children's prosocial behavior? An experimental study on prosocial robot models

The aim of this study was to investigate whether a social robot that models prosocial behavior (in terms of giving away stickers) influences the occurrence of prosocial behavior among children as well as the extent to which children behave prosocially. Additionally, we investigated whether the occurrence and extent of children's prosocial behavior changed when being repeated and whether the behavior modeled by the robot affected children's norms of prosocial behavior. In a one-factorial experiment (weakly prosocial robot vs. strongly prosocial robot), 61 children aged 8 to 10 and a social robot alternately played four rounds of a game against a computer and, after each round, could decide to give away stickers. Children who saw a strongly prosocial robot gave away more stickers than children who saw a weakly prosocial robot. A strongly prosocial robot also increased children's perception of how many other children engage in prosocial behavior (i.e., descriptive norms). The strongly prosocial robot affected the occurrence of prosocial behavior only in the first round, whereas its effect on the extent of children's prosocial behavior was most distinct in the last round. Our study suggests that the principles of social learning also apply to whether children learn prosocial behavior from robots.

Further evidence for social projection in the classroom: Predicting perceived ethnic norms

This longitudinal study examines whether children in late childhood (age 7–12) project their ethnic attitudes on their classroom peer group, by using these attitudes to predict children's perceptions of the descriptive ethnic norms in their classroom. Children's norm perceptions were relatively unstable over a half year period, and their ethnic minority group attitudes in the fall uniquely predicted their perceptions of the corresponding classroom norm in the spring. This effect seemed to be unrelated to age-related cognitive limitations, because it was equally strong for younger versus older participants and absent for children's majority group attitudes. Results indicate that children can use social projection to make inferences about ethnic classroom norms, which has important implications for peer influence studies that rely on subjective norm perceptions: What seems to be a normative influence in those studies might (partly) be a perpetuation and strengthening of children's prior attitudes and beliefs via social projection.

Older (but not younger) preschoolers reject incorrect knowledge claims.

As epistemic and normative learners, children are dependent on their developing skills for evaluating others' claims. This competence seems particularly important in the current digital age in which children need to discern valid from invalid assertions about the world in both real-life and virtual interactions to ultimately gather and accumulate robust knowledge. We investigated whether younger and older preschoolers (N=48) understand that a speaker's knowledge claim ('I know where X is') may be correct or incorrect given objectively accessible information (about whether the speaker had perceptual access to a critical event). We found that both younger and older preschoolers accepted correct knowledge claims that matched observable reality, but that only older preschoolers reliably rejected incorrect knowledge claims that did not match reality (the speaker lacked perceptual access). Nevertheless, a considerable proportion of younger preschoolers both rejected incorrect knowledge claims and gave valid explanations, suggesting that the ability to scrutinize epistemic claims develops gradually from around 3 to 4years of age. These findings may help integrate research on children's norm and theory of mind development. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Preschoolers understand that non-epistemic claims (e.g., 'This is an X!') may be correct or incorrect, and they track a speaker's relevant characteristics in testimonial situations. It is not known what preschoolers understand about the validity of epistemic (knowledge) claims (e.g., 'I know that X'). What does this study add? Younger and older preschoolers accepted correct knowledge claims (children observed that a speaker saw a critical event and was thus knowledgeable). Only older preschoolers reliably rejected incorrect knowledge claims (the speaker did not see the critical event). Nevertheless, a considerable proportion of younger preschoolers showed competence in their evaluation of, and reasoning about, incorrect knowledge claims. Findings suggest that the ability to evaluate epistemic claims develops gradually from around 3 to 4years of age.

Motivated and Unmotivated Violations from the Norm in Children's Books in Orginizing Extracurricular Reading

The paper presents the results of the research in the framework of the current trends in linguistics – text linguistics and stylistics. Now that the concept of the language norm is blurred to some extent due to the strong phenomena in language and speech dynamics, the language of texts for children should be treated with special attention and care, because love and interest to the language are formed through the reading of children's stories and poems. Observance of norms, clearness and transparency of texts for children does not mean absence of elements of language game in them. The language game is inherent in the speech of children themselves, as exactly in childhood the native speakers begin (sometimes intentionally and sometimes mistakenly) to experiment, create new words and forms. Therefore, primarily in children's works the language game is both a means of attracting attention and inviting a small reader to the mysterious and complex world of the great Word. In the course of oral and written speech, it is possible to notice cases of deviation from the norm. They appear in pronunciation, in the production of stressed syllables in the word, in the use of certain grammatical forms in discourse. These violations can have a different character. If, on the one hand, they can be quite unpretentious evidence of illiteracy and underdeveloped speech culture, on the other hand, they can be purposely planned, emphasizing and revealing a certain idea. In this scenario they are designed for understanding the meaning and constitute a special literary device. So there appears a specific game with an easy-to-understand implied sense.

How to Dax? Preschool Children's Prosocial Behavior, But Not Their Social Norm Enforcement Relates to Their Peer Status.

The current study examined correlates of preschool children’s (n = 82) peer status. In particular, we assessed children’s prosocial behavior, social problem behavior, norm enforcement, language abilities, and temperament. Children’s prosocial behavior, pragmatic language abilities, and gender correlated with peer status. A regression analysis revealed that prosocial behavior and gender were independent predictors. There was some evidence for a mediation effect: The link between pragmatic language and peer status was mediated by prosocial behavior. Children’s norm enforcement was not related to peer status, neither was it related to any other factor such as temperament or language. Overall, the study supports approaches claiming that prosocial behavior plays a role in children’s social functioning and are in line with social-interactionist accounts to social and social-cognitive development.

Ethnic Attitudes and Social Projection in the Classroom.

This research examined the process and conditions of social projection of biased ethnic attitudes to classmates in two samples of Grades 4-6 children (n=342, Mage =10.75, SD=0.98; 49% girls; and n=525, Mage =10.49years, SD=0.96; 51% girls). Children reported on the ethnic group norm in their classroom and on their own ethnic attitudes. Multilevel analyses showed that ethnic majority (Studies 1 and 2) and ethnic minority (Study 2) children's norm perceptions were partly accurate as they not only reflected the aggregated attitudes in each classroom but also related to children's unique attitudes that indicated social projection. Projection was stronger for the most disadvantaged minority group and for children with less depressed affect.

Picture Norms for Chinese Preschool Children: Name Agreement, Familiarity, and Visual Complexity

Pictorial stimuli standardized for Chinese children are still absent although it is needed in order to test the development of children's cognitive functions. This study presents normative measures for Snodgrass and Vanderwart pictures, viewed by 4- and 6-year old Chinese children. Name agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity were obtained for each age group. The data indicate substantial differences between young and older children in name agreement based on expected name, familiarity and visual complexity. The correlation pattern of the variables collected in the present study were consistent with children's norms in other languages and norms of Chinese adults, while there are cross-age and cross-culture differences in specific variables. The obtained measures represent a useful tool for further research on Chinese children's pictorial processing and constitute the first picture normative study for children in this language.

Reification Processes of Social Norms in Children and Adolescents

In this paper we present a research study on the reification processes of social norms in children and adolescents. The research was conducted in 10 schools in the city of Barcelona (3 upper class and 7 working class schools). 896 children and adolescents participated in this research. They were students from Catholic and non-denominational schools aged 9 to 16. An innovative technique was used in order to analyze reification processes. This technique consists of an unfinished story that presents an open normative conflict in which the main character disobeys a social norm. The kids are asked to finish the story, resolving the proposed dilemma or leaving it unresolved. The texts are subsequently analyzed distinguishing between those that sustain the norm on a suprasocial base (reification) and those that link it to a social base (ideological reproduction). In this paper we analyze the factors that influence children and adolescents to reify norms, paying special attention to variables such as gender, age (9-16 years), the school's religious ideology (Catholic and non-denominational), family socioeconomic status (high and low), norm type (instrumental and substantive rationality) and the level of proximity of the setting in which the norm is inserted (urban and rural).

Children's Norm Enforcement in Their Interactions With Peers

This study investigates how children negotiate social norms with peers. In Study 1, 48 pairs of 3- and 5-year-olds (N = 96) and in Study 2, 48 pairs of 5- and 7-year-olds (N = 96) were presented with sorting tasks with conflicting instructions (one child by color, the other by shape) or identical instructions. Three-year-olds differed from older children: They were less selective for the contexts in which they enforced norms, and they (as well as the older children to a lesser extent) used grammatical constructions objectifying the norms ("It works like this" rather than "You must do it like this"). These results suggested that children's understanding of social norms becomes more flexible during the preschool years.

Static Balance Norms in Children

The ability to sustain single leg stance and tandem stance is often used to determine the balance abilities of children, particularly after ankle or foot injury. The aim of this study was to assess performance norms on timed static balance tests in children aged 4 to 15 years. Cross-sectional study Children from schools across the Republic of Ireland (n = 534) were tested on six balance tests as well as a standing broad jump. Interquartile ranges for the tests are presented for each age group (4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11 and 12+ years). The results confirm the improvement in balance performance as children age especially after the 7 to 8th year. Girls tend to outperform boys across all balance tests. There is a ceiling effect for some single leg stance and tandem stance tests after the age of 7 years. Results can be used for comparative purposes against age appropriate normative balance test scores. This removes the estimation from balance testing and the risk of applying an insufficient cut-off time.

The 30-Second Walk Test (30sWT) Norms for Children

The 30-Second Walk Test (30sWT) Norms for Children

The Early Numeracy Test in Finnish: Children's norms

This article concerns psychometric aspects of the Finnish Early Numeracy Test, which has been translated from the original Dutch Early Numeracy Test. The advantage of the test is that young children's numerical skills can be assessed systematically, which was not possible previously in Finland. A norm study was conducted in which the test was administered to a representative sample of 1,029 Finnish children. The reliability and validity results justify the use of the test as an early-childhood screening test and in research on number sense. The indicative effects of gender, parental professional education, domicile and number of siblings are discussed.

Children's reasoning by mathematical induction: normative facts, not just causal facts

My argument for an empirical and normative model of children's development applicable to reasoning in mathematics is in three parts. Part I is a review of the evidence from a recent study of the development of young children's (aged 5–7 years) reasoning by mathematical induction. Part II outlines an interpretation in terms of an inclusive unit of analysis, which is the act of judgement combining causal facts and normative facts. Norms are manifest as rules, obligatory commands, and technical directives about “what has to be done” and “what has to be”. Normativity has been marginalised, even omitted, from most other accounts of children's development and education. Causal regularity is not the same as normative regulation. The final part is a review of five educational implications, covering reasoning by induction in the mathematics curriculum for children, diagnostic assessment of both adults’ norms and children's norms in children's reasoning, formative assessment through normative regulation, and critical methods in investigating children's norms. Underlying all the three parts are key principles of Piaget's constructivism about norms at work in human minds in action.

Electrogastrographic Norms in Children: Toward the Development of Standard Methods, Reproducible Results, and Reliable Normative Data

ABSTRACTBackgroundSurface electrogastrography (EGG) is a noninvasive technique that detects gastric myoelectrical electric activity, principally the underlying pacemaker activity generated by the specialized interstitial cells of Cajal. Interest in the use of this methodology has grown because of its potential applications in describing functional gastrointestinal disorders, particularly as a tool in the evaluation of nausea, anorexia, and other dyspeptic symptoms.MethodsFifty‐five healthy volunteers (27 female), ranging in age from 6 to 18 years (mean, 11.7 years), were studied for a 1‐hour baseline preprandial period and a 1‐hour postprandial period after consumption of a standard 448‐kcal meal. Recordings were obtained with an EGG Digitrapper or modified Polygraph (Medtronic‐Synectics, Shoreview, MN). Spectral analysis by an autoregressive moving average method was used to extract numerical data on the power and frequency of gastric electrical activity from the EGG signal.ResultsThe authors present normative data for healthy children and adolescents studied under a standardized protocol. Mean dominant frequency was found to be 2.9 ± 0.40 cycles per minute preprandially and 3.1 ± 0.35 postprandially, with 80% ± 13% of test time spent in the normogastric range (2–4 cycles per minute) before and 85% ± 11% after the test meal. The response of several key parameters to meal consumption was considered, and the effects of age, gender, and body mass index (BMI) on the EGG were sought.ConclusionsThere is a postprandial increase in the rhythmicity and amplitude of gastric slow waves, as other investigators have shown in adults. Key normative values are not dependent on age, gender, or BMI. The authors discuss limitations in the data set and its interpretability. The authors establish a normative data set after developing a standardized recording protocol and test meal and show that EGG recordings can be obtained reliably in the pediatric population. Development of similar norms by investigators using the EGG is crucial for future exploration of the validity and clinical application of the EGG. Differences in test conditions of signal detection and analytic methods influence EGG results substantially, and caution should be used when comparing results across centers.

Electrogastrographic norms in children: toward the development of standard methods, reproducible results, and reliable normative data.

Surface electrogastrography (EGG) is a noninvasive technique that detects gastric myoelectrical electric activity, principally the underlying pacemaker activity generated by the specialized interstitial cells of Cajal. Interest in the use of this methodology has grown because of its potential applications in describing functional gastrointestinal disorders, particularly as a tool in the evaluation of nausea, anorexia, and other dyspeptic symptoms. Fifty-five healthy volunteers (27 female), ranging in age from 6 to 18 years (mean, 11.7 years), were studied for a 1-hour baseline preprandial period and a 1-hour postprandial period after consumption of a standard 448-kcal meal. Recordings were obtained with an EGG Digitrapper or modified Polygraph (Medtronic-Synectics, Shoreview, MN). Spectral analysis by an autoregressive moving average method was used to extract numerical data on the power and frequency of gastric electrical activity from the EGG signal. The authors present normative data for healthy children and adolescents studied under a standardized protocol. Mean dominant frequency was found to be 2.9 +/- 0.40 cycles per minute preprandially and 3.1 +/- 0.35 postprandially, with 80% +/- 13% of test time spent in the normogastric range (2-4 cycles per minute) before and 85% +/- 11% after the test meal. The response of several key parameters to meal consumption was considered, and the effects of age, gender, and body mass index (BMI) on the EGG were sought. There is a postprandial increase in the rhythmicity and amplitude of gastric slow waves, as other investigators have shown in adults. Key normative values are not dependent on age, gender, or BMI. The authors discuss limitations in the data set and its interpretability. The authors establish a normative data set after developing a standardized recording protocol and test meal and show that EGG recordings can be obtained reliably in the pediatric population. Development of similar norms by investigators using the EGG is crucial for future exploration of the validity and clinical application of the EGG. Differences in test conditions of signal detection and analytic methods influence EGG results substantially, and caution should be used when comparing results across centers.

Cortisol and social stressors in children with fragile X: a pilot study.

Evidence of neuroendocrine dysfunction, behavioral features of social anxiety and avoidance, and neuroanatomical abnormalities suggest that abnormal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function may be a component of the fragile X (fra X) syndrome. In this preliminary study, salivary cortisol levels of males (n = 8, mean age = 13.5 yr) and females (n = 7, mean age = 13.9 yr) with the fra X full mutation were studied for 3 days. Day 1 was an experimental day, during which subjects experienced a Social Stressor task midmorning. Days 2 and 3 were routine days, during which the subjects were engaged in their typical activities. Saliva samples were collected before breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime. On the experimental day, the prelunch sample collection occurred 30 and 90 minutes after the Social Stressor task. Compared with children's norms, the combined group of males and females with fra X had significantly higher cortisol levels in the prelunch and the prebedtime samples for the routine days. Comparisons between the two fra X groups for the experimental day revealed similar diurnal patterns for cortisol level. However, compared with females with fra X, males with fra X had significantly higher cortisol levels at two points during the day: 30 minutes after the social stressor and at bedtime. These preliminary data suggest that individuals with fra X have abnormal HPA function. Understanding the relations among HPA dysfunction, abnormalities in brain structure and/or function, and maladaptive behavior and cognition in fra X could inform the design of early interventions using pharmacological or environmental measures designed to normalize neuroendocrine function.

A Longitudinal Analysis of Internalization of Parental Alcohol-Use Norms and Adolescent Alcohol Use

A model was tested in which predictions were advanced about children's internalization of their parents' alcohol-use norms and their own subsequent alcohol-use behavior. The sample included 132 families with a child who was 10-12 years old at the Time 1 assessment. Data were obtained in 3 waves at 1-year intervals. Parents' alcohol-use norms were assessed at Time 1, children's alcohol-use norms at Time 2, and children's drinking behavior at Time 3. The link between parents' alcohol-use norms and children's drinking behavior was mediated through the children's own norms. Father-child relationship processes moderated the links between fathers' and children's norms and between children's norms and subsequent alcohol use. The findings highlight a need for further research on internalization processes using samples large enough to detect moderational effects.

Parent-child relationships, child temperament profiles and children's alcohol use norms.

The purpose of this study was to examine the contributions of child temperament, parents' alcohol use norms for their children and parent-child relationship quality to children's alcohol use norms. Observational and self-report data on these variables were gathered from mothers, fathers and target children during home visits to a purposive random sample of 171 intact white families with a 10- to 12-year-old child, 85 with girls and 86 with boys. Liberality in children's norms was associated with active, sensation-seeking temperament, liberality in parents' norms and poor parent-child relationship quality. Positive parent-child, particularly father-child, relationships were associated with less liberal child norms even when parents' norms were liberal and children's temperaments were active and sensation oriented. Positive parent-child relationships have a conventionalizing effect on children's alcohol use norms that moderates the effects of temperament and parental norms. The development of alcohol use norms is best described by transactional models.

Rey AVLT: Developmental Norms for Children and the Sensitivity of Different Memory Measures to Age

Nine hundred and forty-three children (487 boys and 456 girls, age range 8 to 17 years, divided into 10 age cohorts) were administered the Hebrew version of the Rey AVLT. Separate norms for boys and girls in each age group are reported. Sensitivity to age for 14 memory measures extracted from the Rey AVLT was analyzed. One of the most consistent findings across the different scores is that memory changes in the 8- to 10- year-old age range are more dynamic than changes in the 11- to 17- year-old age range. The results also show a significant and consistent advantage for girls over boys on most of the verbal memory measures. Detailed analyses of sensitivity to age of the different measures extracted from the Rey AVLT provide very useful information for the diagnostician testing auditory-verbal memory in children.