Children's Social Learning Research Articles

PSYCHOSOCIAL ASPECTS OF FUNCTIONAL GASTROINTESTINAL DISORDERS

Increased numbers of psychiatric diagnoses and increased levels of psychological distress are seen in the majority of medical clinic patients with gastrointestinal motility disorders. In IBS, psychological symptoms are believed to be comorbid conditions, which do not cause the motility disorder but which do influence the patient's decision to consult a physician. In functional dyspepsia, psychological symptoms are present in many patients, but their role is not known; the available data suggest that psychological symptoms do not predict which patients will consult a physician. Among constipated patients, anxiety is believed to contribute to the development and course of pelvic floor dyssynergia by increasing pelvic floor muscle tension. Constipated patients without physiologic abnormalities to explain their constipation appear to have more psychological symptoms than those with delayed colonic transit, but there is significant psychological distress even in patients with slow transit constipation. Psychological symptoms do not seem to predict which constipated patients will consult a physician. There is an increased incidence of psychiatric diagnoses in patients with esophageal motility disorders as well, but the role that these psychological symptoms play in the course of the disorder is not known. Patients with the most common gastrointestinal motility disorders, IBS and dyspepsia, report experiencing more stressful life events, and IBS patients appear to show a greater increase in gastrointestinal symptoms when exposed to stressors. Laboratory studies document that acute psychological stressors do alter gastric, small bowel, and colonic motility, and patients with IBS appear to show a greater change in colonic and ileal motility with stress than healthy controls. Greater reactivity has not been demonstrated for the esophagus or stomach, however, and it has not been demonstrated for other gastrointestinal motility disorders. A characteristic of many patients who consult gastroenterologists for IBS and other motility disorders is a tendency to report multiple somatic complaints (including many nongastrointestinal complaints) and to overuse medical resources. This pattern of behavior is referred to as somatization or abnormal illness behavior. One source of abnormal illness behavior is childhood social learning, which occurs (1) when parents provide gifts or special privileges to a child who reports somatic symptoms or (2) when parents model abnormal illness behaviors themselves.

Book Review: Schooling, Welfare and Parental Responsibility, the Social Subjects within the Curriculum: Children's Social Learning in the National Curriculum

Book Review: Schooling, Welfare and Parental Responsibility, the Social Subjects within the Curriculum: Children's Social Learning in the National Curriculum

Social Skills Learning for Students with Learning Disabilities and Students with Behaviour Disorders

Abstract This study examined the effects of a computer‐assisted social skills intervention on the social competence and behaviour adjustment of students with special needs. The sample consisted of 114 male students, divided into two groups: 52 students with learning disabilities (LD) (mean age = 12.23; SD = 1.12) and 62 students with behaviour disorders (BD) (mean age = 12.53; SD = 1.34). The students were trained with the “I Found a Solution” computer‐assisted social skill package. The intervention consisted of the computer‐assisted program and teacher‐guided work. Each student was assessed, before and after the training, on: teacher‐rated self‐control and maladjusted behaviours, peer‐rated social acceptance and self‐rated loneliness. Through conceptualisation based on the students’ loneliness and externalising maladjustment, four subgroups were identified: (a) relatively adjusted students; (b) externalising and not‐lonely students; (c) lonely and non‐externalising students; and (d) lonely and externalising students. The analyses included subgroups b, c and d, excluding the relatively adjusted subgroup, adding up to a sample of 83 students (35 students with learning disabilities and 48 students with behaviour disorders). A series of two‐way ANOVAs with repeated measures (grouping by subgrouping, with pre‐/post‐training scores as the repeated measures) revealed that following training, students in both groups felt less lonely and were more accepted by peers. Teachers rated them as demonstrating higher levels of self‐control and decreased externalising and internalising maladjustment. The differential impact of the training between groups (LD/BD) and among subgroups (b/c/d) highlighted the significance of the subtyping approach for understanding the children's social learning profiles and for directing effective social skill programming.

THE ROLE OF PARENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN'S ETHNIC ATTITUDES

Investigation into the dynamics of children's prejudices leads inevitably to a study of children's experiences in the home. This research, through interviews with the parents, studies parents' attitudes and values concerning racial and religious groups in our culture as these attitudes and values are incorporated into the child rearing practices and philosophies of the parents. The research problem may be broken down into its specific questions: Do parents accept as one of their responsibilities the development of their children's attitudes and values concerning human relations? Are they aware of their children's beliefs and attitudes about racial and religious groups, and of the children's feelings of security and insecurity arising therefrom? Are parents aware of their own contributions to their children's social learning? By the freedoms granted and the restrictions imposed in their children's social relationships, how are parents influencing their children's attitudes? Are the parents' ideologies concerning group differences consistent with their behavior, or is there a discrepancy in the direction of democratic ideology but exclusive and discriminatory behavior toward out-groups? Are there feelings of guilt related to such discrepancies? How adequate is parents' understanding of cultural differences, and how effective is their guidance in developing democratic group relations among the children? When confronted with intergroup tensions, how do parents handle these tensions for themselves and their children? In summary, the purposes of this research are to study (a) the kinds of training which parents provide for their children in the area of human relations, and (b) the beliefs and attitudes of the parents which underlie their treatment of cultural differences. An additional problem of the research concerns the parents' opinions regarding the role of the school in intercultural education.