Children's Social Behavior Research Articles

Association between theory of mind and mental state talk in preschoolers and later social competence and behaviour

AbstractThis study had 2 primary aims: (a) to investigate the concurrent links between preschool‐aged children's theory of mind (ToM) and mental state talk at 55 months and (b) to examine the longitudinal associations between preschool‐aged children's social understanding, as indicated by their ToM, and mental references, and their later social competence and behaviour at 69 months. Participants included 73 children and their mothers. ToM was assessed using a battery that consisted of 6 standardized tasks, and social competence and behaviour were assessed via teacher ratings. We observed an association between children's ToM and their mental state talk, specifically regarding cognition references during interactions with their mothers. Moreover, both children's ToM and mental references were longitudinally related to social competence and behaviour but only in girls. Our results support that ToM, which was assessed using false belief tasks, and the child's tendencies to refer to mental states during everyday interactions are 2 important related markers of children's social understanding and that both are linked to children's social competence and behaviour. The importance of considering gender‐specific effects when investigating children's social cognition is also highlighted.Highlights The relationship between preschoolers' social understanding and later social competence is examined. Both children's theory of mind and mental state talk were associated with later teacher‐rated social competence, but only for girls. Theory of mind and mental state talk seem to be related markers of children's social understanding, linked to social competence.

Parent-Mediated Intervention Training Delivered Remotely for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Living Outside of Urban Areas: Systematic Review.

BackgroundParent training programs for families living outside of urban areas can be used to improve the social behavior and communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, no review has been conducted to investigate these programs.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to (1) systematically review the existing evidence presented by studies on parent-mediated intervention training, delivered remotely for parents having children with ASD and living outside of urban areas; (2) provide an overview of current parent training interventions used with this population; (3) and provide an overview of the method of delivery of the parent training interventions used with this population.MethodsGuided by the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement, we conducted a comprehensive review across 5 electronic databases (CINAHL, Embase, ERIC, PsycINFO, and Pubmed) on July 4, 2016, searching for studies investigating parent-mediated intervention training for families living outside of urban centers who have a child diagnosed with ASD. Two independent researchers reviewed the articles for inclusion, and assessment of methodological quality was based on the Kmet appraisal checklist.ResultsSeven studies met the eligibility criteria, including 2 prepost cohort studies, 3 multiple baseline studies, and 2 randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Interventions included mostly self-guided websites: with and without therapist assistance (n=6), with training videos, written training manuals, and videoconferencing. Post intervention, studies reported significant improvements (P<.05) in parent knowledge (n=4), parent intervention fidelity (n=6), and improvements in children’s social behavior and communication skills (n=3). A high risk of bias existed within all of the studies because of a range of factors including small sample sizes, limited use of standardized outcome measures, and a lack of control groups to negate confounding factors.ConclusionsThere is preliminary evidence that parent-mediated intervention training delivered remotely may improve parent knowledge, increase parent intervention fidelity, and improve the social behavior and communication skills for children with ASD. A low number of RCTs, difficulty in defining the locality of the population, and a paucity of standardized measures limit the generalization of the findings to the target population. Future studies should investigate the appropriateness and feasibility of the interventions, include RCTs to control for bias, and utilize standard outcome measures.

The construct of maternal positivity in mothers of children with intellectual disability.

Despite the elevated levels of stress, anxiety and depression reported by mothers of children with intellectual disabilities (ID), these mothers also experience positive well-being and describe positive perceptions of their child. To date, maternal positivity has been operationalised in different ways by using a variety of measures. In the present study, we tested whether a latent construct of maternal positivity could be derived from different measures of positivity. One hundred and thirty-five mothers of 89 boys and 46 girls with ID between 3 and 18years of age completed measures on parental self-efficacy, their satisfaction with life, family satisfaction, their positive affect and their positive perceptions of their child with ID. We conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of latent positivity and subsequently tested its association with child social skills and behaviour problems, and maternal mental health. A latent maternal positivity factor achieved a statistically good fit by using the five observed indicators of positivity. Parental self-efficacy had the strongest loading on the latent factor. Maternal positivity was significantly negatively associated with maternal psychological distress, maternal stress and child problem behaviours and positively associated with child positive social behaviour. These findings lend support to the importance of examining parental positivity in families raising a child with ID, and using multiple indicators of positivity. Associations with negative psychological outcomes suggest that interventions focused on increasing parental positivity may have beneficial effects for parents. Further research is needed, especially in relation to such interventions.

Parental Stress and Children’s Social and Behavioral Outcomes: The Role of Abuse Potential over Time

Parental stress is a well-established risk factor for adverse child outcomes, including the development of aggression, externalizing behavior problems, and anxiety, as well as compromised emotional coping, impaired social cognition, and diminished treatment response. Abuse potential represents a mechanism by which parental stress may impact child social competence and behavior; evidence links parental stress to abuse potential, and abuse potential to a range of negative child social competence and behavioral outcomes. The current study assessed relationships between parental stress, abuse potential, and child social and behavioral outcomes over time. Parents of children ages 2–6 years (N = 610, 44% girls) reported on perceived parental stress and attitudes towards abuse and neglect, as well as child social competence and behavior problems, before and after a caregiver-directed, community-based intervention. Changes in parental stress, abuse potential, and child social and behavioral outcomes were examined using panel analyses, while controlling for intervention effects and demographic variables. Parental stress predicted child social competence, anxiety/withdrawal, and anger/aggression over time; while the links between stress and anxiety/withdrawal, and stress and social competence, were mediated by child abuse potential, the link between stress and anger/aggression was not mediated by child abuse potential. Findings suggest that abuse potential represents a mechanism by which parental stress and child social and behavioral outcomes are linked. Further, screening for child social competence deficits may identify children at risk for abuse, as well as parents in need of services to reduce stress.

Effectiveness of Sensory and Social Group Interventions to Improve the Participation of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder via Goal Attainment Scaling

Abstract Date Presented 3/31/2017 The purpose of this study is to determine, based on individualized measures such as goal attainment scaling, the effectiveness of a group intervention combining sensory integration techniques with social skills training on the social behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorder. Primary Author and Speaker: Lori Charney Additional Authors and Speakers: Felicia Bartello, Erin Soulsby, Desirae Waltman, Ellen McLaughlin, Amanda Salak Contributing Authors: Jonathan Jorda

Social Cognition in Children Born Preterm: A Perspective on Future Research Directions

Preterm birth is a major risk factor for children’s development. It affects children’s cognitive and intellectual development and is related to impairments in IQ, executive functions, and well-being, with these problems persisting into adulthood. While preterm children’s intellectual and cognitive development has been studied in detail, their social development and social-cognitive competencies have received less attention. Namely, preterm children show problems in interactions with others. These interaction problems are present in relationships with parents, teachers, and peers. Parents’ behavior has been identified as a possible mediator of children’s social behavior. Maternal sensitivity and responsiveness as well as absence of mental disorders foster children’s social development. In this article, we will report on the social side of impairments that preterm children face. The review of the literature revealed that preterm infants’ joint attention abilities are impaired: They are less likely to initiate joint attention with others and to respond to others’ efforts to engage in joint attention. These deficits in joint attention might contribute to later impairments in social cognition, which in turn might affect social interaction skills. Based on these three domains (i.e., problems in social interaction, parental behavior, and impairments in joint attention), we suggest that preterm children’s social cognitive abilities should be investigated more intensively.

Urinary organophosphate insecticide metabolite concentrations during pregnancy and children's interpersonal, communication, repetitive, and stereotypic behaviors at 8 years of age: The home study

BackgroundPrenatal exposure to organophosphate insecticides may be associated with autism spectrum disorders and related behaviors. This association may be modified by single nucleotide polymorphisms in the paraoxonase (PON1) enzyme. ObjectiveWe examined the relationship of prenatal organophosphate insecticide biomarkers with reciprocal social, repetitive, and stereotypic behaviors in 8-year old children, and modification of this relationship by child PON1 polymorphisms. MethodsAmong 224 pregnant women, we quantified concentrations of six nonspecific dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites of organophosphate insecticides in two urine samples collected at ~16 and ~26 weeks gestation. When children were eight years old, we administered the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), a continuous measure of various dimensions of interpersonal behavior, communication, and repetitive/stereotypic behaviors. We estimated the association between a 10-fold increase in the sum of six DAP concentrations (ΣDAP) and SRS scores. We examined whether child PON1192 and PON1–108 genotypes modified this association. ResultsAfter covariate adjustment, ΣDAP concentrations were not associated with SRS scores[β=–1.2; 95% confidence interval (CI): –4.0, 1.6]. Among children with the PON1–108TT genotype, ΣDAP concentrations were associated with 2.5-point higher (95% CI: −4.9, 9.8) SRS scores; however, the association was not different from the 1.8-point decrease (95% CI: −5.8, 2.2) among children with PON1–108CT/CC genotypes (ΣDAP × PON1–108 p-value =0.54). The association between ΣDAP concentrations and SRS scores was not modified by PON1192 (ΣDAP × PON1192 p-value =0.89). ConclusionsIn this cohort, prenatal urinary DAP concentrations were not associated with children's social behaviors; these associations were not modified by child PON1 genotype.

Self-regulation and household routines at age three and obesity at age eleven: longitudinal analysis of the UK Millennium Cohort Study.

ObjectiveTo examine, in a population-based cohort of three-year-old children, the association between self-regulation and exposure to the household routines of regular bedtime, regular mealtime, and limits on watching television/video; and to determine whether self-regulation and these routines predict the risk of obesity at age 11.MethodsAnalyses included 10 955 children in the nationally-representative UK Millennium Cohort Study. When children were age 3, parents reported whether children had a regular bedtime and mealtime and the amount of television/video watched. Emotional and cognitive self-regulation at age 3 were assessed by parent-report with the Child Social Behaviour Questionnaire. Children’s height and weight were measured at age 11 and obesity was defined using the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) criteria.ResultsAt age 3, 41% of children always had a regular bedtime, 47% always had a regular mealtime, and 23% were limited to ≤1 hour television/video daily. At age 11, 6.2% of children were obese. All three household routines were significantly associated with better emotional self-regulation, but not better cognitive self-regulation. In a multi-variable logistic regression model including emotional and cognitive self-regulation, all routines, and controlling for sociodemographic covariates, a 1 unit difference in emotional self-regulation at age 3 was associated with an OR (95% CI) for obesity of 1.38 (1.11, 1.71) at age 11, and inconsistent bedtimes with an OR (95% CI) for obesity of 1.87 (1.39, 2.51) at age 11. There was no evidence that emotional self-regulation mediated the relationship between regular bedtimes and later obesity. Cognitive self-regulation was not associated with later obesity.ConclusionsThree-year-old children who had regular bedtimes, mealtimes, and limits on their television/video time had better emotional self-regulation. Lack of a regular bedtime and poorer emotional self-regulation at age 3 were independent predictors of obesity at age 11.

Secretagogin (SCGN) Plasma Levels and their Association with Cognitive and Social Behavior in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD).

To investigate the secretagogin (SCGN) plasma levels in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to age and gender-matched healthy control, and its association with cognitive and social behaviors by using childhood autism rating scale (CARS) and social responsiveness scale (SRS). Case-control study. Autism Research and Treatment Center, Al-Amodi Autism Research Chair, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from October 2015 to May 2016. SCGN levels were determined in the plasma of thirty-seven (37) autistic children using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), categorized as mild-moderate and severe as indicated by their CARS scores and compared with thirty (30) age and gender-matched control samples. Correlation between SCGN levels and different cognitive and social behavior scales (CARS and SRS) was determined by Spearman's correlation coefficient (r). The results indicated that autistic children (n=37) had significantly (p= 0.005) lower plasma level of SCGN {45.7 (26.2) ng/ml [median (IQR)]} than those of healthy controls {n=30, 70.8 (48.6) ng/ml [median (IQR)]}. Children with severe (n=28, 76%) as well as mild to moderate autism (n=09, 24%) also exhibited significantly lower SCGN levels {47.5 (27) ng/ml [median (IQR)], p =0.014} and {45.7 (16.6) ng/ml [median (IQR)], p = 0.02)}, respectively than healthy controls {n=30, 70.8 (48.6) ng/ml [median (IQR)]}. However, there was no significant difference between the SCGN levels of children with mild to moderate and severe autism (p = 0.66). Spearman's correlation coefficient (r) was used to determine the relationships between SCGN levels and different variables (CARS, SRS). However, the results showed no significant correlation between SCGN and these scales. (CARS, r=-0.03, p=0.86; SRS, r=0.21, p=0.20). The low SCGN plasma levels in children with ASD probably indicate that SCGN might be implicated in the pathogenesis of autism. However, these data should be treated with caution until further investigations are performed using larger sample sizes to determine whether the decrease in plasma SCGN levels is a mere consequence of autism or it plays a pathogenic role in the disease.

Impact of Soap Opera Show “Sports” Go Bmx on Social Behavior of Children

The purpose of this research is to describe the impact of soap opera show “sport” Go BMX on social behavior of children. The Method of research, this study was included as a descriptive qualitative research in a survey form. The result of research shows that the impact of Soap Opera show “sport” Go BMX to: (1) development a culture of movement (motor culture) “sport” biking in children that led to the improvement of physical fitness of children. (2) A growing number of children who liked cycling. It gave opportunities on improving the buying and selling bikes; (3) development the values of characters such as cooperative, joy, competitive, spirit, and other social attitude. While other negative impacts were: (a) the Al Quran reading time in the evening or course time was undisturbed, and children sometimes were being lazy for to do that activity; (b) Activities learning at night was disturbed because of fatigue playing bike in the afternoon. Then, the children directly went to bed; (c) children watched immediately the soap opera show Go BMX “sport” through You Tube when they got out of bed or came home from school; and (d) children insisted to buy a new BMX bike. The implications of research can be carried out (1) for parents are to provide a guidance and mentoring of children in watching time, as well as limiting the playing time for cycling, while (2) for the soap opera show producers or the likes are to make a soap opera show with consideration to the “spirit” of values that can foster the values of education, “Indonesian”, even the cultural values of the area and other local wisdom; and (3) it is needed more in-depth study related to a packaging of soap opera show “sport” with a number of variables including the children’ social behavior change, social, economic and others.

Maternal depression and intimate partner violence exposure: Longitudinal analyses of the development of aggressive behavior in an at-risk sample.

A substantial body of literature has documented the negative effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) on a wide range of children's developmental outcomes. However, whether a child's exposure to IPV leads to increased adjustment difficulties is likely to depend on a variety of factors, including the caregiver's mental health and the developmental time period when IPV exposure occurs. The present study seeks to improve our understanding of the long-term effects of IPV exposure and maternal depression on the development of children's overt aggressive behavior. Longitudinal analyses (i.e., latent growth curve modeling) examining three time points (toddler: age 2-3 years, preschool/kindergarten: age 4-5 years, and elementary school: age 6-8 years) were conducted using 1,399 at-risk children drawn from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW-I). IPV exposure during age 2-3 years was significantly related to concurrent aggressive behavior and aggressive behavior during age 4-5 years. At all three time points, IPV was significantly associated with maternal depression, which in turn, was significantly related to higher levels of aggressive behavior. There was also a significant indirect lagged effect of IPV exposure at age 2-3 years through maternal depression on aggressive behavior at age 4-5 years. Results indicated that maternal depression was a strong predictor of increased reports of overt aggressive behavior, suggesting that interventions to buffer the effects of IPV exposure should focus on relieving maternal depression and fostering productive social behavior in children. Aggr. Behav. 43:375-385, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

그림책을 활용한 창의적 극놀이가 유아의 상상력 및 친사회적 행동에 미치는 영향

그림책을 활용한 창의적 극놀이가 유아의 상상력 및 친사회적 행동에 미치는 영향

Developmental profiles of children’s spontaneous lie-telling behavior

Lying emerges as a typical childhood behavior, but little is known about the frequency and types of lies that children tell in relation to age and theory of mind (ToM). This study explored the frequency and types of lies that children 3–14 years old (N=229) told in their natural environments over two weeks, as reported by their parents. Results suggest that classes of lie-telling behavior emerge according to age and ToM: occasional liars (those with few lies reported across categories; 51%), instrumental liars (lies primarily for material benefit; 42%), and antisocial liars (lies primarily to avoid personal consequences; 7%). Children with lower ToM had a higher frequency of antisocial lies reported, which suggests the use of lie-telling as a problematic social behavior in children whose ToM lags behind their peers.

Decreased Left Caudate Volume Is Associated with Increased Severity of Autistic-Like Symptoms in a Cohort of ADHD Patients and Their Unaffected Siblings.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms frequently occur in individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). While there is evidence that both ADHD and ASD have differential structural brain correlates, knowledge of the structural brain profile of individuals with ADHD with raised ASD symptoms is limited. The presence of ASD-like symptoms was measured by the Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ) in a sample of typically developing controls (n = 154), participants with ADHD (n = 239), and their unaffected siblings (n = 144) between the ages of 8 and 29. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) correlates of ASD ratings were analysed by studying the relationship between ASD ratings and grey matter volumes using mixed effects models which controlled for ADHD symptom count and total brain volume. ASD ratings were significantly elevated in participants with ADHD relative to controls and unaffected siblings. For the entire group (participants with ADHD, unaffected siblings and TD controls), mixed effect models revealed that the left caudate nucleus volume was negatively correlated with ASD ratings (t = 2.83; P = 0.005). The current findings are consistent with the role of the caudate nucleus in executive function, including the selection of goals based on the evaluation of action outcomes and the use of social reward to update reward representations. There is a specific volumetric profile associated with subclinical ASD-like symptoms in participants with ADHD, unaffected siblings and controls with the caudate nucleus and globus pallidus being of critical importance in predicting the level of ASD-like symptoms in all three groups.

Psychological Distress and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms: The Role of Maternal Satisfaction, Parenting Stress, and Social Support Among Mothers and Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence.

Studies of the effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) on parenting have usually not examined the role of the maternal perceptions, either its stress or maternal satisfaction, on the mothers' and children's mental health functioning. The present study aimed to assess whether maternal satisfaction, parenting stress, and social support are significantly associated with women's psychological functioning. The study also assessed whether maternal perceptions of the role of parenting were significantly associated with children's emotional well-being and social behavior. The sample included 160 mothers, 79 (49.4%) who were living with the aggressors and 81 (50.6%) in shelters, and their children (n = 61). The findings suggested that high levels of maternal satisfaction and perception of social support were significantly negatively associated with women's posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and psychological distress, whereas parenting stress was significantly positively associated with these outcomes. Maternal satisfaction was the only parenting variable that predicted both maternal mental health and children's emotional and behavioral problems, suggesting that it is a protective factor for both mothers and children. This study suggests that increasing maternal satisfaction with parenting and reducing parenting stress might promote better adjustment for both women and children victims of IPV.

Autism, attachment, and social learning: Three challenges and a way forward

We explore three challenges that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) poses to our understanding of the processes underlying early attachment. First, while caregiver-infant attachment and later social-affiliative behavior share common biobehavioral mechanisms, individuals with ASD are able to form secure attachment relationships, despite reduced social-emotional reciprocity and motivation for social interaction. Therefore, disruptions in social affiliation mechanisms can co-exist with secure caregiver-infant bonding.Second, while early attachment quality is associated with later social outcomes in typical development, interventions targeting caregiver-child interaction in ASD often show positive effects on parental responsivity and attachment quality, but not on child social behavior. Therefore, improvements in parent-child bonding do not necessarily result in improvements in social functioning in ASD.Third, individuals with ASD show normative brain activity and selective social affiliative behaviors in response to people that they know but not to unfamiliar people.We propose a conceptual framework to reformulate and address these three theoretical impasses posed by ASD, arguing that the dissociable pathways of child-parent bonding and social development in ASD are shaped by (1) a dissociation between externally-driven and internally-driven attachment responses and (2) atypical learning dynamics occurring during child-caregiver bonding episodes, which are governed by and influence social-affiliation motives and other operant contingencies.

Promoting Accurate Variability of Social Skills in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Restricted and repetitive behavior is a central feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with such behaviors often resulting in lack of reinforcement in social contexts. The present study investigated training multiple exemplars of target behaviors and the utilization of lag schedules of reinforcement in the context of social skills training to promote appropriate and varied social behavior in children with ASD. Five participants with ASD between the ages of 7 and 9 attended a twice-weekly social skills group for 8 weeks. A multiple probe design across skills was utilized to assess intervention effects. During baseline, participants demonstrated low levels of skill accuracy and low appropriate variability in responding. During continuous reinforcement with one trained exemplar, skill accuracy increased while appropriate variability remained low. Training of three exemplars of target skills resulted in minimal improvements in appropriate variability. Introduction of a Lag 2 schedule with three trained exemplars was generally associated with increased appropriate variability. Further appropriate variability was observed during Lag 4 with three trained exemplars. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Disorganization, COMT, and Children's Social Behavior: The Norwegian Hypothesis of Legacy of Disorganized Attachment.

Why is disorganized attachment associated with punitive-controlling behavior in some, but caregiving-controlling in others? Hygen et al. (2014) proposed that variation in the Catechol-O-methyl transferase(COMT) Val158Met genotype explains this variation, providing preliminary data to this effect. We offer a conceptual replication, analyzing data on 560 children (males: 275) drawn from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. As predicted, competitive model-fitting indicated that disorganized infants carrying Met alleles engage in more positive behavior and less negative behavior than other children at age 5 and 11, with the reverse true of Val/Val homozygotes, seemingly consistent with caregiving-controlling and punitive-controlling styles, respectively, but only in the case of maternal and not teacher reports, thereby confirmating a relationship-specific hypothesis.

Potentials of physical activity promotion in preschools – an overview of results of an ethnographic observation

This article addresses exemplary differences between preschools with systematic physical activity (PA) programmes and preschools without PA programmes in Germany. Two preschools from each group were visited in the context of a focused ethnographic observation to examine the educational practice, PA and social behaviour of preschool children. The observation showed that children engage in PA in preschool under certain conditions (e.g. a structure providing a wide range of PA offerings that can be selected according to interest). Potentials of PA promotion can also be seen in the areas of rule-teaching and the promotion of self-confidence in children. A structure-providing policy in conjunction with the provision of exercise rooms and the promotion of children’s independence seem to have special influence on the social behaviour of children. Promoting children’s independence serves to strengthen the children’s sense of self-efficacy and may contribute to improving their social skills and reducing the burden on teachers.

Scaring of Children in the Traditional Lithuanian Worldview

By scaring, the author means short phrases uttered by the grown-ups in order to encourage acceptable behavior of kids, e.g. ‘If you walk by the rye field, rusalka will come out and take you away’ (LII ES 508/77 p. 153). This phenomenon of Lithuanian folklore, pedagogics and culture in general has hitherto attracted not enough scholarly attention; therefore, this article aims at elucidating its most important features and forms of expression.It is not entirely clear, to what folklore genre these forms of scaring should belong. They are close to folk beliefs in terms of their typical structure and manifestations of mythical worldview. However, the scaring presents reaction to certain situations and circumstances, thus being similar to situational sayings. Quite frequently, such occurrences stem from a broader social and mythological background, therefore being capable of evolving into folk legends or ritual-like imitation practices.The scaring of children functions on a twofold basis. Since scaring describes the surroundings and the applicable rules of behavior, it embodies the sensual experience. Children can experience some scary subjects directly (seeing them), while perceiving others through their mythical dwelling places (darkness, reflection in the well, the wavy rye, etc.) or sounds. The diminished possibilities of sensual experience and the obscurity determine the mythical code present in the scaring of children. The opposition between one’s own vs. foreign also plays an important role here: the foreign things tend to be more mythologized and frightening. The relation to reality makes scaring effective here and now, while mythical level encourages children’s imagination and curiosity, making the scaring remarks very catchy.The scaring very much depends on the situation and changes easily; therefore, classifying these instances according to a single criterion is difficult. This article lists four ways of classifying the scaring of children: according to form (the way of presenting the scary things to kids), to the scary subject (what the kids are intimidated with), to the space (how scary things are located in the living surroundings), and to the purpose (what scaring is meant to achieve). Formally, children can be scared with songs (phrases inserted into the lyrics of lullabies), rhymed situational phrases or simple verbal warnings. According to the subject, the material falls into four groups: scaring with no subject (threatening children with physical destruction or some unpleasant physical consequences); threatening with really existing, although mythologized persons (foreigners, beggars, wizards); threatening with mythologized animals; and threatening with mythical beings. According to space, there are also four groups of scaring instances, i.e. those associated with home, yard, close extraneous space, and distant extraneous space. Such scaring reflects psychophysical development of children and their range of spatial movement. The purpose of scaring may include appropriate everyday behavior of children or their ritually meaningful conduct. In the first case, children have to behave appropriately in terms of physiology or social meaning. Besides, by use of such scaring children are kept away from dangerous places (like wells, water pools, forests) or places important to the social welfare are safeguarded from them (including orchids, gardens, crops). The ritually meaningful scaring depends either on the stage of the child’s development or on the festive periods that require certain norms of behavior.The scaring of children constituted an inherent part of the Lithuanian peasant life in the second half of the 19th – the first half of the 20th century. Its prime purpose was forming appropriate social behavior of children. The secondary, although no less important, function was shaping their practical knowledge and mythical worldview. The patterns of scaring altered along with the child’s development, adjusting to the circumstances and the child’s physiologic capacities, yet in turn stimulating the psychophysical development of children as well.