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AbstractThe purpose of the present study was to examine the relations among family ecological factors including parental educational and occupational status, family income and housing conditions, the quality of the marital relationship and social support, parental acceptance and rejection, and social competence in a sample of Chinese children. Four hundred and seventy‐six primary school children in Shanghai, P.R. China, and their parents participated in the study. Children were administered a peer assessment measure of social behavior and a measure of their perceptions of parental behavior. Parents completed questionnaires concerning family background, parental acceptance and rejection, perceived social support, and marital conflict and satisfaction. Teachers completed a rating scale concerning children's behaviors in school. Information on children's leadership was collected from the school administrative records. Results indicated that parental educational and occupational status was associated with family psychological conditions which, in turn, were predictive of parental acceptance. Family capital resources were negatively related to parental acceptance. Results also indicated that parental acceptance was associated positively with prosocial‐competent behavior in children and negatively with aggressive behavior in children. Parental educational and occupational status was directly associated with children's competent behavior. Finally, it was found that family psychological resources were positively related to competent behavior and negatively related to aggression in children, through the mediation of parental acceptance and rejection. Family capital resources were indirectly and positively associated with child aggression through the mediation of parental acceptance and rejection.

Cultural values and religious beliefs play a substantial role in adolescent development. Developmental scientists have shown increasing interest in how culture and religion are involved in the processes through which adolescents adapt to environments. This volume constitutes a timely and unique addition to the literature on human development from a cultural-contextual perspective. Editors Gisela Trommsdorff and Xinyin Chen present systematic and in-depth discussions of theoretical perspectives, landmark studies and strategies for further research in the field. The eminent contributors reflect diverse cultural perspectives, transcending the Western emphasis of many previous works. This volume will be of interest to scholars and professionals interested in basic developmental processes, adolescent social psychology and the sociological and psychological dimensions of religion

Today's world is characterized by a set of overarching trends that often come under the rubric of social change. In this innovative volume, Rainer K. Silbereisen and Xinyin Chen bring together, for the first time, international experts in the field to examine how changes in our social world impact on our individual development. Divided into four parts, the book explores the major socio-political and technological changes that have taken place around the world - from post- from the rapid upheavals in 1990s Europe to the gradual changes in parts of East Asia - and explains how these developments

Cultural and contextual perspectives provide an understanding of universal and unique patterns of adolescent development. The articles in this special section show how this is vital for theory and research in today's diverse and changing world, and for interventions with adolescents within and across countries. The articles by Diers, Kagitcibasi, and Way, based on their addresses at the 2012 Meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, elaborate on the meeting theme of "Culture and Context." Here, we give a précis of the articles and then discuss how they exemplify our three intellectual goals for the 2012 meeting. Specifically, we aimed for breadth in regard to development, culture, and context. We end by noting novel synergies that emerged among the articles.

AbstractThis study examined the effects of aggressive and prosocial contexts of peer groups on children's socioemotional and school adjustment. Data on informal peer groups, social functioning, and different aspects of adjustment were collected from multiple sources in a sample of elementary school children (149 boys, 181 girls; M age = 10 years). Multilevel analyses indicated that group aggressive and prosocial orientations made direct contributions to children's social, school, and psychological functioning. Group contexts also moderated the individual‐level relations between social behavior and self‐perceptions; prosocial behavior was associated with social or scholastic self‐perceptions more evidently in low prosocial and high aggressive groups. The results suggest that the peer group is an important context for children's performance and adjustment in various domains.

AbstractThis chapter considers how large‐scale economic change in urban China affects youth development and outlines developmental mechanisms and labor‐market moderators.

AbstractThe purpose of the study was to examine relations between self‐perceptions of social competence and general self‐worth and social and school performance in Chinese children. A sample of children, initially aged 12 years, in the People's Republic of China, participated in this longitudinal study. Data on self‐perceptions were collected from self‐reports. Data on social and school performance were obtained from multiple sources including peer assessments, teacher ratings and school records. The results indicated that relations between self‐perceptions and performance might vary across domains. Self‐perceptions of self‐worth and school competence mutually contributed to the prediction of each other. Whereas sociability and aggression predicted self‐perceptions of social competence and self‐worth, positive self‐perceptions might be a protective factor that buffered against the development of social‐behavioral problems. The results may help us understand developmental antecedents and outcomes of children's self‐perceptions of social competence and self‐worth in general, and the nature of the phenomena in the Chinese context.

This book responds to the absence of a comprehensive consideration of the implications of culture for children's peer relationships. Although research in this field has burgeoned in recent years, cultural issues have often been overlooked. The chapters tap such issues as the impact of social circumstances and cultural values on peer relationships, culturally prescribed socialization patterns and processes, emotional experience and regulation in peer interactions, children's social behaviors in peer interactions, cultural aspects of friendships, and peer influences on social and school adjustment in cultural context. The authors incorporate into their discussions findings from research programs using multiple methodologies, including both qualitative (e.g., interviewing, ethnographic and observational) and quantitative (e.g., large scale surveys, standardized questionnaires) approaches, based on a wide range of ages of children in cultures from East to West and from South to North (Asia, South America, the Mid-East, Southern Europe, and ethnic groups in the US)

AbstractThis 1‐year longitudinal study investigated whether children's positive interpretations of maternal autonomy support moderated its relations with later sociability and assertiveness in China. Third to sixth graders (N = 889; 50.4% girls; Mage = 10.82 years, SD = 1.29) residing in Shanghai, P.R. China, reported maternal autonomy support and their interpretations of such parenting. Children's sociability was rated by teachers and assertiveness was assessed via peer nominations. Results indicated that child interpretations moderated the associations between maternal autonomy support and later sociability and assertiveness after controlling for their stabilities. For children with high levels of child‐beneficial interpretations, maternal autonomy support was positively associated with later sociability and assertiveness. However, for children with low or average levels of child‐beneficial interpretations, maternal autonomy support was not related to later sociability and assertiveness. Moreover, maternal autonomy support was positively related to later sociability for girls, but not for boys. The findings highlighted the possible role of children's interpretations in modulating the impact of mothers' autonomy support on social functioning.

The market‐oriented economic reform in China over the past two decades has resulted in considerable changes in social attitudes regarding youth's behaviors. This study examined the relations of shyness and aggression to adjustment in Chinese adolescents at different historical times. Participants came from two cohorts (1994 and 2008) of adolescents in Shanghai (N = 540 and 728, respectively; M age = 13 years), and data were obtained from multiple sources. Although aggression was associated with adjustment problems in both cohorts, there were significant cross‐cohort differences in the relations between shyness and adjustment. In the 1994 cohort, shyness was positively associated with teacher‐rated competence, leadership, and academic achievement. In the 2008 cohort, however, shyness was negatively associated with peer preference and positively associated with loneliness.

AbstractLeadership in peer groups is an important issue in adolescent socioemotional development, yet it has received limited attention in research. This one-year longitudinal study examined peer group leadership and the roles of social, academic, and psychological characteristics in the dynamics of group leadership. Participants included 1061 Chinese students (initial mean age =11.17 years; SD = 6.98 months; 49.4% female). Data were collected from peer assessments, teacher ratings, and self-reports. The longitudinal social network analysis (SIENA) indicated that peer group leadership was fluid with leadership status evolving over time across groups in a hierarchical manner. Adolescents displaying higher social competence and aggression and lower shyness were more likely to become group leaders. Academic performance and loneliness were not significantly associated with the dynamics of peer group leadership. The results help understand peer group leadership and contributions of social behaviors to the attainment of leadership status in peer groups in early adolescence.

his study examined the relations between parental migration and the adjustment of left-behind children and the mediating role of parental support in rural China. Data were collected for 4,429 students (2,229 boys, M age = 12 years) in public schools from peer evaluations, teacher ratings, self-reports, and school records. The analyses revealed different patterns of relations of mother migration and father migration to children's adjustment. Whereas mother migration was negatively associated with children's social competence and academic achievement and positively associated with children's psychological problems, father migration was positively associated with children's positive adjustment, mainly through the mediation of maternal support. The results concerning the different implications of father migration and mother migration for children's adjustment and the critical role of maternal support represent a significant contribution to the understanding of human development in the contemporary rural Chinese context. The results are also useful for policy-makers and professionals to develop programs and strategies to help rural left-behind children in China. (J Contemp China/GIGA)

AbstractThis study examined children's judgments of damage to public versus private property in China at two historical times. Participants were two cohorts (1980 and 2012) of elementary school children at ages 7, 9, and 11 years. The children were administered paired stories that described a protagonist who damaged public or private property with a good or bad intention. The results showed that children in the 2012 cohort were less likely than their counterparts in the 1980 cohort to judge damage to public property as more culpable than damage to private property. The cohort differences were more evident in older children than in younger children. The results suggest that macro‐level contexts may play an important role in shaping children's judgments.

AbstractThe purpose of the study was to examine the contributions of maternal encouragement of autonomy and maternal encouragement of connectedness to the prediction of children's social behaviors. A sample of children (N = 94), initially aged two years, and their mothers in China participated in the two‐year longitudinal study. Child autonomy and connectedness and maternal goal‐oriented behaviors were assessed at two years of age through the observation of mother–child interactions. Data on children's social participation, prosocial behavior, aggression, and organization/leadership in peer interactions were collected in a follow‐up study when the children were four years of age. It was found that maternal encouragement of connectedness significantly predicted children's sociability and organization/leadership behavior, especially for children who were relatively high on autonomy. The results indicated the developmental significance of socialization goal‐oriented behaviors in cultural context.