Table of Content

15 March 2011, Volume 27 Issue 2

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The Mechanism of the Effect of Mathematics Anxiety on Children’s Math Performance

CUI Ji-fang, LI Nen-xiao, CHEN Ying-he

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  118-125. 

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This study designed two math tasks,the mental arithmetic of addition and the figure rotation/translation,and used the Mathematical Anxiety Scale for Children,two working memory tasks,and an inhibition task to explore the mechanism of effect of mathematics anxiety on children's math performance.Two hundred and thirteen children of 5^th grade participated in this study,and 89 children were included in the formal experiments.The results showed:(1) there was a significant negative correlation between mathematics anxiety and the children's math academic performance;(2)the high mathematics anxiety group did significantly worse than the low mathematics anxiety group in the performance of two working memory tasks and two math tasks,but there was no significant difference in the inhibition task;(3) the verbal working memory and spatial working memory were mediating factors of mathematics anxiety and the performance of mental arithmetic of addition,however,only the spatial working memory was the mediating factor of mathematics anxiety and the performance of figure rotation/translation,and the verbal working memory was the moderating factor.The results supported the processing efficiency theory.

Analogical Reasoning on Condition of Conflict between Associative System and Rule-Based System among 3～5 years Infants

Gu Ben-bai, FENG Ting-yong, YUAN Wen-ping, MA Xiao-qing

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  126-132. 

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With classical analogical task,we explore analogical reasoning under the condition of conflict between association and rule among 3～5 year infants.The result indicates:(1) Infants' one-dimension analogical reasoning ability speedly enhances from 3 to 4 years old,but slightly enhances from 4 to 5 years old.In two-dimension analogical reasoning,3～5 years infants have a low level of analogical reasoning ability.(2) When associative system and rule-based system conflicts in the process of analogical reasoning,two systems are activated at the same time and compete with each other.Associative system and rule-based system balance in one-dimension analogical reasoning task.In two-dimension analogical reasoning task,infants are more likely to make inference based on associative system,and less likely to use rule-based system.Our result implies that the associative system plays an important role in 3～5 years infants' analogical reasoning.

The Comparison of Development of Self-Regulation between Japanese and Chinese Young Children: The Relationship between Behavioral Responses and Emotional Responses

DONG Cun-mei

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  133-139. 

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The purpose of the present study was to investigate the development of self-regulation in Japanese and Chinese Young children,focusing on the relationship between behavioral responses and emotional responses.Seventy-seven 5-year-olds children(40 Chinese children,37 Japanese children) were asked to present emotional responses and behavioral responses on the inhibition tasks and the assertion tasks.The main results were as follows:(1) Japanese children's scores of emotional responses were higher than Chinese children's.(2) Japanese children selected more"self-inhibition" than Chinese children on the tasks,and Chinese children selected more "dependence"and "impulsiveness" than Japanese children on the tasks.(3) Chinese children's behavioral responses changed with emotional responses,whereas Japanese children's did not change with emotional responses.

A Three-Level Model of Parent-Child Communication: Theory, Scale and Application in Chinese 5^th-6^th Graders

CHI Li-ping

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  140-150. 

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The present study aimed to construct a parent-child communication model based on system views,and develop a corresponding instrument named as "the parent-child communication scale" after reviewing previous literature,interviewing relative specialists and some parents and children.In the parent-child communication model,the family was regarded as a system,including all family members,their relations and the interaction of the relations.Concretely,the model described the parent-child communication on the following three levels:(1) compo-nent-level,measuring the communication ability of each family member;(2) relationship-level,examining the quality of dyadic communication occurred between father and child or mother and child;(3) system-level,emphasizing the relationship of mother-child and father-child communications.In order to measure the characteristics of parent-child communication on above three levels,a "parent-child communication scale" was developed.The results indicated that:(1) The characteristics of parent-child communication could be well described on the three levels:the ability of communication,the quality of parent-child communication and the relationship between mother-child and father-child communications.The present scale met the demand of psychometrics criterion,so it could be used to explore characteristics and patterns of parent-child communication.(2) Children's communication abil-ities were poorer than their parents';and fathers scored lower than mothers on the communication abilities.The quality of father-child communication was worse than that of mother-child.The mother-child and father-child communications were unbalanced.Children's fathers seldom communicated with them.(3) Structure equation modeling revealed that it was parents' audient ability but not expression ability could predict the quality of parent-child communication,and it was the quality of father-child communication served as the predictor of the harmony of mother-child communication and father-child communication.

The Relationship among Adolescents’ Meta-cognition, Big Five Personality and Academic Adaptive Behavior

NIE Yan-gang, YANG An, ZENG Min-xia

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  151-157. 

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The current study attempted to explore the cognitive mechanism of adolescents' academic adaptive behavior and the role of personality traits in this relationship.Meta-cognition Scale,NEO-FFI,and Scale of adaptiv Behavior for Adolescent were administered to 985 middle school students selected from four schools.The results indicated that:(1) school and grade differences were found on the scores of meta-cognition and academic adaptive behavior.(2) Academic adaptive behavior,meta-cognition and personality traits were significantly correlated.(3) Big five personality mediated the relationship between meta-cognition and academic adaptive behavior.

The Roles of Phonological Awareness, Morphological Awareness, and Rapid Naming in Linguistic Skills Development of Kindergartener

LI Hong, RAO Xiao-wei, DONG Qiong, ZHU Jin, WU Xin-chun

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  158-163. 

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130 children from first year to third year of kindergarten were tested on a battery of phonological awareness,morphological awareness,and rapid naming tasks to explore the roles of those skills in vocabulary,character recognition and reading comprehension of Chinese children.The results showed that(a) all skills of kindergarten were improved gradually with age,(b) phonological awareness and morphological awareness played central roles in children's vocabulary acquisition,(c) phonological awareness,morphological awareness,and rapid naming unique predicted character recognition respectively when children's age and vocabulary was statistically controlled,(d) morphological awareness explained unique variance in Chinese children's reading comprehension when age and all other skills were controlled.The findings support the conclusion that morphological awareness was very important for Chinese children to learning to read.

Chinese Language Learning Disabilities in the ERP Study Memory Encoding

WANG En-guo, SHEN De-li, LV Yong, HU Wei, LI Yong-xin, CHEN Hai-xia

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  164-173. 

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The present research used the ERP paradigm of "learning-recognition"to investigate the brain mechanism during encoding process of keeping character of children who have difficulties in learning Chinese.The results indicated that:(1) for all participants,there was a significant subsequent memory effect between 300ms and 700ms of the encoding process;(2) for the occipital,parietal and central areas,the Dm effect was distributed between 400ms and 700ms during encoding phase,and the wave amplitude of correct recognition was significantly greater than that of false recognition;(3) during extraction stage,between 400ms and 500ms there was a significant old/new effect of occipital region and parietal areas;between 500ms and 700ms there was a significant old/new effect of parietal and central areas,and especially in the central area,the wave amplitude of old character reorganization was larger than the new Chinese characters correct recognition;(4) For the two kinds of processing conditions of Chinese learning disabilities group and control group,there was a significant difference on Dm effect in time and space;(5) Before the onset of the Dm effect,the P2 latency of learning difficulties group was significantly later than that of the control group.We also found that the differences between N2 and LPC of different ability groups were very similar with the Dm effect,the control group was more positive relative than the Chinese learning disabilities group;for the Dm effect is more different,the separation of different ability groups was significantly greater and last longer than that of Dm effect,and till 1000ms later,the time of separation was more longer than that of Dm effect.The control group had a more corrective later positive component.There were differences in the degree of processing between the learning disabilities group and the control group,so that the memory trace of the code project showed different characteristics.

Research on Adolescent Parents and Peer Attachement in Relation to Self-esteem and Social Adaptation

JU Xiao-yan, LIU Xuan-wen, FANG Xiao-yi

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  174-180. 

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Adolescent aged from 13 to 18 years(N=519) completed Inventory of Parents and Peer Attachment,Self-esteem Scale and Social support Inventory of Middle School Students to examine quality and characteristic of adolescents parents and peers attachment and relative attribution to self-esteem and social adaptation.Results dem-onstrated that(1) as a whole;quality of adolescents' attachment is high.Peers' attachment quality is slightly higher than parents' attachment.(2) Perceived attachment to mother and father did not significantly differ between males and females.However,females scored significantly higher than males on a measure of attachment to peers.With the regards of grade effects,adolescents' attachment to parents tends to decline first and ascend at the middle of adolescence.The junior school students at grade one scored highest and grade three scored lowest on both mother and father attachment.For peers' attachment,however,tend to first ascend and then decline.But there were no significant differences between grades.(3) Father attachment appeared to be more highly related to mental resilience,mother attachment appeared to be more highly related to mental dominance,whereas peers' attachment more highly related to interpersonal adaptation.Moreover,self-esteem partially mediate the relationship of adolescents perceived attachment to important others and social adaptation.

Relationship between College Students’ Cynicism and Satisfaction with Life: the Moderating Effects of Social Support

XIE Qian, CHEN Xie-ping, ZHANG Jin-fu, HONG Xian-li

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  181-187. 

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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between college students' cynicism and life satisfaction,and the moderation effects of social support.Four hundred and fifty-four university students completed the Cynical Attitudes toward College Scale(CATCS),the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support(MSPSS),and the Satisfaction with Life Scale(SWLS).Results indicated that(1) There was a significant negative relationship between college students' cynical attitude and satisfaction with life;(2) The dimensions of policy cynicism,academy cynicism and social cynicism could negatively predict satisfaction with life,but the influence of institutional cynicism on life satisfaction was not significant;(3) Social support from family,teachers,peers and friends could significantly moderate the relation between college students' cynicism and satisfaction with life,and family support was found to be the most notable moderator of college students' cynicism.

Relationship between Core Self-evaluation, Coping Style and Job Burnout among Primary Teachers

SUN Pei-zhen, ZHENG Xue, XU Qing-ping, YU Zu-wei

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  188-194. 

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To explore the relationship between core self-evaluation and job burnout,and also the mediating effects of coping style,425 primary school teachers in Guangzhou were selected to fill questionnaires of Core Self-evaluation Scale(CSES),Trait Coping Style Questionnaire(TCSQ),and Chinese Maslach Burnout Inventory(CMBI).The results indicated as follows:(1) Core self-evaluation had negative predictions to emotional exhaustion,depersonali-zation and reduced personal accomplishment;(2) Coping style mediated the effect of core self-evaluation on job burnout.Specifically,positive coping style partially mediated the impact of core self-evaluation on emotional exhaustion and reduced personal accomplishment,and fully mediated the relationship between core self-evaluation and depersonalization.Meanwhile,negative coping style partially mediated the relationship between core self-evaluation and emotional exhaustion,and wholly mediated the effect of core self-evaluation on depersonalization.

The Features of Spouse Support and Its Relationship with MaritalAttachment and Marital Satisfaction among Older Adults

WANG Da-hua, ZHANG Ming-yan

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  195-201. 

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This study mainly explored spouse support of the elderly from twofold dimensions,namely actual versus ideal support,and emotional versus practical support.And this study also aimed at examining the relationship between spouse support,marital attachment and marital satisfaction with a SEM analysis.There were 289 community-dwelling old adults,with age ranging from 60 to 88 years old,who participated in this investigation.Significant Others Scale,Older Adults' Marital Attachment,and the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test were used to measure spouse support,marital attachment and marital satisfaction.The results showed that:(1) Gender,age and educational level have significant effects on spouse support perceived by older adults;(2) The older adults'spouse support,marital attachment and marital satisfaction were correlated with each other.Furthermore,spouse support could predict marital satisfaction through the mediation of marital attachment.

Research Approaches and Integration for Life Cognition

XU Xiao-ying, LI Dan

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  202-209. 

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Based on the definition of life cognition and recent research in the field,the article focused on children and adolescent development,summarized and reviewed cognition(emphasizing on the understanding of life and death),emotion(focusing on self feeling about life and death) and intention(paying attention on your own meaning in life) as three major approaches of life cognition.Finally,more emphasis should be put on clarification of conception,combination of three ingredients(cognition,emotion,intention),feasibility of research approaches and selection of research perspective.

A Review of Decision Consistency Indices of Criteria-Reference Test

CHEN Ping, LI Zhen, XIN Tao, GAO Hui-jian

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  210-215. 

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This paper presented an overview of various procedures for estimating single-administration decision consistency index which is an important quality standard of criterion-referenced test.Researchers have proposed dozens of estimation methods based on classical test theory or item response theory,and have made some comparisons among them.Future studies should focus on validating these methods and exploring its application in educational measurement,providing psychometricians with a basis for choosing the appropriate estimation method for decision consistency in particular situation.

Dual Effects of Perceived Discrimination and Its Psychological Mechanism

LIU Xia, ZHAO Jing-xin, SHI Bao-guo

Psychological Development and Education. 2011, 27(2):  216-223. 

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Over the last decades,perspectives on prejudice and discrimination have primarily focused on their source-those who are members of dominant social groups,these researches therefore have been considered ‘a psychology of the powerful'.Recently in the time following Branscombe,Schmitt and Harvey(1999) work have systematic attempts to understand the dual effects of perceived discrimination from the psychology of disadvantaged groups.This article introduced the conceptualization and measurement of perceived discrimination and the researches about perceived discrimination's negative effects and indirect positive effects from the perspective of risk and resilience,and then expatiated on the psychological mechanism of the dual effects of perceived discrimination——rejection-identification model.In future research,the membership of disadvantaged groups,the different effects of perceived personal and group discrimination,and the mediator between perceived discrimination and its consequence should be explored in depth.Furthermore,more attention should be paid to the disadvantaged children.