Feeling anxious and being engaged in a warming world: climate anxiety and adolescents' pro-environmental behavior.

BACKGROUND: Climate anxiety is increasingly prevalent among adolescents worldwide. Are climate-anxious adolescents prone to engage in pro-environmental behavior? Or might the association between climate anxiety and pro-environmental be curvilinear, such that high levels of climate anxiety become 'paralyzing'? And do these associations depend on whether adolescents believe that, with effort, the worst impacts of climate change can still be prevented? METHODS: We addressed these questions in three studies (two preregistered; combined N = 2,211), conducted across two countries. We used cross-sectional and longitudinal methods, and various measures of climate anxiety and pro-environmental behavior. We performed Bayesian regression analyses comparing two models that tested competing hypotheses. The first model included a linear effect of climate anxiety on pro-environmental behavior, and the second model included both a linear and a curvilinear (i.e. inverted U-shaped) effect of climate anxiety on pro-environmental behavior. Next, we added environmental efficacy to the best fitting model and explored its moderating effects. RESULTS: Adolescents reported low-to-moderate levels of climate anxiety. Across the board, we found evidence for a small, positive, and mostly linear (rather than curvilinear) association between climate anxiety and pro-environmental behavior. While Study 1 supported a curvilinear association (Bayes Factor (BF) = 18.87), Studies 2 and 3 mostly supported a linear model (BFs range 6.86-12.71), except for weak support (BF = 1.62) for a curvilinear association between climate anxiety symptoms and public sphere pro-environmental behavior. Adolescents' environmental efficacy moderated this link for public sphere (e.g. activism), but not private sphere (e.g. recycling), pro-environmental behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Climate-anxious adolescents are prone to engage in pro-environmental behavior. We found limited evidence for 'eco-paralysis' (i.e. a passive state of pro-environmental behavioral stasis) at high levels of climate anxiety. Our results are consistent with the possibility that supporting adolescents' environmental efficacy will help climate-anxious adolescents engage in public sphere pro-environmental behavior.

Parental psychological control and children's self-esteem: A longitudinal investigation in children with and without oppositional defiant problems.

Oppositional defiant problems are among the most prevalent psychological problems among children and adolescents from China and across the world. Still little is understood about how self-esteem, in conjunction with parenting experiences, develops in children with oppositional defiant problems. We addressed this gap of knowledge in a two-year longitudinal study. Specifically, we explored how parental psychological control predicts children's self-esteem levels over time, and in turn, how children's self-esteem levels predict parental psychological control. We collected data in Chinese children (ages 8 to 13 at T1) with (N = 224) and without (N = 217) oppositional defiant problems, and tested three-wave cross-lagged panel models. Multigroup analyses showed that the associations between parental psychological control and children's self-esteem were the same for children with and without oppositional defiant problems. Results for the total sample revealed bi-directional associations between maternal psychological control and children's self-esteem. Children who perceived more psychological control from their mothers were likely to exhibit lower self-esteem over time, and vice versa, children with lower self-esteem were likely to perceive more maternal psychological control over time. Conversely, a unidirectional paternal effect was observed in father-child dyads. Our findings help understand the parent-child dynamics that shape the psychological development of children with oppositional defiant problems.

Children's overestimation of performance across age, task, and historical time: A meta-analysis.

Children tend to overestimate their performance on a variety of tasks and activities. The present meta-analysis examines the specificity of this phenomenon across age, tasks, and more than five decades of historical time (1968-2021). Self-overestimation was operationalized as the ratio between children's prospective self-estimates of task performance and their actual (i.e., objectively measured) task performance. A total of 246 effect sizes from 43 published articles were analyzed (4277 participants; 49.6% girls; sample mean ages range from 4 to 12; 86.0% of studies conducted in North America or Europe). Children's self-overestimation was robust across tasks, with their estimates of performance being 1.3 times their actual performance. In addition, children's self-overestimation decreased with sample age and increased with the year of data collection.

Nostalgia Promotes Parents' Tradition Transfer to Children by Strengthening Parent-Child Relationship Closeness.

Parental tradition transfer to children is pivotal for their socialization, identity formation, and culture perpetuation. But what motivates parents to transfer traditions to their children? We hypothesized that nostalgia, an emotion strengthening interpersonal bonds, would promote tradition transfer through parent-child relationship closeness. We tested these hypotheses using cross-sectional (Studies 1 and 4), cross-lagged (Study 2 and preregistered Study 5), and experimental (Studies 3 and 6) designs. In Studies 1 to 3, nostalgia was associated with, had lagged effect on, and promoted tradition transfer. In Studies 4-6, parent-child relationship closeness mediated the link between nostalgia and tradition transfer. The findings enrich our understanding of the vertical transmission of knowledge, customs, and values, offering insight into how intergenerational bonds are reinforced and cultural heritage is maintained.

A process model of mindsets: Conceptualizing mindsets of ability as dynamic and socially situated.

Mindsets of ability (i.e., "fixed" and "growth" mindsets) play a pivotal role in students' academic trajectories. However, relatively little is known about the mechanisms underlying mindset development. Identifying these mechanisms is vital for understanding, and potentially influencing, how mindsets emerge and change over time. In this article, we formulate a comprehensive theoretical model that purports to account for the emergence and development of ability mindsets: the process model of mindsets (PMM). The PMM is rooted in complex dynamic systems and enactive perspectives, which allow for conceptualizing psychological phenomena as dynamic and socially situated. The PMM accounts for how mindset-related behaviors, action tendencies, beliefs, and social interactions can become codependent and robust over time. We discuss how the model helps to further our understanding of the efficacy of mindset interventions and the heterogeneity thereof. The PMM has a broad explanatory scope, is generative, and paves the way for future process studies of mindsets and mindset interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Detecting social information processing profiles of boys with aggressive behavior problems: An interactive virtual reality approach.

Children with aggressive behavior problems may aggress for different reasons, requiring tailored assessment and treatment. The aim of this study was to test whether it is possible to detect distinct social information processing (SIP) profiles among boys with aggressive behavior problems. We therefore conducted Latent Profile Analyses on boys' SIP patterns assessed in interactive virtual reality. Additionally, we examined the discriminant validity of these SIP profiles by comparing them on theoretically relevant child characteristics (i.e., temperament, executive functioning, aggressive belief systems, punishment insensitivity, sensation seeking). We presented boys (N = 181; ages 7-13) with a virtual classroom where they could play games with virtual peers. They reported on their SIP in four virtual reality scenarios, designed to assess reactive and proactive aggressive SIP. Results revealed four distinct SIP profiles: a general reactive SIP profile, a situation-specific reactive SIP profile, a mixed reactive-proactive SIP profile, and a nonaggressive SIP profile. Planned contrasts revealed that boys with these SIP profiles differed in temperament, aggressive belief systems, and punishment insensitivity, but not in executive functioning and sensation seeking. Overall, findings suggest that boys differ in the exact SIP patterns underlying their aggressive behavior, providing inroads to tailor interventions to children's individual needs.

Why do young children overestimate their task performance? A cross-cultural experiment.

Young children are generally overconfident in their abilities and performances, but the reasons that underlie such self-overestimation are unclear. The current cross-cultural experiment aimed to address this issue, testing the possibility that young children's overconfidence in task performance is, at least in part, motivated. We tested 89 Chinese children (49 % girls) and 104 Dutch children (50 % girls) aged 4 and 5 years and asked them to estimate how well they would perform on both a motor test and a memory task. They were randomly assigned to either an experimental condition (in which they were promised a reward for providing accurate performance estimates) or a no-incentive control condition, and then they performed the task. The incentive lowered Chinese (but not Dutch) children's performance overestimation on the motor task. Unexpectedly, children did not overestimate their performance on the memory task. Thus, this study supports the view that young children's self-overestimation can be motivated (rather than due to cognitive immaturity alone) but also reveals task contingencies and cultural differences.

Young children's overestimation of performance: A cross-cultural comparison.

Western literature suggests that young children overestimate their performance across a range of tasks. Research in non-Western cultures, however, is lacking. In 2019, 101 Chinese (52% girls) and 98 Dutch (49% girls) children, ages 4 and 5, were asked to estimate how well they would perform on both a motor and a memory task. Children from both countries overestimated their performance to the same extent ( η p 2  = .077 and .027 for the motor and memory tasks, respectively). They generally persevered in doing so despite receiving realistic performance feedback. Yet, children overestimated their peers' performance about as much as their own performance, in some cases even more. This is the first demonstration of performance overestimation in children growing up in a non-Western culture.

Does Setting Goals Enhance Parenting Intervention Effects? A Field Experiment.

People who pursue approach goals (i.e., desired outcomes to be reached) tend to be more likely to achieve their goals than people who pursue avoidance goals (i.e., undesired outcomes to be prevented). We tested this premise in a brief preventive parenting intervention targeting parental praise to reduce disruptive child behavior. We also tested whether goal setting effects depend on behavior change phase (initiation versus maintenance) and parents' regulatory focus (high versus low promotion and prevention focus). Parents (N = 224; child age 4-8) were randomized to one of four conditions: an approach goal-enhanced or an avoidance goal-enhanced intervention condition, a no-goal intervention condition, or a waitlist control condition. Outcomes were parent-reported and audio-recorded positive parenting and disruptive child behavior. Results show that goal setting had very limited effects. Setting avoidance goals, not approach goals, improved self-reported positive parenting. However, goal setting did not enhance effects of parenting intervention on observed (i.e., audio-recorded) positive parenting and disruptive child behavior. Furthermore, goal setting effects depended neither on the phase of change, nor on parents' regulatory focus. This field experiment suggests that setting approach goals does not enhance the brief parenting intervention to improve parent-child interactions.

The Apple of Daddy's Eye: Parental Overvaluation Links the Narcissistic Traits of Father and Child.

This study contributes to the literature on the parental correlates of children's narcissism. It addresses whether parental overvaluation may drive the putative link between parents' narcissism and children's narcissism and self-esteem. The cross-sectional design involved a community sample of 519 school-age children (age ranging from 9 to 11 years old) and their parents from an Italian urban context. Child-reported measures included narcissistic traits and self-esteem, while parent-reported measures included narcissistic traits and overvaluation, as well as parenting styles. A series of structural equation models, run separately for mothers and fathers, showed that both parents' narcissism was directly and positively related to overvaluation and the children's narcissistic traits; overvaluation partially mediated the indirect link between the fathers' and children's narcissistic traits. None of the parenting-style dimensions were related to the children's outcomes, with the exception of the mothers' positive parenting being directly and positively related to children's self-esteem. These findings shed new light upon the parental correlates of child narcissism by suggesting that mothers and fathers convey their narcissism to their offspring through differential pathways. Our findings may be understood from universal as well as cultural specifics regarding the parenting roles of mothers and fathers. Clinical implications for the treatment of youth narcissism suggest the potential of targeting not only children but also their parents.

Narcissistic traits as predictors of emotional problems in children with oppositional defiant disorder: A longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Children's self-views encompass two independent dimensions: self-esteem and narcissism, which recently have received growing attention from researchers and clinicians. The current study sought to test whether these dimensions might predict the developmental course of children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder diagnosis. METHOD: The sample (N = 64, M age = 10.1 years, 57 boys) included children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder diagnosis. We examined longitudinal relationships between self-views (both self-esteem and narcissism) and parent-reported internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. RESULTS: The study spanned two time-points, spaced 12 months apart. None of the predictors were longitudinally associated with the levels of externalizing behavioral problems in children. However, narcissism predicted the levels of children's internalizing problems at the follow-up, whereas self-esteem did not. LIMITATIONS: The relatively small sample and the lack of assessing causality limit the generalizability of the findings. Results need to be replicated in larger samples. CONCLUSIONS: These findings illustrate the value of taking into account children's narcissistic traits in clinical assessment. By broadening knowledge of narcissistic traits in clinical samples of children, we hope to inform assessment procedures in standard clinical practice, as well as the development of tailored interventions to curb the emergence of later negative outcomes related to childhood narcissism, such as internalizing problems.

"Doing" mindsets in the classroom: A coding scheme for teacher and student mindset-related verbalizations.

There is a growing body of research showing the crucial role that students' growth versus fixed ability-mindsets have in their school achievement, enjoyment, and resilience. The overwhelming majority of this research adopts a variable-oriented approach. As a result, little is known about how teachers and students coregulate each other's mindsets within classroom interactions. This manuscript addresses the need for more person-oriented research that examines how teachers and students do mindsets in naturalistic settings, i.e., their mindsetrelated verbalizations. In this manuscript, we provide a coding scheme to study the moment-to-moment dynamics of mindset-related verbalizations of both teachers and students within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) contexts: The STEAM (Student-TEAcherMindset) coding scheme. We demonstrate the utility of the coding system through content and ecological validity, inter-rater reliability, and a case study of STEAM-generated time-series data. We show how these data can be used to chart moment-to-moment dynamics that occur between teacher and student. The coding scheme provides teachers and researchers with a practical tool for analyzing how person-specific mindset-related language can wax and wane in the context of peer and teacher interactions within STEM lessons.

Self-views and aggression in boys referred for disruptive behavior problems: self-esteem, narcissism, and their interaction.

How do children with aggressive behavior problems view themselves? The present research seeks to answer this question by examining the self-views (i.e., self-esteem and narcissism) of boys referred for disruptive behavior problems. In Study 1 (N = 85, Mage= 10.8 years), we examined relations between self-views and self-reported and parent-reported aggression; in Study 2 (N = 73, Mage= 11.8 years), we examined relations between self-views and teacher-reported aggression. We found narcissism to be related with self-reported aggression, but not with parent- and teacher-rated aggression. Children with narcissistic traits were more aggressive according to themselves, and these links were independent of children's level of self-esteem. Self-esteem was not significantly associated with aggression according to children themselves, their parents, nor their teachers. We encourage scholars to explore the possibility that interventions that target characteristics of narcissistic self-views (e.g., perceived superiority, sensitivity to negative feedback) can effectively reduce aggressive behavior in boys referred for behavior problems.

Effort Self-Talk Benefits the Mathematics Performance of Children With Negative Competence Beliefs.

Children with negative competence beliefs often achieve below their potential in school. This randomized field experiment tested whether engaging in positive self-talk may benefit these children's mathematics performance. Participants (N = 212, Grades 4-6, Mage  = 10.6) worked on the first half of a standardized mathematics test, engaged in effort self-talk ("I will do my very best!"), ability self-talk ("I am very good at this!"), or no self-talk, and worked on the second half of the test. Compared to both the conditions, effort self-talk benefited the performance of children holding negative competence beliefs: It severed the association between negative competence beliefs and poor performance. By internally asserting that they will deliver effort, children with negative competence beliefs can optimize their achievement in school.

Can Self-Persuasion Reduce Hostile Attribution Bias in Young Children?

Two experiments tested an intervention approach to reduce young children's hostile attribution bias and aggression: self-persuasion. Children with high levels of hostile attribution bias recorded a video-message advocating to peers why story characters who caused a negative outcome may have had nonhostile intentions (self-persuasion condition), or they simply described the stories (control condition). Before and after the manipulation, hostile attribution bias was assessed using vignettes of ambiguous provocations. Study 1 (n = 83, age 4-8) showed that self-persuasion reduced children's hostile attribution bias. Study 2 (n = 121, age 6-9) replicated this finding, and further showed that self-persuasion was equally effective at reducing hostile attribution bias as was persuasion by others (i.e., listening to an experimenter advocating for nonhostile intentions). Effects on aggressive behavior, however, were small and only significant for one out of four effects tested. This research provides the first evidence that self-persuasion may be an effective approach to reduce hostile attribution bias in young children.

How does Conditional Regard Impact Well-being and Eagerness to Learn? An Experimental Study.

Conditional regard refers to regard dependent upon the receiver's fulfillment of certain expectations. Using an experimental design, we examined the effect of conditional negative and positive regard on well-being and eagerness to learn in university freshmen (N = 131). Participants experienced either failure or success followed by conditional vs. unconditional regard. As expected, success and failure had opposite effects on well-being and eagerness to learn. More importantly, there was an increase in positive affect following success in the context of conditional regard, but not in the context of unconditional regard. Additionally, the decrease in positive affect following failure was more pronounced when accompanied by conditional as compared to unconditional regard. Conditional regard thus magnified the impact of success versus failure on students' emotional experiences.

Narcissistic traits and self-esteem in children: Results from a community and a clinical sample of patients with oppositional defiant disorder.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have investigated relationships between narcissism, self-esteem and behavioral problems in children. Most of these studies have been conducted in community samples, rather than in clinical referred samples. This field of research is clinically important, because data on community samples suggest that narcissism is a significant risk factor for children's behavioral problems. METHODS: The study aimed to test the psychometric properties of the Child Narcissism Scale (CNS) in a community sample of Italian children and to explore the clinical utility of CNS in a sample of referred children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). RESULTS: In the community sample, the Italian version of the CNS was shown to be a normally distributed, single-factor measure of childhood narcissism with very good internal consistency. Furthermore, high levels of narcissism were associated with less self-esteem in family relationships, more parent-reported conduct problems, and less teacher-reported pro-social behaviors. In the ODD sample, high levels of narcissism were associated with more conduct problems and emotional symptoms. Low levels of self-esteem were associated with more conduct problems. LIMITATIONS: The cross sectional design does not allow for estimates of CNS test-retest reliability and sensitivity to change, nor does it allow for interpretations that suggest temporal precedence or causality. CONCLUSIONS: We found support for the cross-cultural utility of the CNS as a short and comprehensive self-report measure of narcissistic traits, which can be used in community and clinical samples of children, and suggested how narcissism may be involved in children's behavioral problems.

Does Parent-Child Discussion of Peer Provocations Reduce Young Children's Hostile Attributional Bias?

Two studies investigated whether parent-child discussion of peer provocations reduces young children's hostile attributional bias. Study 1 (N = 109, age 4-7)-an observational study-showed that parent-child discussion of nonhostile attributions (when reading a picture book) predicted reductions in children's hostile attributional bias from pre- to postdiscussion. Study 2 (N = 160, age 4-6)-an experimental study-showed that stimulating parents to discuss either nonhostile attributions or normative beliefs (vs. a control condition) reduced children's hostile attributional bias in response to hypothetical vignettes, but not in response to a staged peer provocation. These findings suggest that by framing social situations, parents may help their children perceive less hostility in their social worlds.

The dark personality and psychopathology: Toward a brighter future.

The young field of research on dark personality traits (i.e., socially aversive traits such as psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism) is gaining momentum. This Special Section examines the nature, origins, development, and sequelae of dark traits, underscoring their largely unappreciated relevance to abnormal psychology. The articles in this section adopt diverse perspectives (e.g., clinical, developmental, organizational, social personality), use diverse methods (e.g., longitudinal, experience sampling), and sample diverse populations (e.g., offenders, psychiatric outpatients, schoolchildren). As an introduction to the Special Section, this article identifies key conceptual and methodological challenges to the field of dark personality research. Its aim is to spur novel approaches to how dark personality traits are implicated in psychopathology and abnormal behavior more broadly. (PsycINFO Database Record

When Parents' Praise Inflates, Children's Self-Esteem Deflates.

Western parents often give children overly positive, inflated praise. One perspective holds that inflated praise sets unattainable standards for children, eventually lowering children's self-esteem (self-deflation hypothesis). Another perspective holds that children internalize inflated praise to form narcissistic self-views (self-inflation hypothesis). These perspectives were tested in an observational-longitudinal study (120 parent-child dyads from the Netherlands) in late childhood (ages 7-11), when narcissism and self-esteem first emerge. Supporting the self-deflation hypothesis, parents' inflated praise predicted lower self-esteem in children. Partly supporting the self-inflation hypothesis, parents' inflated praise predicted higher narcissism-but only in children with high self-esteem. Noninflated praise predicted neither self-esteem nor narcissism. Thus, inflated praise may foster the self-views it seeks to prevent.