Children's vocabulary and friendships: A comparative study between children with and without Specific Learning Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Language skills are important in the formation and maintenance of friendships. Children with specific learning disorder (SLD) or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience difficulties with their relationships and have language-related problems. This study aims to examine how expressive and receptive vocabulary may relate to friendships of children with and without SLD or ADHD. Participants were 64 children with SLD, 64 children with ADHD, and 64 typically developing (TD) children, aged 8-12 years (Mage  = 9.77 years, SD = 1.22), attending Grades 3 to 6 in inclusive primary schools of Attica, Greece. The Greek versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the expressive vocabulary subscale of the WISC-III were administered along with the sociometric nominations of friends and the self-reports of best friendship duration. Results showed that children with SLD and ADHD reported best friendships of shorter duration and had significantly poorer receptive and expressive vocabulary. Children with ADHD had significantly fewer close and best friends than children with SLD, who in turn had significantly fewer close and best friends than the TD children. Children's vocabulary in all three groups was positively correlated with the duration of their best friendships and was found to moderately predict children's close friendships.

Adolescent Perceptions of Parenting Styles in Sweden, Italy and Greece: An Exploratory Study.

Comparative research on parenting styles among Nordic and Mediterranean countries is still missing, despite the increasing number of studies on parenting styles in adolescence. This study explores similarities and differences in adolescents' retrospective perceptions of parenting styles, for both parents, in Sweden, Italy and Greece, using the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire. In particular, it examines the relation between parental role, adolescent gender, country of origin, SES and these perceptions. Swedish, Italian and Greek adolescents (N = 702; 30.9% Swedish, 39.6% Italian and 29.5% Greek) participated in the study. To test the principal effects three mixed 2(parent; mother and father)*2(gender; girl and boy)*3(countries; Sweden, Italy and Greece)*3(SES; low, medium and high) ANOVAs were conducted separately for each parenting style. To verify the interaction effects, a mixed 2(parent; mother and father)*3(countries; Sweden, Italy and Greece)*3(SES; low, medium and high) ANOVA was tested on authoritative style. Regarding authoritarian and permissive two mixed 2(parent; mother and father)*2(gender; girl and boy)*3(countries; Sweden, Italy and Greece) ANOVAs were tested. Mothers, as compared to fathers, were perceived as more authoritative, authoritarian and permissive. Moreover, boys perceived their parents as more authoritarian and more permissive than girls. Swedish parents were perceived as significantly less authoritarian than Italian and Greek parents and more permissive than Italian parents; Greek parents were perceived as less authoritarian and more permissive than Italian parents. The study provides an interesting contribution to parenting styles literature, showing how country legislation concerning family matters and SES are related the perception of parenting behaviours.

Coronary Heart Disease and Emotional Intelligence.

BACKGROUND: Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is associated with emotions, especially negative ones, namely anxiety and depression. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a psychological model that consists of a variety of emotional skills. AIMS: The aim of the present study was to examine the relation between different dimensions of Emotional Intelligence and coronary heart disease. METHODS: A total of 300 participants were studied during a 3-year period in an attempt to partially replicate and further expand a previous study conducted in Greece among CHD patients, which indicated a strong association between certain dimensions of Emotional Intelligence and the incidence of CHD. All participants completed a self-report questionnaire, assessing several aspects of Emotional Intelligence. FINDINGS: The results showed that there is a link between the regulation of emotions and the occurrence of CHD. CONCLUSIONS: The evidence reported in the present study makes stronger the claim that EI plays a significant role in the occurrence of CHD.

Lexical choice can lead to problems: what false-belief tests tell us about Greek alternative verbs of agency.

Verbs of agency denote relations between behavioural and mental states. Thus, 'Jim is looking for X' goes beyond a behavioural description, to take a mentalistic construal whereby Jim's desire for success, and his beliefs about how to search, explain his observed actions. Greek has two verbs of agency that can be used somewhat interchangeably by adults to mean 'to look for'. The hypothesis is that young children will obey the principle of contrast to diagnose that one verb is mentalistic and the other verb is to be construed behaviourally. Following a study of mothers' verb-use, two studies with 238 children aged three to five years confirmed that the verb preferred in home use gave below-change performance on a false-belief test whilst the less-established verb gave above-chance success, with children giving appropriate justifications. Thus, Greek preschoolers seem sometimes to have an adult-type understanding and sometimes fail to match the adult understanding. The proposal is that the children initially convert an adult verb-use pragmatic difference into a semantic contrast.

Compreendendo a paternidade na Grecia: o envolvimento do pai no cuidado de bebes

O presente estudo descreve o envolvimento do pai grego com a familia e as tarefas de cuidados da crianca, durante o seu primeiro ano de vida. Oitenta pais de zona rural, de nivel educacional e status ocupacional baixos, e 80 pais de zona urbana, de nivel educacional e status ocupacional altos, falaram sobre as suas percepcoes de paternidade e de sua participacao em duas das responsabilidades dos pais: (a) a preparacao antes e apos o nascimento de um bebe e (b) o envolvimento em brincadeiras e em uma variedade de tarefas rotineiras de cuidados da crianca. Os resultados mostram que os pais provenientes de areas urbanas se envolviam mais nessas atividades que os pais de areas rurais. Todos os pais valorizaram a paternidade como uma experiencia agradavel; muitos deles, entretanto, afirmaram que as responsabilidades de educar a crianca causaram-lhes muita tensao psicologica. Os resultados sao discutidos em relacao a divisao de papeis entre o marido e a esposa, nas familias gregas.