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Dickerson KL, Quas JA. Compensatory prosocial behavior in high-risk adolescents observing social exclusion: The effects of emotion feedback. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 241:105840. [PMID: 38245916 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2023] [Revised: 12/12/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/23/2024]
Abstract
Although exposure to violence has been consistently associated with deficits in prosocial behavior among adolescents, effective methods of mitigating these deficits have yet to be identified. The current investigation tested whether prosocial behavior could be promoted by providing adolescents with feedback about the emotional states of others and whether the effects of feedback varied between adolescents who had versus had not experienced violence in the home or in the community. Adolescents aged 8 to 17 years with (n = 87) and without (n = 61) histories of violence exposure completed a virtual social exclusion ball-tossing paradigm in which information about an excluded peer's emotions (sad, angry, or neutral) was experimentally manipulated. Among adolescents with histories of violence exposure, those who received feedback that the peer was sad due to being excluded compensated by throwing the ball more often to that peer. In contrast, adolescents without histories of violence exposure did not engage in compensatory prosocial behavior, instead maintaining a relatively even number of tosses to all players. Findings offer new insight into simple potential methods of eliciting prosocial behavior in adolescents for whom such responding may be compromised and may provide a potential starting point for interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelli L Dickerson
- Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
| | - Jodi A Quas
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
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Reilly EB, Dickerson KL, Pierce LJ, Leppänen J, Valdes V, Gharib A, Thompson BL, Schlueter LJ, Levitt P, Nelson CA. Maternal stress and development of infant attention to threat-related facial expressions. Dev Psychobiol 2022; 64:e22332. [PMID: 36282765 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Revised: 08/01/2022] [Accepted: 08/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Attentional biases to threat-related stimuli, such as fearful and angry facial expressions, are important to survival and emerge early in development. Infants demonstrate an attentional bias to fearful facial expressions by 5-7 months of age and an attentional bias toward anger by 3 years of age that are modulated by experiential factors. In a longitudinal study of 87 mother-infant dyads from families predominantly experiencing low income, we examined whether maternal stress and depressive symptoms were associated with trajectories of attentional biases to threat, assessed during an attention disengagement eye-tracking task when infants were 6-, 9-, and 12-month old. By 9 months, infants demonstrated a generalized bias toward threat (both fearful and angry facial expressions). Maternal perceived stress was associated with the trajectory of the bias toward angry facial expressions between 6 and 12 months. Specifically, infants of mothers with higher perceived stress exhibited a greater bias toward angry facial expressions at 6 months that decreased across the next 6 months, compared to infants of mothers with lower perceived stress who displayed an increased bias to angry facial expressions over this age range. Maternal depressive symptoms and stressful life events were not associated with trajectories of infant attentional bias to anger or fear. These findings highlight the role of maternal perceptions of stress in shaping developmental trajectories of threat-alerting systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily B Reilly
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Kelli L Dickerson
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Lara J Pierce
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jukka Leppänen
- Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Viviane Valdes
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Alma Gharib
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.,Developmental Neuroscience and Neurogenetics Program, The Saban Research Institute, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Barbara L Thompson
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
| | - Lisa J Schlueter
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Pat Levitt
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Charles A Nelson
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.,Harvard Center on the Developing Child, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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Mukhopadhyay S, Dickerson KL, Lyon TD, Quas JA. Foster youth's placement preferences: The roles of kin, siblings, and age. Child Abuse Negl 2022; 131:105761. [PMID: 35777338 DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2021] [Revised: 05/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/17/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Debates exist regarding whether foster youth should be asked about their placement preferences following removal, with only youth aged 12 years and older at times assumed legally competent to provide input. OBJECTIVES The present study evaluated whether placement-related factors known to predict youth's well-being also shape their placement preferences and whether preferences differ between youth below and above the age at which they are considered legally competent to provide input. METHOD Data (N = 1033, ages 6-17 years, 54 % female) were obtained from NSCAW-I. Youth were asked open- and closed-ended questions about their placement preferences. RESULTS Among youth removed for shorter periods, placement with kin was related to a greater preference for their current placement (RRR = 0.31, p < .001) and desire for permanency in that placement (OR = 1.95, p = .005) relative to youth placed with non-kin. However, youth removed for longer periods (e.g., a year) were similar in their desires for their current placement to be permanent regardless of whether they were living with kin or non-kin caregivers. Among younger youth, placement with siblings (RRR = 0.42, p = .015) was linked to a preference for their current placement. Racial match between youth and their non-kin caregiver was unrelated to their placement preferences. CONCLUSIONS Findings revealed that both younger and older youth's placement preferences were shaped by factors objectively linked to youth's well-being and thus align with best practices in placement decisions. The paper discusses the importance of asking youth as young as 6 years about their placement preferences and offers suggestions for social service and legal professionals regarding questioning strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kelli L Dickerson
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Thomas D Lyon
- Gould School of Law, University of Southern California, USA
| | - Jodi A Quas
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, USA.
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Metcalf S, Dickerson KL, Lavoie J, Quas JA. The COVID-19 pandemic and lay perceptions of poverty and neglect. Law Hum Behav 2022; 46:245-263. [PMID: 35878104 DOI: 10.1037/lhb0000491] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES In cases of child neglect, intervention depends on accurate identification and reporting. Prior work has shown that individuals, especially those of high socioeconomic status (SES), conflate poverty and neglect when making identification and reporting decisions. The COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in people's experiences with poverty, likely influencing their ability to distinguish poverty in families and neglectful parenting. HYPOTHESES Two studies tested the impact of COVID-19 on laypersons' perceptions of neglect, likelihood of reporting neglect, and attributions of blame for neglect. We hypothesized that laypersons would conflate poverty with neglect, that COVID-19 would be associated with a decreased likelihood of doing so, and that attributions of blame would mediate the latter tendency. METHOD Adults read vignettes about a mother's care of her daughter and responded to questions about the mother's neglectfulness and their reporting likelihood. Study 1 (N = 676, Mage = 38.80, 48.08% women) compared responses collected before COVID-19 (August 2018) to responses from a separate set of adults collected during COVID-19 (November-December 2020). Study 2 (N = 704, Mage = 43.88, 63.49% women) manipulated mention of COVID-19 to assess whether cuing the pandemic affected identification and reporting, and measured attributions of blame to assess whether they explained the relation between COVID-19 and perceptions of neglect. RESULTS Whereas most laypersons distinguished situations with versus without neglect, some conflated poverty with neglect when making identification and reporting decisions. However, COVID-19 did not have a direct impact on identification or reporting decisions. Attributions of blame partially explained laypersons' perceptions of situations as neglectful and as warranting reporting. Laypersons' current SES and perceptions of COVID-19 in 2020 were positively associated with identification and reporting. CONCLUSIONS Laypersons in part mistake poverty for neglect, and COVID-19 had indirect effects on perceptions of neglect and reporting decisions. Public education efforts may help improve identification of vulnerable children by laypersons. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Dickerson KL, Quas JA. Perceived life expectancy, environmental unpredictability, and behavior in high-risk youth. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.appdev.2021.101344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Dickerson KL, Lyon TD, Quas JA. The Role of Kinship and Siblings in Young Children's Placement Preferences. J Interpers Violence 2021; 36:NP9299-NP9316. [PMID: 31203710 PMCID: PMC7001856 DOI: 10.1177/0886260519854560] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Although considerable attention has been directed toward the most appropriate placement for children following removal from home due to maltreatment, very little of this attention has focused on children's stated preferences, particularly when children are young. Specifically, children below 12 years of age are often presumed incompetent to form reasoned judgments about their best interests in placement. This assumption, however, has rarely been tested directly. We surveyed 100 4- to 11-year-olds removed from home because of maltreatment about their placement preferences. Children were less likely to indicate they wanted to return home if they were placed with siblings or with kin, consistent with statutory placement preferences. These results suggest that young children may express more mature preferences than recognized by the law, and that there may be value in asking even relatively young children about with whom they would like to live following their removal from home as a result of maltreatment.
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Dickerson KL, Milojevich HM, Quas JA. Perceived Social Status and Suicidal Ideation in Maltreated Children and Adolescents. Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol 2021; 50:349-362. [PMID: 34379260 PMCID: PMC8885555 DOI: 10.1007/s10802-021-00852-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Recent decades have seen an alarming increase in rates of suicide among young people, including children and adolescents (“youth”). Although child maltreatment constitutes a well-established risk factor for suicidal ideation in youth, few efforts have focused on identifying factors associated with maltreated youths’ increased risk for suicidal ideation, especially across development. The present study examined the relations between maltreated youths' (N = 279, M = 12.06 years, 52% female, 53% Latinx) perceptions of their social status and suicidal ideation and compared those relations between pre-adolescents and adolescents. Findings revealed unique developmental patterns: Perceived social status was associated with suicidal ideation, but only in adolescents, who showed greater risk for suicidal ideation if they viewed themselves as lower ranked in society and lower risk for suicidal ideation if they viewed themselves as higher ranked in society. Findings have implications for scientific and practical efforts aimed at better understanding and preventing suicide in a high-risk developmental population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelli L Dickerson
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
| | - Helen M Milojevich
- Center On Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
| | - Jodi A Quas
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
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Dickerson KL, Quas JA. Emotional awareness, empathy, and generosity in high-risk youths. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 208:105151. [PMID: 33892296 PMCID: PMC8218817 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2020] [Revised: 01/20/2021] [Accepted: 03/10/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Although maltreatment places youths at risk for substantial deficits in prosociality, effective methods of improving these deficits have yet to be identified. The current investigation tested whether prosociality could be enhanced in maltreated youths by increasing their awareness of others' sadness. Maltreated youths (n = 145) and matched community youths (n = 106) aged 6-17 years completed a sharing task within which labels about a peer's emotions (sad vs. neutral) were experimentally manipulated. Youths who received the sad emotion label about a peer's feelings showed greater empathic concern, and in turn generosity, toward that peer than youths who received the neutral label. Findings offer new insight into potential methods of improving prosocial responding in youths and thus provide direction for intervention efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelli L Dickerson
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
| | - Jodi A Quas
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE Child neglect is often initially identified via adults who come into contact with children and report their suspicions to the authorities. Little is known about what behaviors laypersons view as constituting neglect and hence worth reporting. We examined laypersons' perceptions of neglect and poverty, particularly how these factors independently and jointly shaped laypersons' decisions about what warrants official reporting of neglect, and how laypersons' socioeconomic background related to their decisions. HYPOTHESES We anticipated that neglect would be correctly perceived as such, but that extreme poverty would also be perceived as neglect, with these latter perceptions being most pronounced among laypersons of higher socioeconomic background. METHOD In 2 studies, adults read vignettes about a mother's care of her daughter and rendered decisions about whether the mother's behavior met the legal standard of neglect and should be reported. In Study 1 (N = 365, 55% female, mean age = 37.12 years), indicators of poverty and neglect were manipulated. In Study 2 (N = 474, 53% female, mean age = 38.25 years), only poverty (housing instability: homelessness vs. not) was manipulated. RESULTS Laypersons often conflated poverty and neglect, especially in circumstances of homelessness. Laypersons of lower socioeconomic background were less likely to perceive neglect in general and to report an obligation to make a referral (R2s ranged from 17-26%, odds ratios ranged from 2.24-3.08). CONCLUSIONS Laypersons may overreport neglect in circumstances of poverty. Increasing public awareness of how to recognize and separate neglect from poverty may enhance identification of vulnerable children and families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelli L Dickerson
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine
| | - Jennifer Lavoie
- Moray House School of Education and Sport, The University of Edinburgh
| | - Jodi A Quas
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine
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Abstract
Maltreated youths often overinterpret anger in others' emotional expressions, particularly expressions that are ambiguous, and this "anger bias" is associated with aggressive behavior. In the current experiment, we tested the effect of an emotion-training intervention on anger bias and subsequent aggression. Eighty-four youths, ages 8 to 17, who had been removed from home because of maltreatment and had screened positive for aggressive tendencies, served as participants. Over 4 days, youths completed positive emotion training, a computerized program in which youths classify emotional expressions. Youths in the treatment condition received feedback to encourage their recognition of happiness over anger in ambiguous expressions. Physical aggression up to 1 week posttraining was assessed on the basis of self- and staff reports. The intervention was effective in reducing youths' anger bias and somewhat so in reducing aggression-the latter of-which occurred infrequently, limiting power. Results offer direction for developmental research and cost-effective interventions for maltreated youths at risk for aggression and future justice-system involvement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelli L. Dickerson
- Department of Psychological Science, School of Social
Ecology, University of California, Irvine
| | - Jennifer L. Skeem
- School of Social Welfare, University of California,
Berkeley
- Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California,
Berkeley
| | - Lina Montoya
- Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health,
University of California, Berkeley
| | - Jodi A. Quas
- Department of Psychological Science, School of Social
Ecology, University of California, Irvine
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Quas JA, Dickerson KL. Implicit Encouragement: Enhancing Youth Productivity when Recounting a Stressful Experience. Int J Child Maltreat 2019; 2:239-254. [PMID: 32095780 PMCID: PMC7039258 DOI: 10.1007/s42448-019-00031-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
In recent years, increasing efforts have been focused on testing strategies of improving victimized children's narrative productivity, given that, for many youth, finding out what has happened to them is crucial to intervening and promoting their well-being. Implicit encouragement strategies, such as back channeling by conversational partners, have shown some preliminary promise, but their precise effects on productivity and accuracy have not been adequately examined. In this study, 98 youth, ages 8-14, completed a laboratory-based stressful activity, and a week later, a surprise memory test regarding what happened in the lab activity. Interviewers varied their use of implicit encouragement. Open-ended recall questions asked youth about both factual details and detail about their feelings and thoughts during the laboratory activity. Implicit encouragement increased the amount of both types of details and had no effect on errors. In fact, few youth provided any incorrect information in their recall reports. Neither age nor stress was related to youth's productivity or accuracy, directly or in conjunction with implicit encouragement. Results highlight the value of interviewers using encouraging behaviors when questioning children and adolescents to elicit a range of information about prior stressful experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jodi A. Quas
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, 4201 Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, Irvine, CA 92697-7085, USA
| | - Kelli L. Dickerson
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, 4201 Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, Irvine, CA 92697-7085, USA
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Lavoie J, Dickerson KL, Redlich AD, Quas JA. Overcoming Disclosure Reluctance in Youth Victims of Sex Trafficking: New Directions for Research, Policy, and Practice. Psychol Public Policy Law 2019; 25:225-238. [PMID: 32103880 PMCID: PMC7043240 DOI: 10.1037/law0000205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
An alarming number of youth worldwide are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, particularly sex trafficking. Normative developmental processes and motivations across the adolescent period-the age when youth are at greatest risk for trafficking-combined with their history, make them highly likely to be reluctant to disclose their exploitation to police, who often encounter victims because they are suspected of delinquency and crime and who interrogate the victims as suspects. Little scientific and policy attention has been devoted to understanding how to question these victims in a way that reduces their disclosure reluctance and increases their provision of legally relevant information. In the current review, we describe research concerning trafficking victims' histories and exploitative experiences, juvenile suspects' and victims' encounters with the legal system, and best-practice forensic interviewing approaches to elicit disclosures from child victims. We highlight the implications of these areas for understanding the dynamics between how police encounter and interact with adolescent trafficking victims and whether and how the victims disclose trafficking details during these interactions. We close with an agenda for research to test interviewing methods for suspected victims of sex trafficking and with policy and practice recommendations for interviewers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kelli L Dickerson
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine
| | | | - Jodi A Quas
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine
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Dickerson KL, Milojevich HM, Quas JA. Early Environmental Unpredictability: Implications for Youth's Perceptions and Social Functioning. J Youth Adolesc 2019; 48:1754-1764. [PMID: 31230172 PMCID: PMC6732221 DOI: 10.1007/s10964-019-01052-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2019] [Accepted: 05/30/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
According to an evolutionary perspective, early environmental unpredictability induces expectations in youth that their future is uncertain and increases their likelihood of engaging in opportunistic, impulsive, and aggressive behaviors. Although considerable evidence supports the links between environmental unpredictability and such behaviors, less is known about how youth growing up in volatile environments actually perceive their lives and how these perceptions relate to their behavior. In this study, two samples of 10-17 year-olds, one with a history of maltreatment and removal from home (n = 90; 52% female; 67% Hispanic-American) and one without (n = 80; 54% female; 69% Hispanic-American), reported on their perceptions of unpredictability and social functioning. Maltreated youth endorsed greater perceptions of unpredictability than non-maltreated youth. For both groups, greater perceptions of unpredictability were associated with increased aggression and conduct problems and decreased prosociality. Findings advance understanding of a developmental pathway contributing to opportunistic and risky social behavior in youth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelli L Dickerson
- Department of Psychological Science, 4201 Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| | - Helen M Milojevich
- Center for Developmental Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA
| | - Jodi A Quas
- Department of Psychological Science, 4201 Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.
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Abstract
In order to identify victims of child neglect, social service workers rely heavily on referrals from concerned friends, neighbors, and others in the community. Little is known, however, about how lay individuals perceive child neglect and what factors influence their decision to make a referral. This study explored the effects of child, parent, and participant gender on laypersons' evaluations of child neglect. Participants read a case of neglect of a child by a custodial and absent parent and then rated the parents' culpability and intentionality and decided whether the parents' behavior met the legal definition of neglect. When evaluating the custodial parent, men but not women viewed fathers as more culpable than mothers for the neglect of their son and viewed mothers as somewhat more culpable for the neglect of their daughter. Men also perceived absent mothers as more intentionally harmful than absent fathers. Finally, both men and women were more likely to qualify parental behavior as legally neglectful when the genders of the custodial parent and child matched. Results, which suggest that gender bias may exist in laypersons' perceptions of child neglect and may influence their decisions to report, have implications for identification of and intervention for vulnerable children and families.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelli L Dickerson
- 1 Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Sonia Lindner
- 1 Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Nicholas Scurich
- 2 Department of Criminology, Law and Society, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Jodi A Quas
- 1 Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
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Quas JA, Dickerson KL, Matthew R, Harron C, Quas CM. Adversity, emotion recognition, and empathic concern in high-risk youth. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0181606. [PMID: 28738074 PMCID: PMC5524326 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0181606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2017] [Accepted: 07/04/2017] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Little is known about how emotion recognition and empathy jointly operate in youth growing up in contexts defined by persistent adversity. We investigated whether adversity exposure in two groups of youth was associated with reduced empathy and whether deficits in emotion recognition mediated this association. Foster, rural poor, and comparison youth from Swaziland, Africa identified emotional expressions and rated their empathic concern for characters depicted in images showing positive, ambiguous, and negative scenes. Rural and foster youth perceived greater anger and happiness in the main characters in ambiguous and negative images than did comparison youth. Rural children also perceived less sadness. Youth’s perceptions of sadness in the negative and ambiguous expressions mediated the relation between adversity and empathic concern, but only for the rural youth, who perceived less sadness, which then predicted less empathy. Findings provide new insight into processes that underlie empathic tendencies in adversity-exposed youth and highlight potential directions for interventions to increase empathy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jodi A. Quas
- Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States of America
| | - Kelli L. Dickerson
- Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Richard Matthew
- Department of Planning, Policy, and Design, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States of America
| | - Connor Harron
- Department of Social Ecology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States of America
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