Craig H Hart

Brigham Young University | BYU · School of Family Life

Children's temperamental surgency is associated with later child behavioral problems. However, the underlying mechanisms linking child surgency and child aggression, such as negative parental control, are relatively understudied. Moreover, the potential protective effect of a close parent-child relationship on these associations remains untested, p...

Racial discrimination is a salient and chronic stressor for ethnic minority parents that can negatively impact their parenting. The present study used a short-term longitudinal design to examine the link between Chinese American mothers’ stressful experiences of racial discrimination and their authoritarian parenting practices, the mediating role o...

This study compared parenting across four non-Western cultures to test cross-cultural commonality and specificity principles in three aspects: measurement properties, parenting normativeness, and their associations with child outcomes. Both mothers and fathers (N=1509 dyads) with preschool-aged children (M=5.00 years; 48% girls) from urban areas of...

T his study examined the long-term reciprocal impact of two key emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, on the subjective well-being of migrant and non-migrant adolescents in urban China. A total of 2397 middle school students from urban China (864 migrant, M age = 13.05 years, SD = 0.62, 41.7% girls; 1533 n...

Objectives: Racial–ethnic minority parents’ experiences with racial discrimination may function as a contextual stressor that negatively impacts psychological functioning to shape less effective parenting practices, including the use of more psychological control. Moreover, various factors can enhance or diminish psychological functioning in the fa...

Background Excessive inappropriate expressions of anger is one of the most common forms of child maltreatment and can cause serious long-term physical and psychosocial damage to children. Helping parents with anger management is essential to prevent child maltreatment and mental health issues among children and parents. Purpose This pilot study ai...

Objective: This study examined the transactional associations among maternal warmth, child temperamental inhibitory control, child externalizing behaviors, and maternal American acculturation in Korean immigrant families with young children across three time points, each 6 months apart. Method: Korean immigrant mothers (Mage = 35.93 years, SD = 3.6...

Introduction. This study examined the relations between Chinese American children’s temperamental shyness and their assertive and submissive responses to peer victimization. The mediating role of children’s anxious-withdrawn behavior in the association between their temperamental shyness and responses to peer victimization in school settings was as...

Purpose Teacher ratings were used to compare children with developmental language disorders (DLD) and their typically developing peers on 2 subtypes of social withdrawal (shyness and unsociability). Measurement invariance analysis was utilized to determine if teachers rated the 2 groups using the same underlying construct for each of the rating sca...

Bullying has been understudied among preschool children, especially those from Chinese American families. Previous research has also neglected the dimensional effects of psychological control on child bullying development. This study examined two psychological control dimensions, love withdrawal and guilt induction, and their effects on children’s...

The goals of this study were to examine: (a) bidirectional associations between maternal parenting (physical punishment and guilt induction) and Chinese American preschool children’s psychosocial adjustment and (b) the role of maternal cultural orientation and child temperament in moderating parenting effects. Participants were Chinese American mot...

Past studies have revealed potential differences in the functional meaning and social evaluation of children’s temperamental shyness between Chinese interdependence-oriented and North American independence-oriented cultural contexts. However, very little is known about shy Chinese American children’s adjustment in Western school contexts and potent...

We examined the mediating role of Korean immigrant mothers’ psychological well-being in the associations between mothers’ emotional versus instrumental support received from their kin, and their authoritarian parenting style with their preschoolers using longitudinal data. First-generation Korean immigrant mothers with preschool-aged children (N =...

Many studies have considered whether parents play a role in either promoting or moderating their children’s engagement in relational aggression (also known as indirect or social aggression). This is not surprising, given the consistent parenting correlates of physical aggression in prior research. There is evidence of fairly regular correspondence...

Objective. This study examined associations among Korean immigrant mothers’ use of praise and encouragement, their acculturation, their children’s socioemotional and behavioral difficulties, and the moderating role of child gender and age. Design. One hundred and twenty Korean immigrant mothers in the United States and their preschool children part...

SYNOPSIS: Objective. This study examined associations among Korean immigrant mothers’ use of praise and encouragement, their acculturation, their children’s socioemotional and behavioral difficulties, and the moderating role of child gender and age. Design. One hundred and twenty Korean immigrant mothers in the United States and their preschool chi...

We examined: (1) the mediating role of parenting daily hassles in the associations between three predictors (child temperament, maternal psychological well-being, and marital quality) and psychologically controlling practices in two Asian immigrant samples. We also explored the moderating role of maternal acculturation in the path from parenting da...

Few studies have assessed behavioral correlates of preschool children's peer sociometric status in cultures outside North America. This study focuses on 221 Russian preschoolers (108 boys, 113 girls). Correlates included physical and relational forms of aggression/victimization and sociable behavior. Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) established t...

Despite the theoretical conceptualization of parental psychological control as a multidimensional construct, the majority of previous studies have examined psychological control as a unidimensional scale. Moreover, the conceptualization of shaming and its associations with love withdrawal and guilt induction are unclear. The current study aimed to...

Crick, Murray-Close, and Woods (2005) encouraged the study of relational aggression as a developmental precursor to borderline personality features in children and adolescents. A longitudinal study is needed to more fully explore this association, to contrast potential associations with physical aggression, and to assess generalizability across var...

The purpose of this study was to examine multiple predictors of maternal authoritarian parenting including (a) cluttered homes, (b) child characteristics (i.e., emotional temperament), and (c) maternal characteristics (i.e., tense/nervousness). Data were gathered from 177 mothers of young children between ages 3 and 5 (95 male, 82 female children)...

This longitudinal study assessed the association between prior (preschool) and concurrent physical and relational aggression as they relate to Russian adolescents' disclosure and concealment patterns with their parents. In the initial preschool study, there were 106 boys and 106 girls (mean age = 60.24 months, SD = 7.81). Both peer nominations and...

Although there is substantial evidence that low marital satisfaction is a significant risk factor for depression, little research has examined this relationship in cultures outside of the U.S. and Europe. The validity of the marital discord model of depression in Chinese culture was tested by studying 391 couples living in Beijing and Hangzhou, Chi...

Parental psychological control generally consists of overinvolved/protective and critical/rejecting elements, both being linked to children's psychosocial maladjustment. The critical/rejecting element is multidimensional in nature, and few studies have explored this conceptual fullness. It is possible that some dimensions, if they can be statistica...

This study assesses the relationships between children's shy and antisocial/aggressive behaviors and maternal beliefs, and concomitant parenting behaviors. Structural equation models examined 199 mothers' perceptions of aggression and shyness in their preschool-age children (average age = 59.63 months); maternal beliefs (i.e., locus of control, per...

This study examined via teacher reports the behavioral correlates of different forms of nonsocial play among Chinese preschoolers, as well as potential gender differences in the linkages in a sample of preschoolers (249 boys, 257 girls) from two cities in mainland China. Measurement models estimated with two-group confirmatory factor analyses yield...

The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Social Development, Second Edition presents an authoritative and up-to-date overview of research and theory concerning a child's social development from pre-school age to the onset of adolescence. • Presents the most up-to-date research and theories on childhood social development • Features chapters by an...

This investigation was designed to extend the work of Chao (1994) by examining parenting constructs emphasised in the Chinese culture in conjunction with parenting constructs derived and emphasised in North America. Mothers of preschool-age children from mainland China (N = 284) and the United States (N = 237) completed two self-report parenting qu...

The purpose of this investigation was to examine comparable dimensions and linkages between child temperament and parenting styles with samples from Beijing, China and the western United States. Participants included 404 mothers and fathers from Beijing, China and 325 mothers and fathers from the western United States. Both mothers and fathers comp...

Little is known about the behavior of preschool children belonging to peer sociometric status groups (popular, average, rejected, neglected, and controversial) in cultural contexts outside North America. This study examined the social interactions of Italian preschoolers. The sample consisted of 266 Italian preschoolers (mean age of 64 months). Phy...

It is developmentally normative for preschoolers (aged four to five years) to have self-perceptions that are typically positive and even over-inflated. However, because not all children have positive self-perceptions in early childhood it is important to understand factors that influence the development of self-perceptions, especially low self-perc...

To explore relations among parents' self-reported disciplinary styles, preschoolers' playground behavioral orientations, and peer status, 106 mothers and fathers of preschool-age children (age range = 40–71 months) participated in home disciplinary style interviews. Observations of their children's playground behavior in preschool settings and meas...

To explore relations between maternal disciplinary styles, children's expectations of the outcomes of social strategies, and children's peer status, 144 mothers and their first- (N= 59) and fourth- (N= 85) grade children (ages = 70–86 months and 116–129 months, respectively) participated in home interviews prior to the beginning of the school year....

Although the construct of solitary-active behavior calls for the aggregation of solitary-functional play and solitary-pretend play, there is little empirical support for combining them into one construct. Furthermore, little work has been done in early childhood to examine these behaviors on the playground. The purpose of this study was to observe...

This initial study explored the social behaviors of kindergarten children in two classrooms (one developmentally appropriate, one developmentally inappropriate) where the teacher used either positive or negative guidance strategies. Six pairs of kindergartners–three dyads (boy-boy, girl-girl, boy-girl) from a classroom in which the teacher used pos...

This study assessed the combined and differential contributions of Chinese mothers and fathers (in terms of spouse-reported physically coercive and psychologically controlling parenting) to the development of peer-reported physical and relational aggression in their preschool-age children (mean age of 5 years). Results of the two-group (boys and gi...

Researchers have identified specific parenting practices used by parents of preschoolers in mainland China (e.g., physical coercion, overprotection, shaming, directiveness, encouragement of modesty). Some of the intrusive practices have been linked to social withdrawal in western societies (e.g., United States, Canada). It seemed important to exami...

Whether specific patterns of parenting are similarly associated with child peer group behavior in diverse cultural contexts has been a fascinating topic of inquiry. From classic anthropological studies dating back to the early twentieth century to the current interest in cross-cultural studies, knowledge concerning the question of universality and...

Little is known concerning how subtypes of aggression (relational and physical) might be differentially related to preschool-age children's classification in peer sociometric status groups (popular, average, rejected, neglected, and controversial). Furthermore, associations between aggression and sociometric status might vary according to the asses...

The Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (C. H. Hart & C. C. Robinson, 1996) was used to compare the withdrawn and sociable behaviors of 41 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 41 typically developing peers. Three subtypes of withdrawal (reticence, solitary-active, solitary-passive) and 2 subtypes of sociable behavior (prosocial, impulse c...

The Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (C. H. Hart & C. C. Robinson, 1996) was used to compare the withdrawn and sociable behaviors of 41 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 41 typically developing peers. Three subtypes of withdrawal (reticence, solitary-active, solitary-passive) and 2 subtypes of sociable behavior (prosocial, impulse c...

One hundred twenty-eight inmates and 337 non-inmates completed parenting questionnaires that assessed retrospective perceptions of their fathers' and mothers' authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles, as well as the stylistic dimensions found within the three styles. Inmates reported higher incidence than non-inmates of both au...

Lag-sequential analysis was used to explore the simultaneous sequential transition patterns of preschoolers’ social play within natural classroom settings. Subjects were 167 middle- and lower-income 4-year-olds (90 boys and 77 girls) videotaped in three child-initiated play centers. Results indicated that the proportion of social-play states did no...

The ways that children implement social and communication skills in peer-group interaction provide the foundation for successful later life adjustment. The focus of this chapter is on parenting linkages to social and communicative skill outcomes in children during early and middle childhood. Our aims are threefold. First, we conceptualize the natur...

Links between both temperament and parenting, and children's sociable and aggressive behaviour with peers (physical and relational), were examined. The research was undertaken in two Western cultures (the United States and Australia) assumed to be similar in socialisation practices and emphases. The moderating effects of parent sex and child sex we...

Looks at the cross-cultural validity of the psychological control construct, using samples of young children (aged 40-79 mo) from the US, Russia, and China and their parents (aged 21-62 yrs). In addition to demonstrating some variance in the levels of parent-reported psychological control (highest for mothers of Russian girls; lowest for mothers of...

Cross-informant concordance (peers vs. teachers), temporal stability, and reliability associated with sociometrics were systematically examined in a sample of 84 preschoolers (M = 4.5 years). Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that parallel forms of teacher and peer sociometrics measured overlapping and unique aspects of peer popularity...

A 133-item parenting questionnaire was completed by 1251 parents of preschool and school-age children. Items in this measure were reduced using principle axes factor analyses followed by varimax rotation. Three global parenting dimensions emerged consistent with Baumrind's authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive typologies. Internal consistenc...

To assess whether subtypes of withdrawal could be similarly identified by teachers and linked to peer group adjustment in mainland China, Russia, and the United States, 642 4- to 6-year-old children in these diverse cultural contexts were rated on items reflecting reticent, solitary-passive, solitary-active, and sociable behaviour (cf. Coplan & Rub...

This study examined the dimensions of withdrawal and sociability in children with language impairment (LI) and their typically developing chronological age-matched peers. Classroom teachers rated the withdrawn and sociable behaviors of 41 children with LI and 41 typically developing peers using the Teacher Behavioral Rating Scale (TBRS, Hart & Robi...

This study examined reciprocal friendship and peer acceptance in children with specific language impairment (SLI). Peer rating and reciprocal friendship measures were administered in four classrooms containing 8 children with SLI. Three of the children with SLI were less well accepted than typical peers, and 5 children reported no reciprocal friend...

Maternal and paternal parenting styles and marital interactions linked to childhood aggressive behavior as described in Western psychological literature were measured in an ethnic Russian sample of 207 families of nursery-school-age children. Results corroborated and extended findings from Western samples. Maternal and paternal coercion, lack of re...

This study investigated the effect of classroom type (more developmentally appropriate—DAP; and less developmentally appropriate—DIP) on the stress behaviors of 102 preschool-age children as moderated by socioeconomic status (SES) and sex. Also explored were activity type participation rates in both classroom types as a function of both SES and sex...

The purpose of this chapter is to explicate a conceptual model that illustrates how extrafamilial (e.g., sources of stress and support), personal (e.g., inherent psychological child and parent resources), and familial (e.g., parenting, family interactions) processes work together to affect social/communicative peer group outcomes in young children....

Recent research has focused on subtypes of children's aggressive behavior (e.g., instrumental, bullying, relational). However, little work with preschool children has explored intermethod agreement involving teacher ratings, peer behavior nominations, and playground behavior observations for these three different forms of aggression. This study att...

Developed an empirical test for assessing global typologies consistent with D. Baumrind's (1971) authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive typologies for parents of preadolescent children, and identified specific parenting practices occurring within the context of the typologies. 1,251 parents (aged 20–63 yrs) of preschool- and school-age childr...

Parents (109 mothers, 109 fathers) of 109 middle-class preschool-age children were interviewed separately in individual taperecorded home interviews to assess whether either parent was prone to use assertion of power or inductive reasoning as disciplinary strategies. Fathers reported using more power-assertive disciplining strategies with their pre...

A questionnaire measure of kindergarten teachers' beliefs and practices based on the guidelines for developmentally appropriate practice of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) was administered to 204 kindergarten teachers. A principal components analysis of the questionnaire responses produced six reliable beliefs f...

This study explored the relationship between the developmental appropriateness of kindergarten classroom instruction and first-grade report card grade overall averages and averages in reading, language, spelling, math, science, and social studies. The interactive roles that gender, SES, and kindergarten classroom type play in children's later achie...

Kindergarten children's behavior before, during, and after standardized achievement testing was explored through a qualitative study in two classrooms (n = 36). Simultaneously quantitative data were collected in one of the classrooms (n = 21) before and during the testing. Data were collected through observations in the classrooms, interviews with...

Preschoolers' social competence may depend on the frequency with which informal play activities are initiated by parents, children, and playmates. In this study, measures of children's peer relations in informal and school contexts and the frequency of parents', children's, and peers' play initiations were obtained with 83 preschool children and th...

Preschoolers' social competence may depend on the frequency with which informal play activities are initiated by parents', children, and playmates. In this study, measures of children's peer relations in informal and school contexts and the frequency of parents', children's, and peers' play initiations were obtained with 83 preschool children and t...

To explore relationships among parent's self-reported disciplinary strategies, preschoolers' outcome expectations, and playground behavior, 136 mothers of preschool-age children (age range = 39–71 months) participated in home disciplinary style interviews. Measures of preschoolers' outcome expectations and observations of childrens' prosocial, anti...

To explore relations among parents' self-reported disciplinary styles, preschoolers' playground behavioral orientations, and peer status, 106 mothers and fathers of preschool-age children (age range = 40-71 months) participated in home disciplinary style interviews. Observations of their children's playground behavior in preschool settings and meas...

This study investigated the effect of classroom type (developmentally appropriate; inappropriate) on the stress behaviors of 204 kindergarten children as mediated by race, sex, and SES. There were 101 children in inappropriate classrooms and 103 children in appropriate classrooms. Substantive findings indicated that males in inappropriate classroom...

The major objectives of this study were to develop a questionnaire based on the National Association for the Education of Young Children guidelines [1986] for developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood education and to use this questionnaire for obtaining information regarding kindergarten teachers’ beliefs and practices. The Teacher Q...

Of the 4 components of the Hollingshead Four-factor Model of Social Status, paternal occupation and education, then maternal occupation and education, provide a gross measure of children's social status. The conclusion rests on analysis of data from 144 families.

This research was an initial study designed to explore differences in the frequency of stress behaviors exhibited by children (n = 37) in developmentally appropriate (n = 20) and developmentally inappropriate (n = 17) kindergarten classrooms. Results indicated that children in the developmentally inappropriate classroom exhibited significantly more...

To explore relations between maternal disciplinary styles, children's expectations of the outcomes of social strategies, and children's peer status, 144 mothers and their first- (N = 59) and fourth- (N = 85) grade children (ages = 70-86 months and 116-129 months, respectively) participated in home interviews prior to the beginning of the school yea...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between preschoolers' peer behavior and status over a school year by exploring whether early behaviors predicted changes in peer status or vice versa. Children's playground behaviors and peer status were assessed at 3 times during the school year (fall, winter, and spring). Analysis of the b...

This investigation was undertaken to examine the differential influence of a traditional and a contemporary playground on preschool-age children's social, cognitive, and physical play behaviors. The findings provided modest support for less physical play activity in a contemporary playground setting. However, there appears to be little differential...

This study is concerned with the preschool and kindergarten phases of a ten-year longitudinal research project designed to investigate the immediate and long-term effects of preschool on educationally advantaged children. Preschool data dealing with IQ, social competency, and school readiness, as well as physical abilities and self-concept were col...