Human Development & Quantitative Methodology
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2248
The departments within the College of Education were reorganized and renamed as of July 1, 2011. This department incorporates the former departments of Measurement, Statistics & Evaluation; Human Development; and the Institute for Child Study.
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Item Testing the effectiveness of the Developing Inclusive Youth program: A multisite randomized control trial(Wiley, 2022-05-25) Killen, Melanie; Burkholder, Amanda R.; D'Esterre, Alexander P.; Sims, Riley N.; Glidden, Jacquelyn; Yee, Kathryn M.; Luken Raz, Katherine V.; Elenbaas, Laura; Rizzo, Michael T.; Woodward, Bonnie; Samuelson, Arvid; Sweet, Tracy M.; Stapleton, Laura M. Killen, M., Burkholder, A. R., D’Esterre, A. P., Sims, R. N., Glidden, J., Yee, K. M., Luken Raz, K. V., Elenbaas, L., Rizzo, M. T., Woodward, B., Samuelson, A., Sweet, T. M., Stapleton, L. M. (2022). Testing the effectiveness of the Developing Inclusive Youth program: A multisite randomized control trial. Child Development, 93, 732–750.The Developing Inclusive Youth program is a classroom-based, individually administered video tool that depicts peer-based social and racial exclusion, combined with teacher-led discussions. A multisite randomized control trial was implemented with 983 participants (502 females; 58.5% White, 41.5% Ethnic/racial minority; Mage = 9.64 years) in 48 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade classrooms across six schools. Children in the program were more likely to view interracial and same-race peer exclusion as wrong, associate positive traits with peers of different racial, ethnic, and gender backgrounds, and report play with peers from diverse backgrounds than were children in the control group. Many approaches are necessary to achieve antiracism in schools. This intervention is one component of this goal for developmental science.Item Claims of wrongdoing by outgroup members heighten children's ingroup biases(Elsevier, 2022-10) Glidden, Jacquelyn; D'Esterre, Alexander P.; Butler, Lucas P.; Killen, MelanieLittle is known about how group bias may impact children's acceptance of unsubstantiated claims. Most children view cheating as unfair. However, in competitive situations, when ambiguity surrounds the potential intention to cheat, group affiliation may lead children to support claims of cheating based solely on the team affiliation of the claimant, even when those claims are not clearly substantiated. Therefore, it may be particularly important to consider the role ingroup bias may play in children's accusations of cheating in a competitive intergroup context. The current study investigated 4–10 year old children's (N = 137, MAge = 6.71 years, SDAge = 1.49; 47 % female) evaluations of ambiguous acts and unverified claims about those acts in a competitive, intergroup context. Results showed that children initially viewed an ambiguous act similarly, regardless of team affiliation, but demonstrated increasing ingroup biases after claims of wrongdoing were introduced. Implications for how unsubstantiated claims may impact intergroup interactions more broadly will be discussed.Item The roles of group biases and mental state understanding in children's intergroup interactions(2023) Glidden, Jacquelyn; Killen, Melanie; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Balancing concerns for fairness with group dynamics, including preferences for one’s ingroup and attitudes about peers viewed as members of the outgroup, emerges early in childhood. While children understand fairness and act on their judgments about it, they also display preferences for others who are similar to themselves. Further, their mental state knowledge, that is, beliefs about others’ beliefs, desires, and intentions, is related to their ability to give priority to fairness considerations. The present dissertation includes a collection of three papers which explore the influence of children’s ingroup biases and mental state understanding skills on their intergroup moral decisions. Empirical Paper 1 documents circumstances in which intergroup factors are associated with increased group biases. Specifically, hearing an outgroup member claim that someone has performed a moral transgression was associated with children displaying heightened ingroup biases. Next, Empirical Paper 2 explores whether mental state understanding might serve as a mediator between children’s ingroup biases and their moral decisions. Children’s mental state understanding skills did in fact mediate the relationship between ingroup bias and children’s ability to attribute intentions and decisions to exclude peers. Finally, Empirical Paper 3 addresses the role of mental state understanding skills in children’s judgments of gender inequalities and their attributions of emotions to individuals who are harmed by or benefitted by gender inequality. Children’s advanced mental state understanding skills were associated with them judging gender inequality more negatively and recognizing that benefitting from gender inequality is not necessarily a positive experience. Together, these three empirical papers provide evidence that children are balancing concerns for groups and their ability to understand others’ mental states when making intergroup moral evaluations. This collection has implications for future research aimed at improving children’s intergroup interactions and reducing intergroup biases.Item Group Norms Influence Children’s Expectations About Status Based on Wealth and Popularity(Frontiers, 2022-05-11) Yee, Kathryn M.; Glidden, Jacquelyn; Killen, MelanieChildren’s understanding of status and group norms influence their expectations about social encounters. However, status is multidimensional and children may perceive status stratification (i.e., high- and low-status) differently across multiple status dimensions (i.e., wealth and popularity). The current study investigated the effect of status level and norms on children’s expectations about intergroup affiliation in wealth and popularity contexts. Participants (N = 165; age range: 5–10 years; Mage = 7.72 years) were randomly assigned to hear two scenarios where a high- or low-status target affiliated with opposite-status groups based on either wealth or popularity. In one scenario, the group expressed an inclusive norm. In the other scenario, the group expressed an exclusive norm. For each scenario, children made predictions about children’s expectations for a target to acquire social resources. Novel findings indicated that children associated wealth status to some extent, but they drew stronger inferences from the wealth dimension than from the popularity dimension. In contrast to previous evidence that children distinguish between high- and low-status groups, we did not find evidence to support this in the context of the current study. In addition, norms of exclusion diminished children’s expectations for acquiring social resources from wealth and popularity groups but this effect was more pronounced between wealth groups. We found age differences in children’s expectations in regards to norms, but not in regards to status. The implications of how these effects, in addition to lack of effects, bear on children’s expectations about acquiring resources are discussed.