Competing Models of Socialization Study

This study was funded through Wichita State University, Kansas, with OSLC as a subcontractor and Mike Stoolmiller as the PI. The goal of the project was to identify and detail the multiple processes occurring in family and peer environments that contribute to social development during childhood. Three influential theories were tested for their separate and joint contributions to antisocial and depressive behavior: a) emotion regulation, b) social cognitive, and c) coercion theory. Extensive observational data was collected in the lab with parents and child, and in the classroom and on the playground with peers. Observations were coded for emotional display using the specific affect code (Spaff) and for behavioral process using the family and peer process code (FPP). In addition, children and parents received an extensive battery of social information processes tasks. The ultimate goal was to explore the ways that key process variables from one theory might mediate or moderate the influence of variables from the other theories across family and peer contexts.

Funder: National Institute of Mental Health

Co-Investigator:

• Gerald R. Patterson, Ph.D.

Formerly Affiliated Co-Investigator:

• Mike Stoolmiller, Ph.D.