NurtureShock (36 page)

Arguing with parents:
Arguing with parents peaks when kids are in early adolescence—from 11 to 14 years old. However, that’s
true for older siblings; for a younger sibling, that peak period of conflict occurs between a second child and his mother
at ages 9 to 11, and with a dad, earlier still—at just 7 to 9 years. Shananan et al. (2007).

The myth of the rebellious teen years:
Our review of the flawed early research into teen rebellion is based on Steinberg (2001).
Current estimates are that real rebellion against parents occurs only about 5–15% of the time. Smetana, Campione-Barr, and
Metzger (2006). The myth of teen rebellion isn’t the only lore around teens: there’s no support that teens are driven by “raging
hormones,” either. Spear (2000).

College students in remedial programs:
California isn’t the only state with college students in remedial programs. Pennsylvania
estimates that one-third of its state college students were also in remedial classes. “Analysis of the 2003–04 Budget” (2003),
“Early Assessment Program” (2008), and Barnes (2007).

But there’s a hidden story in those remediation numbers: nationally, fewer students are in remedial programs now than since
the 1980s. 42% of the Class of 1982 needed remedial courses in college—including 29% of the students in the nation’s top quintile.
By 1992, the remediation rate was down to 26% overall, and just 9% of the nation’s best needed remediation. The rate’s been
hovering around 28% ever since. There are actually fewer colleges and universities offering remedial courses now than there
were in the 1980s. Adelman (2004) and Pasard and Lewis (2003).

Increase in students taking advanced math and science / increase in college applications:
The 20% increase in students’ participation
in math and science occurred from 1990 to 2004. That isn’t the only indicator that students are taking more advanced courses:
from 1996 to 2007, the number of students taking Advanced Placement exams (trying to obtain college credit while still in
high school) tripled—to 1.5 million. More students are also meeting or exceeding the recommended years of high school study
in key subjects. Morisi (2008) and “The American Freshman: Forty-Year Trends” (2007).

Of course, there is room for improvement—the nation’s failure and dropout rates are unacceptable. But, on average, millions
more kids are better academically prepared than ever before.

Enrollment data for colleges:
“Percentage of High School Completers” (2008).

Surveys of college freshmen:
We drew our data from the Higher Education Research Institute’s annual survey, “The American
Freshman,” for the years 2007 and 2009.

Chapter 8, Can Self-Control Be Taught?

Inefficacy of Driver’s Ed:
Mayhew et al. (1998); Vernick et al. (1999); and Williams (2006).

Failure of drug-prevention and dropout programs:
The General Accounting Office reported on the ineffectiveness of D.A.R.E.
and a review of other drug-prevention programs in a report presented to Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-Illinois). Kanof (2003).
Similar assessments were included in a Report to Congress from National Institute of Justice. Sherman et al. (1998). Scholarly
analyses include Lynam et al. (1999) and Shepard (2001).

Interventions and effect sizes:
For a perspective on how effect sizes play out in specific interventions, see Ammerman et
al. (2002); Snyder et al. (2004); Welsh and Farrington (2003); Stice et al. (2006); and Wilfley et al. (2007).

Learning through use of private speech:
A study at Vanderbilt University recently demonstrated the power of teaching private
speech. Four- and five-year-olds had to pick up a color and shape pattern, then predict what the next object in the pattern
would be. The control group was taught how to see a pattern, but the experimental groups were taught to talk themselves out
loud through the pattern. The kids taught the private speech were 300% better at the task than the control kids. Rittle-Johnson
et al. (2008).

The malleability of self-control:
Masicampo and Baumeister (2008) and Baumeister et al. (2007).

Study finding a correction between high IQ and glucose-related fatigue:
Shamosh and Gray (2007).

Chapter 9, Plays Well With Others

Scholars’ responses to Dodge’s findings:
Based on author notes of remarks by Dodge, Lansford, and members of the audience
during Dodge et al.’s presentation at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial meeting in Boston, 2007.

Ethnic/cross-cultural differences in use of corporal punishment:
It’s important to note that, even for most families who use
corporal punishment, it’s usually a rare occurrence, and that we are talking about spanking only as a reprimand. We aren’t
talking about abuse. And, to restate one more time what’s in the text, Dodge and his colleagues do
not
believe that their work should encourage anyone to use corporal punishment. Instead, they believe that the parents’ and cultural
meanings attached to punishment (whatever form it takes) must be considered when understanding its effects on a child.

Conservative Protestants’ and other religious denominations’ use of corporal punishment:
Gershoff et al. (1999); Gershoff
(2002); and Regnerus et al. (2003).

British inquiry on bullying:
House of Commons (2007).

Rise of zero tolerance:
Skiba et al. (2006) and author interviews with the chairman of the APA’s zero tolerance task force,
Cecil Reynolds.

popie-jopie:
Author interviews with Cillessen; and deBruyn and Cillessen (2006).

Studies connecting popularity and alcohol use:
See, for example, Allen et al. (2006) and Allen and McFarland (2008).

Kids who are “socially busy”:
Author interview with Claire Hughes.

Estimate that bistrategic controllers could be as many as one out of six children:
Jacobs et al. (2007).

Adolescents’ time spent in interactions with adults and peers:
Spear (2000) in Chapter 7 sources; authors’ interviews and
correspondence with Baird and Allen.

Chapter 10, Why Hannah Talks and Alyssa Doesn’t

University of Washington studies on babies’ language and video use:
Zimmerman et al. (2007a) and Zimmerman et al. (2007b).

Infant language measure/CDI:
The Zimmerman et al. studies employed what’s known as the “Short-form CDI”—a list of 89 words
that are considered highly indicative of the breadth of a young child’s vocabulary. The full-form CDI is a list of every word—it’s
meant to create a real-time index of a child’s entire vocabulary—but, depending on the age of the child, it can take trained
researchers as much as two to three hours to administer the full CDI. Therefore, in phone surveys such as those conducted
by the University of Washington, the Short-form CDI is really the only practical alternative—and its results are reliable
enough to satisfy scholars in the field. Indeed, some consider the full-CDI to be ideal for the scientist, but overkill for
the parent and child. Author notes from IASCL Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland (2008); and Fenson et al. (2000).

Aigner-Clark credits Kuhl:
Burr (1997) and Morris (1997).

Infant segmentation of language:
Jusczyk (1999); Newman et al. (2006); and Newman et al. (2003).

Simultaneity of sensory input:
Bahrick and Lickliter (2002); Bahrick and Lickliter (2000); Gogate and Bahrick (1998); and
Hollich et al. (2005)

Acquisition of nouns and “closed class” words:
Goodman et al. (2008).

Infant/parent verbal turn-taking predicts cognitive ability:
Tamis-LeMonda and Bornstein (2002).

Motionese and word learning:
Schwade et al. (2004).

Value of multiple speakers for word learning:
Rost and McMurray (2008).

45% of utterances to a two-year-old begin with one of 17 words:
Cameron-Faulkner et al. (2003).

Comparison of word acquisition in European and Korean languages:
Bornstein et al. (2004).

Use of frames and variation sets:
In a two-year-long study of children 14 to 30 months of age, by 30 months, those children
whose parents had used more variation sets had more advanced language—both in the number of words they knew and the structure
of their syntax. Fernald and Hurtado (2006); Bornstein et al. (1999); Waterfall (2009); and Waterfall (2006).

Shape bias:
Author interviews with Samuelson and Smith; also Samuelson (2008); Samuelson and Horst (2004); Samuelson (2002);
Samuelson (2000); Smith (2008); and Smith et al. (2002).

Growth of a child’s vocabulary:
Goodman et al. (2008)

Conclusion

Scholars’ reassessment of the hedonic treadmill:
Diener et al. (2006).

Effects of praise on adults:
See, for example, McCausland et al. (2007) and Earley (1986).

Children’s orthogonal development of virtue and vice:
Another example comes from Padilla-Walker—she’s seen that parents’ efforts
to inculcate children with prosocial values impacts the children’s prosocial attitudes and behavior—but it doesn’t seem to
change their antisocial behavior or attitudes. Padilla-Walker (2007) and Padilla-Walker and Carlo (2007).

Kids who know they like the taste of fruit don’t eat more apples:
Unfortunately, we aren’t speaking hypothetically here. A
team from the University of California, Los Angeles was hired to evaluate the efficacy of the Nutrition Network, a program
325 schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District were using in their classrooms to promote better eating habits.
The researchers surveyed nearly a thousand third, fourth, and fifth graders. They found that almost all kids—in or out of
the program—knew that fruit tastes good and that it’s good for them. (The kids also knew the benefits of vegetables—even if
they didn’t like the taste.) But despite knowing that, the kids ate about one piece of fruit a day, and slightly less than
one serving of vegetables. The scholars had wondered if the cost of fresh produce might be the obstacle to eating more, but
less than one percent of students said their parents couldn’t afford fresh goods. Instead, the number one reason kids didn’t
fulfill their daily requirement was that they simply wanted something else to eat. Prelip et al. (2006).

In addition to the numerous interviews we conducted, the following is a list of significant research materials and conference
presentations that directly informed the text.

Introduction

Bartels, Andreas, and Semir Zeki, “The Neural Correlates of Maternal and Romantic Love,”
NeuroImage
, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 1155–1166 (2004).

Lorberbaum, Jeffrey P., John D. Newman, Amy R. Horwitz, Judy R. Dubno, R. Bruce Lydiard, Mark B. Hamner, Daryl E. Bohning,
and Mark S. George, “A Potential Role for Thalamocingulate Circuitry in Human Maternal Behavior,”
Biological Psychiatry
, vol. 51, no. 6, pp. 431–445 (2002).

Noriuchi, Madoka, Yoshiaki Kikuchi, and Atsushi Senoo, “The Functional Neuroanatomy of Maternal Love: Mother’s Response to
Infant’s Attachment Behaviors,”
Biological Psychiatry
, vol. 63, no. 4, pp. 415–423 (2008).

Swain, James E., Jeffrey P. Lorberbaum, Samet Kose, and Lane Strathearn, “Brain Basis of Early Parent-Infant Interactions:
Psychology, Physiology, and In Vivo Functional Neuroimaging Studies,”
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
, vol. 48, nos. 3–4, pp. 262–287 (2007).

Chapter 1, The Inverse Power of Praise

Ahuja, Anjana, “Forget Self-Esteem and Learn Some Humility,”
The Times
(London), p. A1 (May 17, 2005).

Anderson, D. Chris, Charles R. Crowell, Mark Doman, and George S. Howard, “Performance Posting, Goal Setting, and Activity-Contingent
Praise as Applied to a University Hockey Team,”
Journal of Applied Psychology
, vol. 73, no. 1, pp. 87–95 (1988).

Baumeister, Roy F., Jennifer D. Campbell, Joachim I. Krueger, and Kathleen D. Vohs, “Does High Self-Esteem Cause Better Performance,
Interpersonal Success, Happiness or Healthier Lifestyles?”
Psychological Science in the Public Interest
, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 1–44 (2003).

Baumeister, Roy F., Jennifer D. Campbell, Joachim I. Krueger, and Kathleen D. Vohs, “Exploding the Self-Esteem Myth,”
Scientific American
, vol. 292, pp. 84–92 (2005).

Baumeister, Roy F., Debra G. Hutton, and Kenneth J. Cairns, “Negative Effects of Praise on Skilled Performance,”
Basic and Applied Psychology
, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 131–148 (1990).

Blackwell, Lisa Sorich, Kali H. Trzesniewski, and Carol S. Dweck, “Implicit Theories of Intelligence Predict Achievement Across
an Adolescent Transition: A Longitudinal Study and an Intervention,”
Child Development
, vol. 78, no. 1, pp. 246–263 (2007).

Campanella Bracken, Cheryl, Leo W. Jeffres, and Kimberly A. Neuendorf, “Criticism or Praise? The Impact of Verbal Versus Text-Only
Computer Feedback on Social Presence, Intrinsic Motivation, and Recall,”
CyberPsychology & Behavior
, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 349–357 (2004).