2011 The Palm Beach County Family Study (Full Report)

Table C- 5. Social and Emotional Behaviors of Focal Children by Nativity at Year 5 aSocial-Emotional Indicator b All Mothers Foreign-born U.S.-born(N=310) (n=167) (n=143)Positive behaviorsFocal child seems happy 99 100 99Focal child is eager to learn new things 99 99 100Focal child likes to try new things 98 99 97Focal child is accepted and liked by other children 99 99 99Focal child likes playing with other children his/her age* 98 100 97Focal child pays attention well 94 95 93Focal child adjusts easily to new situations 94 92 95Focal child helps or cooperates with adults 97 96 98Focal child finishes what he/she is asked to do 90 91 90Negative behaviorsFocal child is overly active and unable to sit still*** 72 83 60Focal child gets upset easily 74 77 71Focal child worries about things*** 57 73 38Focal child does things without thinking* 43 49 35Focal child is aggressive 33 34 32a Data were weighted to adjust for the oversampling of mothers in the Glades and mothers screened “at risk.”bBased on a 3-point scale: “almost never,” “sometimes,” and “almost all the time.” Percentages combine “sometimes” and“almost all the time” responses.Chi-square analysis indicate differences between foreign-born and native-born mothers are statistically significant at *p < .05 or***p < .001.Table C- 6. Communication Skills of Focal Children at Year 4 and Year 5 aCommunication Skill% Mothers atYear 4% Mothers atYear 5(N=310)(N=310)Focal child is a good listener 97 93Focal child speaks clearly so strangers understand 92 92Focal child refers to him/her -self as “I” 87 91Focal child uses appropriate social greetings 79 88Focal child waits his/her turn to talk 73 69Focal child can say his/her first and last name 61 89a Data were weighted to adjust for the oversampling of mothers in the Glades and mothers screened “at risk.” Percentagesindicate the total of mothers who responded “sometimes” and “most of the time” on a 3-point scale.*Paired sample t-tests indicate that the following year-to-year differences are statistically significant: greetings4 vs. greetings5;listener4 vs. listener5; names4 vs. names5.Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago 194