Holly E. Recchia

Concordia University Montreal · Department of Education

In the aftermath of intractable armed conflict, adolescents can play a critical role in the process of reconciliation and the construction of a culture of peace. The meanings they construct about these processes are a core aspect of their engagement (or lack thereof) in peace‐building initiatives. This study sought to document adolescents' perspect...

This study investigated Colombian adolescents’ evaluations and expectations about different solutions to seeking justice in the aftermath of group-based harms and how their judgments of solutions were associated with self-reported levels of trust. In individual interviews, 74 adolescents (Mage = 16.48 years; 36 girls, 38 boys) in Bogotá, Colombia,...

This practice brief is intended to guide educators in tailoring responses to harmful behavior in schools to support students from early childhood to adolescence.

Very little is known about the role of early interactions in the development of peer relationships among toddlers. The present study examined whether behaviors early in the formation of toddler relationships predict interactions later in their relationships. Twenty-eight unfamiliar 20- and 30-month-old toddlers from a predominately European backgro...

We examined the evolution of social pretend play in toddlers and tested whether children’s age, gender, and language abilities were associated with changes in social pretend play over time. We employed a unique observational data set that followed 28 children ( M age = 27 months old; 57% boys) with each of two unfamiliar peers over 18 playdates per...

Past work on moral mindsets has largely overlooked the adolescent developmental period, a time when adolescents are navigating the complexities of moral life and experiencing tensions between important moral principles and their own actions. This study investigated how moral incrementalism and essentialism are linked to how adolescents construct me...

The frequency and length of games, conflicts, and contingency sequences that took place between toddlers as they got to know one another were studied using archival data. The sample consisted of 28 unfamiliar 20- and 30-month-old toddlers (predominantly White, 16 males) who met separately with each of two other toddlers for 18 play dates. The frequ...

The goal of this chapter is to encourage a rapprochement between scholarship on children’s socio-moral development and the implementation of restorative initiatives in schools. To this end, we first review psychological research on children’s developing capacities that bear on their participation in restorative processes. We then review scholarship...

Stealing is considered to be a typical moral violation, but is stealing immoral when it does not involve harm? To assess the role of harm in reasoning about stealing, 200 undergraduates with a range of political orientations (M = 3.81 on a 7-point scale, SD = 1.49) judged instances of taking resources without permission to benefit a third party. Pa...

This mixed‐methods study examined how adolescents understand and evaluate different ways to address intergroup harms in schools. In individual interviews, 77 adolescents (M age = 16.49 years; 39 girls, 38 boys) in Bogotá, Colombia, responded to hypothetical vignettes wherein a rival group at school engaged in a transgression against their group. Ad...

This study investigated mothers’ and children's constructions of meaning about responsibility for harm in conversations about two experiences when children were hurt by a peer and felt they had either contributed or not contributed to the situation. The sample included 105 Canadian mothers (75% White) and their children (53 girls, 52 boys) across t...

The goal of this study was to better understand similarities and differences in preschool children's expression of needs and prosocial responsiveness to peers’ needs across two culturally distinct contexts. Preschoolers were observed in a semi‐naturalistic design across rural Mexico and urban Canada, wherein they were instructed to build a tower wi...

This chapter focuses on sibling relations in early and middle childhood, but children are acutely aware of their younger sibling from their birth, and early interaction patterns influence later development. Relationships theory posits that children's development occurs in the context of intimate and close relationships, such as with parents and sib...

This study investigated between and within person differences in adolescents’ endorsement of moral essentialism and moral incrementalism across various types of morally-relevant situations. The sample included 97 adolescents (age range = 12–15 years). Adolescents responded to vignettes depicting recurrent and nonrecurrent actions in prosocial and a...

This volume brings together research on revenge across childhood and adolescence to explore how revenge is a part of normative development, but also arises from maladaptive social environments. The chapters demonstrate the ways in which revenge is intertwined with social, emotional, cognitive, and moral development as well as being informed by inte...

This volume brings together research on revenge across childhood and adolescence to explore how revenge is a part of normative development, but also arises from maladaptive social environments. The chapters demonstrate the ways in which revenge is intertwined with social, emotional, cognitive, and moral development as well as being informed by inte...

This volume brings together research on revenge across childhood and adolescence to explore how revenge is a part of normative development, but also arises from maladaptive social environments. The chapters demonstrate the ways in which revenge is intertwined with social, emotional, cognitive, and moral development as well as being informed by inte...

Gender minoritized students experience unique challenges in their school environments that may have consequences for their educational outcomes, including academic engagement. The goal of the current study was to understand the association between gender identity and academic engagement among adolescents attending public high schools in Paraná, Bra...

One limitation of many reintegration programs for war-affected young mothers in Northern Uganda is their failure to harness women’s capacity to act as change agents in improving their own life circumstances. Although some programs have been effective in enhancing women’s agency, no research has directly documented the development of agency within a...

In a sample of 95 urban Colombian mid‐adolescents, this mixed‐method study examined how youths’ retaliatory desires and actions were juxtaposed with forgiveness and nonforgiveness in their narrative accounts of peer conflict. Quantitative analyses examined how retaliatory desire and action were associated with variations in youths’ lifetime exposur...

Self-continuity, or how an individual understands their sense of self as persisting from past to present and present to future, is an important aspect of the self-concept that is linked to mental health outcomes. This self-concept construct may be particularly pertinent for sexual minority populations, as living in a heterosexist environment may pr...

Adolescence has historically been framed as a time of rebellion and protest, with traditional responses in school applying punitive frameworks. In this article, we review recent psychological work on the restorative practices movement in schools as an alternative to how to respond to young people. This changing framework has implications for their...

In childhood, musical play is an important part of home life and, potentially, sibling play. Considering the social‐emotional relevance of musical activities, siblings' engagement in musical play may also be associated with social development. The current longitudinal study examined musical play in 39 pairs of siblings during naturalistic home play...

Children's varied emotions following peer injury may reflect distinct ways of understanding and coping with such events. This study examined how children's references to anger and sadness in their accounts of peer injury were differentially related to narrative descriptions of their motivations, interpretations, evaluations, and behavioral response...

This study examined children's and adolescents’ narrative accounts and evaluations of an instance when they forgave a peer and an instance when they did not forgive, as well as their definitions of what it means to forgive. The sample included 100 participants in three age groups (7‐, 11‐, and 16‐year‐olds). Regardless of age, forgiveness and non‐f...

Research Findings: Siblings’ interactions in early childhood may provide a unique context for understanding others’ needs and fostering prosociality. This 2-year longitudinal study examined children’s prosocial responsiveness to their siblings’ needs during naturalistic interactions. European-Canadian sibling dyads (N = 39) were observed in their h...

This study examined children's and adolescents’ descriptions of wanting and seeking revenge in peer conflicts. A total of 100 youth divided into three age groups (7‐, 11‐, and 16‐year‐olds) were interviewed about experiences in which they wanted to get back at a peer who harmed them. Most youth recalled experiencing retaliatory desires, but typical...

As they attempt to elicit children’s prosociality, parents may employ different strategies such as calling children’s attention to others’ needs, explaining appropriate prosocial responses, and describing consequences of behavior (Pettygrove et al., 2013; Waugh, Brownell, & Pollock, 2015). These parental socialization efforts can play a crucial rol...

Las personas viven inmersas en un entorno social estructurado simbólicamente que dan por supuesto. Lo piensan del mismo modo que al mundo natural y solo lo cuestionan ante situaciones específicas. Sin embargo, ese entorno es una construcción colectiva que, así como se transmite, puede reconstruirse. Representaciones sociales, prejuicio y relaciones...

Research has underscored the cognitive benefits of reading, but scholars have also begun to explore its implications in the socioemotional domain. The authors review research exploring the links between reading and social understanding skills such as empathy and perspective taking, examine the qualities of literature that are posited to foster soci...

Background Sibling aggression is common and often viewed as benign. Although sibling aggression can be harmful for the victims, it may also be a marker of clinical risk for the aggressor. We differentiated typical from atypical levels of perpetration of sibling‐directed aggression among preschoolers, a developmental period in which aggression is a...

Recognizing others’ needs is crucial for engaging in the prosocial behavior (Dunfield, 2014), and this skill is fostered by the birth of a sibling (Kramer, 2014). Due to the hierarchical dimensions of sibling relationships, first-born and second-born siblings take on different roles (Howe, Recchia, & Ross, 2011), which might influence their express...

This study investigated the moral socialization strategies that mothers use in conversations about their children's experiences of harming their siblings as compared to their friends. The sample included 101 mothers and their 7‐, 11‐, or 16‐year‐old children; each dyad discussed events when the child (a) harmed a younger sibling and (b) harmed a fr...

Two longitudinal studies conducted with early adolescents (ages 10–13) examined the hypothesis that self-continuity, or the degree to which individuals feel that they remain the same person over time regardless of how their specific characteristics may change, would moderate the association between victimization and depressed affect. Both Study 1 (...

The study examined how preadolescents and adolescents represent and make sense of their mothers’ and friends’ perspectives concerning their real-life conflicts. Participants (N = 108) in three age groups (10-, 14-, and 17-year-olds) provided narrative accounts of their own conflicts with mothers and friends. The findings revealed age-related gains...

This study examined parents’ and children's descriptions of older and younger siblings’ conflict goals in the late preschool and middle childhood years, and how these attributions were related to sibling relationship quality. Parents and 4- to 10-year-old children from 62 families were interviewed separately about siblings’ motivations in two dispu...

Developmental theorists have struggled with defining the relations among biology, psychology, and sociocultural context, often reducing psychological functions of a person to either biological functioning or the role of sociocultural context - nature or nurture - and considering each area of human development separately. New Perspectives on Human D...

Sharing is a behavior that compensates for inequality of distribution of resources, requires understanding of others’ needs, and necessitates giving up valuable resources (Eisenberg et al., 2015; Fehr et al., 2008). It is argued that children as young as 2-years will share resources when others’ needs are explicit (Dunfield & Kuhlmeier, 2013), shar...

Prosocial behaviors, as other-oriented actions, are vital for the development of social skills (Eisenberg, Spinard, & Knafo, 2015). Arguably, effectively engaging in prosociality depends on children’s understanding of others’ needs (Dunfield, 2014). Therefore, given children’s intimate knowledge of their siblings, this relationship may serve as a u...

Naturalistic dyadic sequences of teaching and learning involving older and younger siblings were investigated in 39 middle-class dyads over a 2-year period in early childhood. Siblings were observed during ongoing interactions in the home setting for 6 90-min sessions at both Time 1 (older sibling M age = 4.4 years; younger sibling M age = 2.4 year...

The findings of preliminary analyses of my Master thesis research project have been presented as a poster at the JPS conference.

Sibling-directed teaching of mathematical topics during naturalistic home interactions was investigated in 39 middle-class sibling dyads at two time points. At time 1 (T1), siblings were 2 and 4 years of age, and at time 2 (T2), siblings were 4 and 6 years of age. Intentional sequences of sibling-directed mathematical teaching were coded for (i) to...

This study examined siblings’ knowledge about the teaching concept during naturalistic teaching contexts, wherein children’s communicative interactions were used as a gateway to their social understanding (Turnbull, Carpendale, & Racine, 2009). Participants included 39 sibling dyads (older age group, Mage = 6;4; younger age group, Mage = 4;5) obser...

This study investigated how six- to eight-year-old children interpret ambiguous provocation from their siblings. In particular, we examined how children's attributions of their siblings' intent (1) differed from those for their peers, (2) varied as a function of the structural features of the sibling relationship, and (3) were associated with the a...

This study examined children's and adolescents' narrative accounts of everyday experiences when they harmed and helped a friend. The sample included 100 participants divided into three age groups (7-, 11-, and 16-year-olds). Help narratives focused on the helping acts themselves and reasons for helping, whereas harm narratives included more referen...

Though it is generally acknowledged that parents are directly implicated in how and what their children learn about right and wrong, little is known about how the process of moral socialization proceeds in the context of family life, and how it gets played out in actual parent-child conversations. This volume brings together psychological research...

Though it is generally acknowledged that parents are directly implicated in how and what their children learn about right and wrong, little is known about how the process of moral socialization proceeds in the context of family life, and how it gets played out in actual parent-child conversations. This volume brings together psychological research...

Social-constructivist models of learning highlight that cognitive development is embedded within the context of social relationships characterized by closeness and intimacy (Vygotsky, 197848. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.View all references). Therefore,...

Investigaciones previas llevadas a cabo en Colombia han demostrado que la exposición a violencia tiene repercusiones sobre la manera en que los jóvenes razonan sobre los conflictos y la manera que consideran adecuada para resolverlos. Especialmente se evidencia aceptación de la venganza como una forma legítima de respuesta. Estos estudios se han he...

This study examined mother-child conversations about children's and adolescents' past harmful and helpful actions. The sample included 100 mothers and their 7-, 11-, or 16-year-old children; each dyad discussed events when the child (a) helped a friend and (b) hurt a friend. Analyses suggested that conversations about help may serve to facilitate c...

The purpose of this study was to examine parental selection criteria and satisfaction with day care, knowledge about centre philosophy, teacher education and quality of the day-care environment. Parents (n = 261) and educators (n = 94) in 44 non-profit centres in three Canadian cities participated. Parent knowledge was assessed by phone interview,...

This study investigated differences in children's and adolescents' experiences of harming their siblings and friends. Participants (N = 101; 7-, 11-, and 16-year-olds) provided accounts of events when they hurt a younger sibling and a friend. Harm against friends was described as unusual, unforeseeable, and circumstantial. By contrast, harm against...

This study examined associations between parents' attributions of culpability and their observed interventions into sibling conflict. A total of 61 primary caregivers judged who was at fault for a sibling conflict and subsequently discussed the event with their two children (aged 4–10 years). Nonunilateral fault attributions (blaming both children...

This study examined associations between parents' attributions of culpability and their observed interventions into sibling conflict. A total of 61 primary caregivers judged who was at fault for a sibling conflict and subsequently discussed the event with their two children (aged 4-10 years). Nonunilateral fault attributions (blaming both children...

Far from being unthinking energies or irrational impulses that control or push people around, emotions are intricately connected to the way people perceive, understand, and think about the world. As such, emotions are also an inextricable part of people's moral lives. As people go about making moral judgments and decisions, they do not merely apply...

The purpose of this study was to assess three methods of delivering in-service professional development regarding constructivist curriculum for early childhood educators. Educators in 44 not-for-profit child care centres in three Canadian cities were studied; 94 educators with formal preservice training participated. The three methods were (a) a co...

Associations among sibling teaching strategies, learner behavior, age, age gap, gender, and social cognitive skills (second-order false belief and interpretive understanding of knowledge) were investigated in 63 sibling dyads in early and middle childhood. Two teaching tasks were introduced to the older sibling teacher: a teacher-directed task with...

Data from 655 early adolescents from three contexts (Curitiba, Brazil; Montreal, Canada and Barranquilla, Colombia) were used to test for measurement invariance in the constructs of essentialism and narrativism. These two different strategies have been proposed to explain the perceptions of stability of self-continuity over time. Essentialism predi...

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Sibling Relationships as a Context for DevelopmentSiblings and PeersConclusion References

This study used a within-family observational design to examine conflict strategies (planning, opposition) and resolutions (standoff, win-loss, compromise) across family subsystems, with an emphasis on power differences between parents and children during relatively symmetrical within-generation (spousal, sibling) and relatively asymmetrical betwee...

This study examined how children use and understand various forms of irony (sarcasm, hyperbole, understatement, and rhetorical questions) in the context of naturalistic positive and negative family conversations in the home. Instances of ironic language in conversations between mothers, fathers, and their two children (M(ages) = 6.33and4.39years) w...

Internal state language is a unique indicator of children’s social understanding. In the current study, the role of context and type of internal state language was investigated. Mother-child internal state discourse in 32 middle-class Canadian families (child M age = 46.4 months) was examined across four contexts: (1) a reflective picture task, and...

This study examined associations between children's descriptions of sibling conflicts and their resolutions during a structured negotiation task. A sample of 58 sibling dyads (older sibling M age = 8.39 years, younger sibling M = 6.06 years) were privately interviewed about an actual conflict. Each child provided a narrative that was coded for conf...

Sibling relationship quality and social understanding (second-order false belief, conflict interpretation, and narrative conflict perspective references) were examined as unique and interactive correlates of sibling conflict behavior in 62 dyads (older M age = 8.39 years and younger M age = 6.06 years). High-quality relationships were associated wi...

This study extends research on sibling conflict strategies and outcomes by examining unique and interactive associations with age, relative birth order, sibling relationship quality, and caregivers' interventions into conflict. Each of 62 sibling dyads (older sibling mean age = 8.39 years; younger sibling mean age = 6.06 years) discussed 1 recurrin...

Research Findings: Sibling teaching and learning behaviors were investigated in 2 studies of children in early and middle childhood. Study 1 addressed individual differences in teaching/learning and associations with dyadic age, age gap, gender, birth order, and relationship quality in 71 middle-class dyads (firstborns M age = 81.54 months; second-...

This study examined siblings’ teaching strategies in 72 dyads (firstborn and second born, M ages = 81.64 and 56.31 months) as a function of dyad age, age gap between siblings, and teacher birth order. One child per dyad was randomly assigned to teach her or his sibling to construct a tractor toy. Interactions were coded for the topic of teachers’ s...

Nina Howe is a professor of Early Childhood and Elementary Education and a principal member of the Centre of Research in Human Development at Concordia University (Montréal, Québec). Her research has focused on how siblings in early and middle childhood co-construct meaning in their relationship through play, conflict, caretaking, and teaching inte...

This study investigated associations between preschoolers' conversations about internal states and their spontaneous appraisals of self and sibling. Thirty-two preschoolers (M age = 3.9 years) were observed during naturalistic home interactions with mothers and younger siblings. Various features of mothers' and children's internal state language we...

Thème Relations entre pairs Introduction Environ 80 % des enfants occidentaux ont au moins un frère ou une soeur. Les relations fraternelles sont susceptibles de durer plus longtemps que toute autre relation au cours d'une vie et font partie intégrante de la vie familiale. Pourtant, comparativement à la profusion d'études publiées sur les relations...

Teaching styles were investigated in 28 middle-class sibling dyads (older sibling M age = 8.2 yrs; younger sibling M age =5.11 yrs) using two sets of block design tasks (five easy; five hard). Older siblings employed a greater number of strategies (i.e. physical demonstrations, scaffolding, corrective feedback) in the hard than in the easy tasks, t...

Associations between siblings' reciprocal (i.e., play) and complementary (i.e., teaching) interactions in 70 sibling dyads (1st-born siblings' mean age=81.6 months, range=59-119 months; 2nd-born siblings' mean age = 56.1 months, range = 5-79 months) were examined. Dyads participated in 2 sessions (play, teaching) and completed a sibling relationshi...

Our goals in this study were to develop a measure of children's understanding of divergent interpretations of conflict and relate that measure to children's more general interpretive understanding of mind (Carpendale & Chandler, 1996). Eighty-nine children between 4 and 9 years of age heard 4 conflict stories in which fault was ambiguous. Children...

Siblings between 4 1/2 and 9 1/2 were interviewed concerning positive and negative actions of self or sibling that either did or did not occur in past conflicts, and then asked to describe these disputes. Children evidenced self-serving biases, ascribing positive actions to themselves more than to their siblings. Additionally, younger siblings deni...