Gender Differences in Children's Hyperactivity, Inattention, and Impulsivity

冲动、注意力不集中和多动的孩子比同龄人有更大的社会和学业问题，至少在美国是这样。教师和家长发现这些行为很难管理，特别是在儿童中期。本研究将采用跨文化的比较设计，以澄清这些行为是否相似，是否对儿童产生相同的后果，是否对不同国家的父母和教师构成相同的挑战。这对儿童在跨文化环境中的学习和发展具有重要意义，无论是在美国还是在国际上的多民族教室。它也对儿童的行为被归类为问题行为的条件，以及如何干预这些行为可能会被设计为促进儿童及其照顾者的学术和社会福利的影响。比较将在三个国家的儿童之间进行：美国（得克萨斯州），墨西哥和伯利兹。之所以选择这些文化环境，是因为它们对儿童的健谈和活动有不同的教师和家长价值观。 冲动，注意力不集中和多动行为的社会和学术后果将在这些设置进行比较。儿童的行为将在家里、教室和操场上进行评估，使用人类学、生物学和心理学的方法相结合。特别注意行为的性别差异，因为以前的临床研究表明，严重的冲动、注意力不集中和过度活跃的行为更容易在男孩身上发现。 通过使用生物文化的研究设计，侧重于行为的生物和文化背景，本研究将能够阐明文化和生物变异在这些行为中产生性别差异的作用。 目前，人们对女孩和男孩的行为模式以及他们可能从老师、父母和其他孩子那里得到的不同反应缺乏了解。 这项研究也对儿童的学术和社会福利产生了影响，以及为什么它可能因性别和种族而异。大多数以前的研究只关注这些行为的病理或极端程度，忽略了大多数儿童至少偶尔会表现出这些行为的事实。 然而，即使是较小程度的冲动，疏忽和过度活跃的行为也可能对许多儿童产生重大的积极或消极后果。这项研究将提供第一个明确的证据，这些行为的自然发生范围，应该是感兴趣的研究人员在人类学，心理学和教育领域。

Impulsive, inattentive and hyperactive children have greater social and academic problems than their peers, at least in the U.S. Teachers and parents find these behaviors difficult to manage, especially in mid-childhood. This research will use a comparative, cross-cultural design to clarify whether these behaviors are similar, have the same consequences for children, and pose the same challenges to parents and teachers, in different countries. This has significant implications for child learning and development in cross-cultural circumstances, whether in multi-ethnic classrooms in the U.S. or internationally. It also has implications for conditions in which children's behavior becomes classified as problem behavior, and how interventions for these behaviors might be designed to promote academic and social wellbeing for children and their caregivers.The comparison will be made between children in three countries: US (Texas), Mexico, and Belize. These cultural settings have been chosen because they have varying teacher and parent values about children's talkativeness and activity. Social and academic consequences of impulsive, inattentive, and hyperactive behaviors will be compared across these settings. Children's behavior will be assessed at home, in the classroom and on the playground, using a combination of anthropological, biological, and psychological methods.Particular attention will be paid to sex differences in behavior, because previous clinical studies have shown that severe levels of impulsive, inattentive and hyperactive behavior are much more likely to be found in boys. By using a biocultural research design, focusing on both biological and cultural contexts of the behaviors, this study will be able to clarify the roles of cultural and biological variation in producing sex differences in these behaviors. Currently, there is a poor understanding of the girls' and boys' behavior patterns, and the different reactions they may get from teachers, parents and other children. This research also has implications for children's academic and social well being, and why it may vary by sex and ethnicity. Most previous studies have focused only on pathological or extreme degrees of these behaviors, ignoring the fact that most children display these behaviors at least occasionally. Yet, even lesser degrees of impulsive, inattentive and hyperactive behavior may also have significant positive or negative consequences for many children. This study will provide the first clear evidence of the naturally occurring range of these behaviors and should be of interest to researchers in the fields of anthropology, psychology and education.