Children's restrictive disclosure to friends, which is a facet of intimate friendship, was investigated. It was found that children in kindergarten, second, and fourth grade showed restrictive disclosure to friends, and that greater disclosure of positive personal information to friends than to nonfriends was exhibited with age. (PCB)

Examines groups of conduct-disordered and normal children in order to (1) test the potential usefulness of observational techniques in assessing therapeutic outcomes and (2) identify possible differences between deviant children and normal peers in aggressive and prosocial behavior. (RH)

Age, specific emotion, and linguistic modality (verbal vs. non-verbal) were predicted to affect knowledge of emotion in young preschoolers (N = 45, mean age = 40.7 mos). Prosocial response to emotion and knowledge of emotion were also predicted to be related, given naturalistic observation and the use of contextually valid emotion knowledge…

The relationship between altruistic behavior and popularity found in young children becomes much less defined with older children. In a paired-comparison procedure, 144 children from two elementary schools ranked the relative attractiveness as a potential friend of four fictional children described as altruistic, prosocial-aggressive, good at…

Results generated by peers, teachers, and unbiased observers converged in some behavioral domains and diverged in others. All three sources provided similar pictures of the relation between aggression and status, although observations of third grade boys did not yield sufficient frequencies of aggression to allow meaningful conclusions. (RH)

Examines change in prosocial moral judgment over a seven-year period; determines whether there are gender differences in the development of prosocial moral judgment; and examines the interrelations of moral judgment, affect (sympathy), and behavior in middle childhood. (Author/RWB)