Over the past thirty years, researchers have documented a remarkable growth in children's social understanding between toddlerhood and the early school years. However, it is still unclear why some children's awareness of others' thoughts and feelings lags so far behind that of their peers. Based on research that spans an extended developmental…

The quality and stability of sibling relationships during adulthood were assessed by comparing Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) themes of sibling affiliation, conflict, and separation at the periods of active child-rearing (CP) and the empty nest (EN). Thirty men and 30 women, equally divided between the two life stages, were randomly selected…

The IQ performance of children who experienced the birth of a younger sibling was found to drop 10 points during the next two years for singleton children and 5.8 points for last-born children from families of comparable size. The study controlled for sex, family size, age at assessment, and IQ before the birth of the sibling. (Author/RH)

Investigates (1) whether differences between boys and girls indicated by teacher rating were similar to those indicated by direct observation and (2) whether teachers' assessments of the relative frequencies with which children show particular types of behavior agree with those obtained by direct observation. (RH)

This study examined behavioral adjustment in 22 siblings of children with autism. Mothers rated these children as having more behavior problems and fewer prosocial behaviors than a normative sample. Analysis of variables revealed that male siblings and children younger than the autistic sibling engaged in fewer prosocial behaviors. Psychological…

Examines effects of age, sex, and sibling status on children's ideas about infants and infant care. The sample consisted of 43 preschoolers and 42 second graders, half of whom were boys, half were girls, and half were singletons. Older children with siblings were more knowledgeable than either their singleton peers or younger children.…

This study examined the relationship between age-interval between siblings and children's creative abilities, as well as parental views on the creative abilities of 116 children (ages 9-12 years). The study found that larger age intervals resulted in greater creativity and that age intervals also interacted with birth order, family size, and age.…

The primary purpose of this study was to describe the linguistic behavior exhibited by a female subject (age 2 years, 4 months) during naturally occurring social interaction with children of different ages. Verbal and nonverbal behavior were studied; of additional interest were variables influencing the emergence of linguistic behavior. Data were…

Similarity of friends and the degree to which friendship selection criteria and similarity change as a function of age were investigated in this study. Subjects were 27 preschoolers, 34 third graders, and 30 sixth graders. Fifty-three percent were male, 47 percent were female, and 29 percent were black. Friendship choices were measured by…