Reports on a study of views of friendship among 20 5- and 6-year-old British students. Finds that boys and girls were able to interpret friendships as transactions. Also finds differences between boys and girls on their understanding of "bad friends." (CFR)

Investigates the relationship between self-recognition and self-evaluative emotions in two studies on 27 children aged 9-24 months and 44 children aged 22 months. The results of both studies indicate that embarrassment but not wariness was related to self-recognition. (RJC)

Investigated secondary-level students' (N=66) understanding of three-dimensional structures in biology. Results suggest that student performance is highly correlated with age, scientific ability, and sex. Suggestions for instructional improvement in spatial relationships are offered. (ML)

Reports on a longitudinal study that provides a prospective view of children's personality functioning prior to their subsequent experiencing of divorce. Shows the behavior of boys as early as 11 years prior to parental separation or formal dissolution of marriage to be consistently affected by predivorce familial stress. (HOD)

Tests the distinction between inferring new categories on the basis of property information (predicted to be difficult) and inferring new properties on the basis of category information (predicted to be easier) among 57 preschool children. (HOD)

Explores the underlying knowledge that children have about the relationship between the structure of requests and the relative status of speakers and listeners. Shows that the three age groups (preschoolers, 5-year-olds, and 10-year-olds) could systematically differentiate the requests by means of syntactic directness or semantics. (HOD)

Because of widespread acceptance of Kohlberg's theory of moral development other aspects of moral thinking and behavior linked with the feminine voice have not received attention. Four areas of Kohlberg's theory relevant to the gender issue are critiqued, and work by Carol Gilligan, suggesting alternative theories for thinking and behavior, is…

Reports on a study of 120 (60 boys, 60 girls) middle school students in Bophuthatswana on the relation of academic achievement to self-concept and locus of control. Finds that measures of extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism are related negatively to school achievement. (CFR)

Used newly developed codes for parenting behavior during the Great Depression reported in the Oakland Growth Study. Results indicated that economic hardship adversely influenced the psychosocial well-being of adolescent girls, but not boys, by increasing the rejecting behavior of fathers. This effect was particularly strong for unattractive girls.…

Research on the emergence of sex differences in spatial ability during early adolescence prompted a meta-analysis of 172 spatial ability studies conducted since 1974. The meta-analysis confirmed that there are actually several spatial abilities, that some types of spatial ability show marked sex differences while others show none, and that spatial…

For the individual, gender difference falls along the feminine-masculine continuum with strong neurodevelopmental influences at various points throughout the lifespan. Neurodevelopmental influences are conceptualized in a vector model of sex difference. Vector attributes, direction and magnitude, are influenced initially by differences in levels…

Tests the ability of 43 children, ranging in age from 20 months to 40 months, to discriminate between pictures of boys and girls and male and female adults. Compares children who passed this gender-task with those who failed it on three behaviors most often categorized as sex-typed: toy choice, aggression, and peer playmate selection. (HOD)

Observed play of 52 toddlers with a set of socially stereotyped masculine, feminine, and neutral toys in a day care setting over 14 months to (1) determine the age at which toddlers consistently exhibit sex-stereotyped toy choices in a natural setting and (2) investigate relation of parents' expectations and the children's own knowledge of gender…

General and specific issues of the risk and resilience framework in the social development of children with learning disabilities include: (1) integrating current research with prior related studies; (2) measurement problems; (3) more differentiation regarding gender and severity of learning disabilities; (4) potential risk and protective factors;…

These two newsletters of The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT) present articles concerned with research on the education of gifted and talented students. The articles include: "NRC/GT: Making Decisions and Determining Next Steps" (E. Jean Gubbins); "Free Summer Programs for Talented Teens" (D. Betsy McCoach); "High End…