Bayesian statistical methods are becoming ever more popular in applied and fundamental research. In this study a gentle introduction to Bayesian analysis is provided. It is shown under what circumstances it is attractive to use Bayesian estimation, and how to interpret properly the results. First, the ingredients underlying Bayesian methods are…

Linear regression analysis is one of the most common techniques applied in developmental research, but only allows for an estimate of the average relations between the predictor(s) and the outcome. This study describes quantile regression, which provides estimates of the relations between the predictor(s) and outcome, but across multiple points of…

As with any discipline, the field of child development progresses by both deepening and broadening its conceptual and empirical perspective. The rewards to refinement are impressive, but there is little need for encouragement in this area, since existing disciplines, universities, and funding agencies reward depth. The current study makes the case…

Is an attenuated physiological response to family conflict, seen in some youth exposed to early adversity, protective or problematic? A longitudinal study including 54 youth (average age 15.2 years) found that those with higher cumulative family aggression exposure showed lower cortisol output during a laboratory-based conflict discussion with…

This study investigated how 4-month-old infants represent sequences: Do they track the statistical relations among specific sequence elements (e.g., AB, BC) or do they encode abstract ordinal positions (i.e., B is second)? Infants were habituated to sequences of 4 moving and sounding elements--3 of the elements varied in their ordinal position…

This study investigated the hypothesis that background television affects interactions between parents and very young children. Fifty-one 12-, 24-, and 36-month-old children, each accompanied by 1 parent, were observed for 1 hr of free play in a laboratory space resembling a family room. For half of the hour, an adult-directed television program…

Two experiments examined whether 18-month-olds learn from emotions directed to a third party. Infants watched an adult perform actions on objects, and an Emoter expressed Anger or Neutral affect toward the adult in response to her actions. The Emoter then became neutral and infants were given access to the objects. Infants' actions were influenced…

In cross-cultural child development research there is often a need to translate instruments and instructions to languages other than English. Typically, the translation process focuses on ensuring linguistic equivalence. However, establishment of linguistic equivalence through translation techniques is often not sufficient to guard against…

An open-ended interview, a picture-recognition task, and a forced-choice rating task were administered to 64 four- to seven-year-old boys and girls to assess development of conceptions of friendship. Findings suggested that as children grow older they place increasing emphasis on affectively based friendship characteristics. (Author/MP)

In response to criticisms of a study conducted by Shaffran and Decarie, the author underscores the need for objective, accurate peer evaluation. Errors and misinterpretations in the critical article are reported and corrected. (Author/RH)

Replies to Solomon's paper that basic criticisms made earlier of Shaffran and Decaries' study still apply. Views the study as essentially a confirmation of the null hypothesis based on weak measures. (Author/RH)

Four groups of 18 adult listeners rated the tape-recorded cries of low- and high-risk infants on four Likert-type scale items. Results indicate that within-group methods of cry presentation accentuate the perceptual distance among cry types and may actually create many reliable differences that would not be found in between-group comparisons.…

Attempts to determine whether the stimulus dimension to which infants respond is different in fixed-trial and infant-control methodologies. Infants 10 weeks of age were shown four facelike patterns differing along two dimensions: number of elements and extent to which elements were organized to resemble the human face. (Author/RH)

Data provide strong evidence that studies of stress and cortisol release in infants must take into account basal level, circadian rhythm, and behavioral effects and employ appropriate statistical procedures. Participants were infants of two, four, and six months of age from whom salivary cortisol was obtained before and 15 minutes after an…

Findings indicate that high cortisol levels and interfering substances in formula and breast milk could contaminate salivary cortisol measurements in young infants. To insure accurate results, appropriate controls should be taken for salivary cortisol measurements of young infants. (RH)