The major purpose of this study was to define the particular ways children's informal interactions in groups are important in their negotiations of playground games within school settings. Data, gathered over a 3-month period on the playgrounds of three elementary schools, consisted of 23 audiotaped records of children's spontaneously organized…

This report compares the first and second years of a 4-year study on changes in patterns of social behavior and conceptions of 8-12 year-old children following the introduction of television in their community. Three towns of similar composition were selected for their naturally occuring differences in quantity and duration of experience with…

The use of an observational assessment instrument designed for autistic children is described. The Behavior Rating Instrument for Autistic and other Atypical Children (BRIAAC) measures behavior in eight developmental areas: relationship to an adult, communication, drive for mastery, vocalization and expressive speech, sound and speech reception,…

Data were collected for this study of the relationship between television watching and family life via a recording device (C-Box) consisting of a television set and a video camera. Designed for the study, this device was installed in 20 homes for one week to record the viewing area in front of the television set together with information on…

This paper presents some findings of a detailed analysis of infants' approach behavior in a familiar, naturalistic setting. A total of 26, white, middle-class infant-mother pairs were observed in the home every three weeks during the first year of the child's life. Instances of infant approach to both mother and observer were coded from the…

The quality of life of nursing home residents may be enhanced by providing them with opportunities to participate in social activities involving different age groups and community-dwelling age peers. To obtain descriptive data, and to investigate the relationships between patterns of social interaction and subject characteristics, time-sampled…

This qualitative study examined the ways in which homeless children cope with their environment. Preliminary data were gathered by observing homeless children at a homeless shelter day care center in a medium-sized midwestern city. As many as 12 children, aged 2 to 6 years, were observed in the day care setting on three different weekday mornings.…

Ethnographic research (1) observes human behavior in its natural setting over a substantial period of time, (2) claims that classes of events are better understood through intensive examination of carefully selected particular cases, (3) incorporates as many of the complexities and variables into a setting as possible, and (4) is usually comprised…

This paper begins by outlining four aims of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, namely: (1) to create developmental environments which facilitate interaction between adults and children; (2) to develop adults' sensitivity for children and to increase their level of knowledge of the young child's needs; (3) to give adults the ability to…