Intellectual engagement (IE) refers to enjoyment of intellectual activities and is proposed as causal for knowledge acquisition. The role of IE for cognitive development was examined utilizing 2-year longitudinal data from 112 ninth graders (average baseline age: 14.7 years). Higher baseline IE predicted higher baseline crystallized ability but…

A controversial issue in the field of language development is whether language emergence and growth is dependent solely on processes specifically tied to language or could also depend on basic cognitive processes that affect all aspects of cognitive competence (domain-general processes). The present article examines this issue using a large…

Referential communication accuracy of mother and child pairs when the children were four years old predicted children's cognitive development one and two years later in the United States and Japan. Main effects were found to be significant even when mother IQ, SES, and child ability at age four were partialled out of the analysis. (JMB)

The behavioral development of rural Guatemalan infants was assessed shortly after birth on a Neonatal Assessment Scale (NAS) and at 6-, 15-, and 24-months-of-age on a Composite Infant Scale (CIS). Summary variables based on NAS performance poorly predicted later assessed performance even as recently as six months after birth. The CIS modestly…

Scores on the Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME), designed to reflect parental support of early cognitive and social development, were correlated with elementary school achievement five to nine years later. Results supported the predictive value of the instrument for school achievement among low-income families. (Author/DB)