Analysis of the attempts of 15 boys and 15 girls to construct a 3-dimensional model of their kindergarten classroom revealed that boys were more accurate on all measures than girls. Effects were also found for increased experience in the classroom and for the provision of landmarks. (Author/JMB)

Tests semantic integration and frequency tally models of memory among 60 first-, third-, and fifth-grade children. Data from third and fifth graders show different patterns of results for regular and anomalous stories. The true-inference error rate was significantly greater than the error rates for false premise and false-inference sentences in…

Effects of observing differentially generous models, instructional constraint, and age on private and public charitability were assessed with 192 fourth and fifth grade girls, who engaged in a concept formation task which provided them with money. Implications for social learning theory and for moral development are discussed. (Author/CS)

Cross-lagged correlational analyses and multiple-regression analyses of the data collected in these two studies supports the causal model that, while intentionality and internality both emerge when a common cognitive construct develops, heightened internality also significantly enhances a child's ability to learn intentionality. (Author/JMB)

Studied a social developmental model of discounting. Experiments showed that discounting increased according to the degree of similarity between the task situation and subjects' earlier experience. Although older children discounted consistently, younger children discounted only after a relevant script-generating experience. (RJC)

Describes 2 experiments in which children ages 5-6 and 9-10 years viewed slides of male and female models performing matched acts which were sex-appropriate, sex-inappropriate, or sex-neutral. Visual attention was assessed by the method of feedback electroencephalography. Recall and preference for the slides were also measured. (Author/JMB)

Third- and fifth-graders, like adults, quickly named words preceded by either an incongruous or a normal incomplete sentence. Results (1) support the assumption that context effects on children's word recognition are caused by spreading-activation and expectancy-based-attentional processes operating simultaneously and (2) indicate that word…

This study examined several hypotheses about second language learning by testing them in a training format designed to teach Spanish to children in the fifth through eighth grades and to adults in night school. (JMB)

Examined relationships between family financial resources, academic competence, and socioemotional adjustment during early adolescence. Subjects were 90 African American youths and their married parents in the rural South. Found that parents with greater financial resources were less depressed and more optimistic, and their children were better…

Examined relationships among mothers' hostile attribution tendencies regarding their children's ambiguous problem behaviors, mothers' harsh discipline, and children's externalizing behavior problems. Assessments over four years demonstrated that mothers' hostile attributions predicted children's externalizing school behavior problems. The…

Used data from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to model developmental trajectories across middle childhood. Found that individual trajectories were extremely diverse in level and sometimes in slope. Compared to girls, boys had heterogeneous slopes for math and behavior problems. Compared to boys, girls showed a significantly higher degree of…

Examined the relationship between parental involvement in their children's schooling and children's motivation and academic achievement. Subjects were of 300 11- to 14-year-olds. Data from parent, student, and teacher evaluations suggest that parental involvement manifests itself in many ways. Children who are confident in school may actually push…

Demonstrates how structural equation modeling can be used to translate a verbal theory into a mathematical model that can be estimated and tested, and from which inferences can be drawn. Data used was taken from a previous study of the effects of family socialization on the formation of achievement values and self-concept. (Author/RH)

Interviewed boys in grades two through eight about their occupational aspirations. Found that aspirations of inner-city boys mirrored race and class differences in adult job holdings; the gap between aspirations and expectations was greater for inner-city boys than other boys; and lower occupational aspirations of inner-city boys were related to…