In this study of two hundred and thirty 8- to 13-year-olds, a new "Silent Films" task is introduced, designed to address the dearth of research on theory of mind in older children by providing a film-based analogue of F. G. E. Happe's (1994) Strange Stories task. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that all items from both tasks loaded…

Although early studies of executive functioning in children supported Miyake et al.'s (2000) three-factor model, more recent findings supported a variety of undifferentiated or two-factor structures. Using a cohort-sequential design, this study examined whether there were age-related differences in the structure of executive functioning among…

Data from 431 children in grades 3-10 on a personal space task were pooled into 4 sex-age groups and separately factor analyzed. (Authors)

Examined factor structure of the emotional Autonomy Scale (EAS) in 3 samples of adolescents, with each sample consisting of 3 racial/ethnic groups. Found that the EAS exhibited poor construct validity and behaved quite differently for different grade and ethnic groups. Suggested that the most credible solution may be to reexamine the conceptual…

Factor analysis of 25 rating scales from Bayley's infant behavior record were performed for a sample of about 300-400 infant twins tested one or more times between 3 and 24 months of age. The analyses provided five major and two minor factors that were considerably consistent at all ages. (Author/DB)

Used new administration procedure of Self Description Questionnaire to assess dimensions of young children's self-concept in a multicohort-multioccasion study. Found that the scale's reliability and stability improved with age and from one year to the next. Gender differences were stable over age. Time 1 teacher ratings contributed to the…

Examined the experiences provided by biological fathers and other men for 111 third and fourth graders in unmarried-mother families. Found that fathers' warmth and control related to better academic achievement and more prosocial behaviors toward peers. Girls and Black children were more positively affected by relations with fathers and father…

Distinctions between psychological versus task helping and attempted versus achieved help were applied to the helping behaviors of normal and retarded children of 2 age groups observed in natural settings. (Authors)