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…

Caution is advised in utilizing the univariate F test as the initial screening device for hypothesis testing in the analysis of repeated measures data. (JMB)

Contrary to the deterministic nature of the adipocyte- number hypothesis, correlations between adiposity data recorded during infancy and data recorded during the school- age period or later are very low. There is no convincing evidence the obese infant has more than a slight tendency to become an obese adult. (Author/MP)

Children made age judgments on drawing of human figures, which consisted of adult, adolescent, child, and infant characterizations. (Author)

A data analysis procedure for testing the hypothesis that one task is a developmental prerequisite for another task is illustrated. The procedure was applied to new data on the acquisition of conservation concepts to test the hypothesis that synthesis, visual-scanning skills, and memory capacity are prerequisites of conservation mastery. (JMB)

Five common play criteria were applied by subjects to a videotape of nursery school children's behavior, rated separately for occurrence of play. The idea that play is best predicted by a combination of criteria was supported by the finding that, when more criteria occurred simultaneously, the more certainly a judgment of play was implied.…

Addresses three issues concerning the assessment of the overrating and underrating of academic competence: (1) the impossibility of separating effects of overrating and underrating from effects of perceived and actual competence; (2) the questionable validity of Connell and Ilardi's method; and (3) the proposal of a new method and its implications…