Assesses the social image of cigarette smoking held by early- and middle-adolescent smokers and examines whether that social image serves to motivate smoking initiation. Results indicate that the social image of both male and female smokers is an ambivalent one. (Author/MP)

Looking times of 96 preschoolers were recorded as they were habituated on slides of sex-typed toys. After habituation, subjects were shown a test series of 24 slides. (Author/SS)

Examined association of individual differences in physical maturation with information-processing speed among 9- and 10-year olds. Found that early maturers were faster than late matureres, although this maturity effect was primarily the result of a significant effect for boys. The early maturers' faster processing times may be specific to boys or…

Children's attitudes toward television commercials were investigated. Specifically, the study was designed to determine if children like commercials they perceive as real, or believe commercials that they like. Preferences for certain types of commercials which might emerge from age, grade, or sex groupings were also investigated. The study…

Three studies explored age, sex, and individual differences in children's defensiveness about four feelings: happiness, anger, sadness, and fear. Also investigated was the relation between children's defensiveness and their mothers' comfort with and expression of feelings. Participants included children ranging in age from 4 through 11 years of…

While the geriatric population covers an age range of 30 to 40 years people over age 60 are often treated as a homogenous group. To study the possibility of age changes and differences within the older population, data were collected from the charts of 60 patients (randomly selected within each of three age groups: 60-69, 70-79, 80-89) of an…

This study investigated the progressive development in movement and movement patterns of children ages 2-6. Data were collected over a 3-year period at six-month intervals, based on films of 57 children performing 25 motor tasks. The results are presented along two dimensions: (1) Descriptive analysis of progress of young children in movement with…

Investigated predominant kinds of parent-infant play and individual differences in play style. Participants were 24 families of healthy, full-term, firstborn infants, four boys and four girls at each of three ages: 7, 10, and 13 months. (RH)

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES WHICH AFFECT THE ABILITY TO ACQUIRE WORD UNDERSTANDING WERE INVESTIGATED. GROUPS OF EIGHT CHILDREN WERE ADMINISTERED THE "WORD CONTEXT TEST." TWELVE DIFFERENT GROUPS WERE FORMED BY VARYING GRADE LEVEL (THIRD VERSUS SIXTH), SEX, AND SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS (WHITE MIDDLE CLASS, NEGRO LOWER STATUS, AND WHITE LOWER…

Examined and compared self-reported reasons for pop music preferences of 397 students in grades five, seven, nine, eleven, and college. Results revealed that characteristics such as melody, mood, rhythm, and lyrics were the most important reasons for selection. Differences in response by age and background characteristics were noted. (Author/SJL)

A 2-year study concludes that cognitive and developmental changes are less important determinants of children's television use than are family patterns and external variables affecting the opportunity to view. Subjects were 326 children within 3 months of their third or fifth birthdays at the beginning of the study and their families, most of…

Examined the relations of emotionality and regulation to preschoolers' naturally occurring anger reactions through observations of behavior. Children's use of verbal objections to anger situations were positively related to constructive coping and attentional control, particularly for boys, and negatively related to girls' anger intensity,…

Introduces this theme issue by synthesizing findings obtained using diverse methodologies derived from different theories about children's friendships. Comments on the trend away from studying global peer acceptance to studying friendship dyads. Discusses the features--individual, age, and gender differences--of children's friendships. (DR)

While changes in levels of activity and in social relationships in old age have interested researchers for some time, longitudinal studies have only recently begun to yield information about changes in social relationships across time for older adults. Parents (N=74) of the 1928-1929 Guidance Study and Berkeley Growth Study children, who are now…

A study was conducted to examine the task-related help-seeking behavior of 85 third- and fifth-grade boys and girls of varying scholastic ability. Participants, white middle-class children, were blocked into high- and low-ability groups on the basis of word comprehension subscores on the California Achievement Test. Children were presented with 16…