Since the 1950's psychological research has attempted to define adaptive behavior, i.e., competence. To develop a system for explaining effective behavior, an international team of researchers developed a conceptualization of competent behavior which included three components: coping behaviors, motivation, and attitudes. A set of internationally…

Competence in action perception seems to be achieved very early in life. Because research has indicated that competent perceivers of action must be able to discriminate breakpoints in behavior, then recognition memory for breakpoints should be superior to that for nonbreakpoints at all ages where competence in action perception exists. Two studies…

This report analyzes trends in childbearing among Kentucky's adolescents from 1970 through 1977 and reviews childbearing patterns in Kentucky and in the United States for adolescents aged 10-14 and 15-19 to identify several factors associated with adolescent pregnancy. The fact that adolescent women are reaching biological maturity at an earlier…

A study was conducted to investigate the practical management of interactions sustaining close friendships. Ten pairs of close friends were interviewed individually on two occasions and together on a third occasion. An interpretive analysis of subjects' remarks identified a dialectical principle governing the communicative organization of…

The study involving 43 kindergarten students was designed to describe some of the behavioral and academic characteristics of transition students (students with potential learning difficulties), examine whether or not the program philosophies and goals influence the effectiveness of the program for individual students with different…

A study was conducted on the interactional relationship between independent and dependent mildly retarded adolescents (N=24) and their mothers. Adolescent-mother pairs separately engaged in a videotaped problem solving task for 20 minutes. The 24 videotapes were then subjected to an interactional coding system comprised of five behavioral domains.…

In a longitudinal study of precursors of drug usage, data collected in 1968 on health variables was related to substance usage patterns obtained in 1975-76. Some 657 young Puerto Ricans were interviewed for this study, drawn from a pool of about 5,000 questionnaired in 1968. The major findings were that the health factors associated with drug…

The report documents goals and activities of a 2-year project to study the effects of mainstreaming on the preschool child. The first year is said to have been concerned with the development of an observational and coding system for measuring the students' interaction, while the second involved validation of the system. Detailed data on student…

Attributions of causes of successful task performances as a function of task and sex of the performer were investigated. Introductory psychology students (N=157) were presented with closed-circuit, videotaped episodes in which a male or female stimulus person performed a card-guessing task for 10 trials. Subjects heard the task described to the…

The age-status system in adulthood was investigated, using a 58-item instrument which divided adulthood subjectively into three periods: normative expectations for various adulthood developmental tasks (marriage, parenthood, employment, retirement, etc.); the lower age constraints ("too young") for these behaviors. In addition, 22 items regarding…

The question of whether single parents are able to parent as well as those in two-parent families, as well as the differences between attitudes and practices of single mothers and fathers toward child rearing, were investigated. Members (N=179) of the Southeastern Wisconsin Parents Without Partners group completed the Single Parent Questionnaire,…

The training program is one of the most important and least standardized programatic units. It is important to keep in mind that various volunteers cannot be mass produced into professional social workers, psychologists or counselors by six-, eight- or 10-week courses. It is essential that the trainer integrate the key concepts presented and…

Much research on sex roles and their correlates characteristically has been performed in laboratory settings with a college student sample. Job analysis interviews were conducted to extend androgyny research to the work setting. Supervisory performance ratings of job activities and Bem Sex-Role Inventory data were obtained for 135 female nurses. A…

Individuals interacting with an unfamiliar target person behave according to prior impressions of the target. A perceiver's pre-interaction expectancy can mediate both his and the target person's behavior, resulting in behavioral confirmation or compensation. Male subjects (N=96) participated in dyadic interactions in which one subject (perceiver)…

Personality theorists have suggested the critical importance of parenting characteristics on the development of a child's personality. Missildine's (1963) classification of parenting characteristics and their effects on the adult personality were investigated using an experimental measure, the Inner Child Inventory (ICI), to assess perceived…