Parental reports of disagreements and serious disagreements about rules were examined. A questionnaire was developed and sent to 200 families with seventh-grade boys and girls. No gender differences were found. Disagreements were significantly correlated (positively) with parental reports of child oppositionalism and (negatively) with parents'…

The way in which some elderly widowers living alone experientially organize time can be viewed as on a continuum structured around the notion of a "day" as a central organizing focus. Related to this is the role of a "daily highlight" in organizing daily activities. Certain factors may help structure this experiential continuum. (Author/ABB)

Observation of resource room instruction of 66 elementary learning disabled (LD) and educable mentally retarded (EMR) students revealed no differences in instructional behavior of special educators holding differing teacher licensure and no differences in classroom behavior of students. Results suggest the categorical model is not appropriate for…

How young people respond to verbal abuse directed at them purely because they are unemployed was studied. It was found that since young unemployed blame themselves for their failure to gain a job, they do not regard abuse as unjust and, consequently, are unable to defend themselves adequately. (Author/RM)

Studied the response of the extended family to a divorce, examining divorcing children's perceptions of their parents' behavior. Divorcing children experienced their parents' reactions as supportive, non-supportive, or "mixed." Categorized helpful behaviors and patterns of unhelpful parental behavior. Discussed approaches adopted by the divorcing…

Provides a rationale for the focus on working with youth in prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) targeting specific behavior patterns learned in childhood and youth that are implicated in the development of chronic diseases. Reviews promising community-wide strategies for youth and argues that they are efficacious and efficient for primary…

Examined patterns of rural adolescent alcohol use and factors associated with such use. Found gender and grade in school to be significant predictors of alcohol use for age at first drink, frequency of drinking, amount of drinking, and a composite heavy drinking index. Time spent in social acitivities was also significant. (Author/ABB)

Indicates greater attention to televised news was related to subsequent increased fear, concern, and avoidance activity in the public's behavior. Finds no such effects for newspaper crime news attention, although greater concern was related to subsequent increased readership. (JD)

The study examined preference for social gaze, percentage occurrence of social gaze, nonverbal social avoidance, and nonverbal repetitive behaviors. Prepubertal males with the fragile X syndrome (N=12) demonstrated a higher overall percentage of avoidance for both parent and strangers than handicapped (autistic and Down Syndrome) and…

Examines discourse patterns in playmaking to see if they differ from those found in more traditional settings. Indicates that playmaking can foster students' empathy, utilize their logic and creativity, and provide them with the experience of working in a group to a common end. (JD)

Indicates that communicator gender and cultural ancestry interacted to influence the intensity of language chosen. Reveals that men of Chinese and Japanese ancestry produced significantly more intense messages than did their female counterparts, while no significant differences were apparent between the messages produced by Caucasian men and…

Investigates the effects of social class (middle vs. lower) on verbal and nonverbal maternal controls, maternal sensitivity, and child compliance. Suggests current conceptualizations of lower class mother-child interaction need to be reconsidered since no social class differences were revealed in the experiments. (HOD)

Discusses how new video media affect patterns of exposure to television and explores how these changing patterns of consumption may be related to larger issues of the medium's social impact. (JD)

The observational study investigated social interactions and on-task behavior of 20 severely multihandicapped children in a mainstreaming program. In comparison with nonhandicapped students, severely multihandicapped students interacted with teachers and aides more frequently but showed the same degree of on-task behavior. (Author/DB)

Explores the hypothesis that parenting practices of abusive mothers are characterized by (1) greater use of power-assertive strategies, (2) less flexible behavior with respect to child compliance attempts, (3) more inconsistent use of parenting techniques, and (4) diminished affective quality. (HOD)