Attitudes toward their children were assessed in interviews with 357 mothers of nonhandicapped elementary students and 93 mothers of mildly retarded students in Yugoslavia. Child behaviors (academic and social) were assessed through teacher interviews. A markedly stronger relationship between school behaviors and mother attitudes was found for…

Interviews with 15 gifted/talented adolescents indicated that many of them experienced giftedness as a social handicap. Some students coped with this by managing information about themselves to minimize their visibility as gifted students to others. (Author/JDD)

Discussion of the use of simulation games to teach political strategy focuses on the relationship between honesty and expediency (winning). Three models of competition are developed, each involving a different relationship between truth and success, and the outcomes of a course on social situations and gaming are discussed. (16 references) (LRW)

Interviews with 489 runaway and homeless youth (often victims of abuse and neglect) identified two groups: (1) "runners," who leave home intending not to return and (2) "in and outers," who run away as an impulsive temporary coping mechanism. Risk of engaging in illegal activity increased with distance and time away. (Author/VW)

Examines research which suggests that children's developing knowledge about traditional gender roles has a substantial influence on how children process information pertaining to gender. Evidence also shows that as children attain gender constancy, their behaviors become especially responsive to gender-related information. (Author/RWB)

Two studies examined loneliness in older adults (N=177). Loneliness was found to be related to poor psychological adjustment and to dissatisfaction with family and social relationships. It was also related to fears, expectations, and personality characteristics likely to inhibit the restoration of personal support networks after a stressful life…

Demographic data, IQ, achievement, perceptual-motor, behavior ratings, and diagnostic classification (learning, mental, emotional disability or no handicap) were analyzed for all children (N=2002) referred for complete psychological evaluation during one school year in Iowa. Learning disabled children showed a distinct pattern different from…

Found that teachers perceive that their students (1) have developed many behavioral conversational skills prior to contact with school and (2) reveal very little development in their emotional expression abilities. (PD)

Compared the alcohol-related attitudes and stereotypes of 677 Papua New Guinea high school youth, 315 Australian, and 166 American students. While the overwhelming majority of Australian and American students had drunk alcohol, the majority of Papua New Guinean young people had not. (JAC)

Developmental changes in specific types of fantasy play and the relation of role taking, egocentrism, and receptive vocabulary were examined in two- to six-year-olds. Both frequency and duration of material and ideational fantasy play increased with age, but play patterns differed. Data suggest developmental progression from object to person…

The performance of learning disabled male elementary students in self-contained classes (N=35) and resource rooms (N=50) was compared on five diagnostic tests and factors of retention, chronological age, and behavior. Results indicated a difference only in the intelligence factor between the groups. (Authors)

Assesses the value of competency/skill research in speech pedagogy. (PD)

Coping with husband absence, an enigma of family life in the military, stimulated questions as to how wives endure hardships engendered by war-induced separations. The investigators studied the adjustment of 47 families of servicemen missing in action. Findings are explained in terms of psychological and sociological theories of coping. (Author)

The way a person styles his or her name seems to be related, not only to an individual's sex or marital status, but to his or her job. A study of 3,735 university employees' signatures suggests variations form a pattern related to the social structure in the university's work setting. (Author)

This paper outlines an array of categories that denote kinds of influence variables operative in organizational systems--including structures, relationships, and technology. This allows us to synthesize literature from a variety of system levels and sources by addressing the question: What variables influence a communicator's behavior at any given…