Many developmental theories have not been sufficiently evaluated using designs that control for unobserved familial confounds. Our long-term goal is to determine the causal structure underlying associations between early environmental conditions and later psychosocial and health outcomes. Our overall objective in this study was to further evaluate…

Evolutionary-minded developmentalists studying predictive-adaptive-response processes linking childhood adversity with accelerated female reproductive development and health scientists investigating the developmental origins of health and disease (DOoHaD) may be tapping the same process, whereby longer-term health costs are traded off for…

Describes constructivist analyses of women's accounts of transitions to lesbianism after at least 10 years prior heterosexual experience. Examines the creation of contexts in which sexual identity transitions become possible and details the development of lesbian identity posttransition. (MDM)

Examines the hypothesis that prenatal estrogens contribute to the development of human sexual orientation. Several groups of women with a history of prenatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES) were compared with several samples of control women. Findings showed that more DES-exposed women than controls were rated as bisexual or homosexual,…

Over 600 White females between 10.5 and 18.5 years of age were studied to test construct comparability across adolescence. Assessed were emotional functioning, eating problems, self-reflection, self-image, and mastery/adjustment to examine meaning equivalence in self-concepts and developmental psychopathology. Results suggest that the five factors…

Data from 6 sites in 3 countries were examined to determine developmental course of physical aggression in childhood and to analyze linkages to violent and nonviolent offending outcomes in adolescence. Findings indicated that among boys, chronic physical aggression during elementary school years increased risk for continued physical violence and…

Study examined how environmental and physical characteristics contribute to the emergence of adolescent girls' dating behavior. Subjects were girls who attend dance schools and girls who do not.

Examined age differences in objectified body consciousness (OBC) based on cultural, developmental, and familial contexts of women's body experience in undergraduate women and their middle-aged mothers. Found that mothers scored lower on surveillance and body shame. Found no differences in appearance-control beliefs, body-esteem, or restricted…