This study had three goals: (a) assessing the predictive association of externalizing and internalizing behaviors during childhood with sexual onset during early adolescence; (b) examining the interactive link of externalizing and internalizing behaviors with early sexual onset; and (c) investigating the moderating effect of gender in this…

This study was designed to assess the effectiveness of a multifocused (child-, teacher- and parent-focused) prevention program for Romanian preschoolers, targeting social--emotional competence development, as well as reduction of behavior problems. Fourteen classrooms were randomly assigned to the intervention and control conditions. Subsequent…

Previous studies of childhood fear, worry, and ritualistic behaviour have been limited by restricted age ranges, narrow ranges of anxiety phenomena, non-comparable methodologies, and assessment of typical behaviour within a pathological context. Content and intensity of fear, worry, and ritualistic behaviour, and associations among these…

Beginning with Lev Vygotsky's long-established assertion that the play of children always involves both imaginary play and rules of behavior, this article argues for a theoretical framework that connects such play with the construction of social identities in kindergarten peer groups. It begins with a discussion of Ivy Schousboe's model of the…

Data are reported from 3 groups of children residing in Bucharest, Romania. Face recognition in currently institutionalized, previously institutionalized, and never-institutionalized children was assessed at 3 time points: preintervention (n = 121), 30 months of age (n = 99), and 42 months of age (n = 77). Children watched photographs of caregiver…

Previous research has shown that "mediated learning experience" ("MLE") strategies are important for the development of cognitive skills. Theoretically, grandparents have a significant role in the intergenerational transmission of MLE strategies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the resemblances and unique…

Focuses on the issue of change in preschool discourse and argues that changes are related to the emergence of new rationales for governing the child. Specifically describes a period of transition (1920-1940) in the history of the Swedish preschool when Friedrich Froebel's discourse on the child became replaced by developmental psychology. (SD)

Examined how child care teachers' socialization practices and child characteristics jointly predicted children's sympathetic-prosocial responding. Found that child characteristics and socialization practices played an important role in children's interpersonal functioning, and the ability of the teacher to interact in a warm, affectionate way was…