This prospective study examined romantic partner selection and socialization among a sample of 78 young adolescents (6th-8th graders). Independent assessments of adolescent and romantic partner adjustment were collected before and after relationships initiated via peer nomination and self-report. Prior to their relationship, adolescents and…

This longitudinal study examined relations between self-reported parental reactions to children's negative emotions (PNRs) and children's socially appropriate/problem behavior and negative emotionality. Evidence was consistent with the conclusion that relationship between children's externalizing, but not internalizing, emotion and parental…

Discusses both the advantages and difficulties of using nonlinear modeling in the context of a model used to study the relations between parental warmth and control and preschool children's competence. (HOD)

Examined changes in low-accepted children's behavior and peer acceptance resulting from a social learning approach to social skill training. Three social skills were taught: asking questions, leading, and offering peer support. Trained children performed significantly better at follow-up than did control children. Results generalized to classroom…

Assessed friendships among Head Start preschoolers. Found that older children were more likely than younger children to participate in a reciprocated friendship, and reciprocated dyads were more likely to be same-gender than were nonreciprocated dyads. Reciprocated friends interacted more frequently and looked at each other more than…

Assesses the degree of difficulty parents attribute to specific socialization tasks; explores the relation between parents' perceived difficulty and children's perceived and actual competence in these two domains; and determines whether the ease or difficulty of these child rearing tasks, as perceived by parents, varies as a function of the…

Two studies investigated the relationship between emotion socialization variables, social cognitive knowledge, and children's social competence in preschoolers from low-income families. Found that mothers' self-reported emotion socialization practices were related to children's emotional knowledge and sibling caregiving behavior. (MDM)

Examines relations among early social and familial experience, social problem-solving skills, and social competence in the classroom, in sample of 46 children, aged four and five years, from economically distressed backgrounds. Finds family experience predictive of both social competence and problem solving. (Author/RWB)