This study analyzes the effects of one environmental property, illumination, as part of a general program to isolate differential effects of specific properties of the novel environment on attachment behaviors in infants and young children. Attachment is operationalized into two response classes: (1) proximity to the mother, and (2) contact with…

Reviews a study in which poverty level families received weekly visits by parent educator personnel from the time a child is born to guide the parents in home learning activities for the youngsters. Results indicate fewer youngsters from the program need special education when compared to a control group. (SL)

Analyzes relationships between directly observed infant and mother behavior and infant temperament characteristics, as described in maternal ratings; separates the effects of different variance components in prediction of the observed behaviors; and explores possible interactions between infant sex and infant temperament in determining both infant…

Study is an initial effort at determining the sequence and developmental level at which children first use a variety of situational variables in making decisions concerning the appropriateness of various types of aggressive responses. (Authors)

Reports on development of a model for studying communicative competencies using naturalistic observations of specific behaviors. Discussion focuses on ways mothers and toddlers train each other to be successively more effective in their relationships. (ED)

Purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the environmental and behavioral factors in children's day-to-day lives that are associated with hyperactivity and to examine its stability over time. (Authors)

Three studies were conducted in an initial attempt to investigate the psychological importance of trivial everyday frustrations encountered by preschool children. Study 1 analyzed the frequency and quality of experiences that could be interpreted as interfering in some way with children's natural pursuit of their desires. In a nursery school…

Observes parents' socialization practices in 24 homes of families with first-born infants at 11, 14, and 17 months of age. Four kinds of socializing practices were observed and compared by parents' sex, infants' age, and infants' sex. (HOD)

Investigates the belief that caregivers' sensitive and contingent behavior is closely related to children's perceived control by analyzing the interactions between mothers and their 3 1/2- to 4 1/2-year-old children during a problem-solving task. (HOD)

During an experiment on infant behavior, it was observed that young children shared toys with their mothers; therefore, a series of research studies was designed to investigate this phenomenon. The general purposes of the research were: (1) to define sharing more precisely and develop objective measures of frequency and duration for it, (2) to…

The thesis is presented that a "family compromise" and "family members' definitions of the situation" refer to different phenomena, and that in some families, there is a great discrepancy between the beliefs of individual family members and that which has been called the "family mind." (Author)

This article reports a study investigating deviant behavior in normal families. It examines nonproblem children and their families in their homes. It provides information on rates of deviant behavior for children without identified behavioral difficulties and the interaction patterns of family members who deal with these children. It analyzes: (1)…

To discover what part parent impartiality might play in creating a climate in which each individual child can prosper, 198 college students from a large Midwestern urban university were questioned about their perceptions of their parents' behavior during the time that they were growing up. The first section of the survey consisted of 50 questions…

This book, the first in a series on development and behavior of human infants and animals, contains a collection of articles dealing with the significance of the interaction between mother and infant and the subtle contributions that each makes to the other in shaping their ongoing dyadic behavior. It emphasizes that the infant is no mere passive…