Coded the feeling state content of three- and four-year olds' narratives to adults. Found that children talk a great deal about affiliation, that sex differences emerge only in the context of interactive talk between adults and children, and that older children talk more about emotions than younger ones, except when "scaffolding" is…

Behavioral observations and sociometric ratings were assessed in separate 3- and 4-year-olds child-care classes across a 2-year period. In general, correspondence between behavioral observations and sociometric ratings increased with age, and social structure showed greater cohesion in the 4-year-olds class. Gender was an organizing principle in…

Examined the incidence of delayed kindergarten entry in a suburban school district over a 12-year period. Results indicated that there had been a significant increase in the number of children who had delayed school entry. Significantly more males than females delayed kindergarten entry, and the majority of children delaying school entry had…

Examined theoretical model of early environmental action of 282 Caucasian and African American infants, using structural equation modeling. Model included socioeconomic status, early cognitive status, stimulation with home environment, parental use of negative control, and later cognitive status. Models for males and females showed similar…

Discusses the salience of father-infant rough play in some countries and presents data on the physical play interactions of 34 Indian mothers and fathers with their 1 year olds. The data suggest that fathers do not have a greater propensity than mothers for rough play and that rough play may be culture specific. (Author/LB)

Studied the role of sociometric status and gender on first-graders' conflict resolution outcomes and compared children's conflict behavior in both mother-child and peer contexts. Found that higher-status children had fewer and shorter disputes, were more likely to invoke skillful verbal resistance strategies, and had more positive affect outcomes…

Examined the reasoning of 31 preschoolers when resolving moral dilemmas. Children's resolutions and justifications were examined with regard to their care orientation or justice orientation. Found that children's answers revealed a care orientation or a justice orientation with equal frequency. At times, children could even accept both…

A questionnaire on attitudes toward war play was given to 316 Italian and 84 English parents of children aged 2 to 6 years. In both cultures, boys were significantly more likely than girls to engage in solitary and social war play. Parental attitudes, television, and peers were the major sources of influence on war play. (Author/LB)

Evaluated social competence and problem behaviors of 200 Japanese preschoolers. Found anxiety-withdrawal, anger- aggression, and social competence factors as well as age and gender differences in emotional and behavioral problems and social competence. Found consistency with previous findings from U.S. and Canadian samples. (DLH)

Examined preschoolers' judgments about responses to hypothetical relational and overt aggressive provocation. The 99 participants reported that overtly aggressive responses would happen more often than they should. For both overt and relational provocation, participants felt that relational aggression was more acceptable than verbal or physical…

Evaluated social competence and problem behaviors of 370 Chinese preschoolers. Found anxiety-withdrawal, anger-aggression, and social competence factors related to age and gender differences. Found high reliability and validity for the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (SCBE-30) scale in this Chinese sample. (DLH)

Evaluated social competence and problem behaviors among 217 Russian preschoolers. Found anxiety-withdrawal, anger-aggression, and social competence factors similar to those found in American, Canadian, French, and Spanish children. Found a mix of universal and culturally specific features that may be connected to gender stereotypes prevailing in…

Validated the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Inventory (SCBE-30) in eight countries. Found in all samples structural equivalence, pattern of gender differences generalized across cultural contexts, and age differences. Established data set to investigate universal and cultural differences in the development of preschool children's…

Explored externalizing behavior problems in suburban Head Start children. Found parents identified almost one-quarter of children as having externalizing problems in the borderline/clinical range, with twice as many girls as boys having borderline/clinical levels of behavior problems. Found children with parent-identified externalizing problems…

Investigated relations among child and classroom factors, and observations of 48 typical and 22 special-needs preschoolers in teacher-directed group play. Found girls were more likely than boys to play cooperatively in teacher-directed groups; special-needs children were more likely to play with a teacher and less likely to play cooperatively with…