People desire to have positive self-esteem. Research by Crocker, Luhtanen, Cooper, & Bouvrette (2003) has demonstrated that late adolescents buttress their sense of self-worth through at least seven different means. Focusing primarily on two such contingencies (seeking to support self-esteem through virtuous behavior and through competitive…

This study investigates the interplay between individual and contextual variables during teaching practice and its impact on the personal and socio-professional development of prospective teachers. The purpose of the study was to survey how prospective teachers experienced the process of becoming aware of their emerging identities as teachers, and…

Shape and weight concerns among overweight pre-adolescents heighten risk for eating disorders and weight gain. Treatment and prevention efforts require consideration of psychosocial factors that co-occur with these concerns. This study involved 200 overweight pre-adolescents, aged 7-12 years (M age = 9.8; SD = 1.4), presenting for family-based…

Coaching success is often defined in terms of won-loss records. However, the effort to operationalize more comprehensive strategies for examining coaching success, particularly the development of self-report measures, dates back three decades (e.g., Smith, Smoll, & Curtis, 1979). This project for developing the Coaching Success Questionnaire-2…

Study showed IQ scores of homeless adolescents (N=50) were comparable to population means, and unrelated to the duration of homelessness. Higher scores were significantly correlated with only a minority of the measures of psychosocial functioning, including less self-reported depression, lower reported delinquency, and less self-control in…

This longitudinal study examined reciprocal growth in negative emotions between parents and adolescents, and their potential influence on the development of social relationships during early adulthood. Findings showed that both parents' and adolescents' initial levels of negative emotion toward each other predicted the rate of growth and rate of…

Predicted children's loneliness and social satisfaction growth curves based on changes in peer victimization status from kindergarten through third grade. Found that trajectories for children moving from nonvictim to victim classification showed increasing loneliness and decreasing social satisfaction. However, moving from victim to nonvictim…

Used heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) assessed at 33 to 35 weeks gestational age to predict developmental outcome at 3 years for very low birth weight infants. Found that RSA measures predicted developmental outcome beyond effects of birth weight, medical risk, and socioeconomic status. For infants < 1,000 grams, RSA maturation…

The early development of self-injurious behavior (SIB) in 16 young children with developmental disabilities was tracked over an 18-month period. Naturalistic observations in each child's classroom found a significant association between early SIB and low levels of social contact, which may be considered as a risk marker for SIB exacerbation.…

Used growth modeling to examine relationship of early parenting to cognitive, language, and social development from 6 to 40 months in full-term and very low birth weight (medically low or high risk) children. Found that behaviors that were sensitive to children's focus of interest and did not highly control or restrict their behaviors predicted…

Used a data analytic strategy that was novel to the M-space literature to examine the mental capacity prerequisites of social-cognitive development of 99 students in grades one, three, and five. Used a structural equations analysis to determine whether M-power was a significant predictor of role-taking development. (RH)

Considers the increase in research on adolescence, with attention to its transitional aspects during the adolescent period and as a bridge between childhood and adulthood. In addition, discusses the effort to examine interactional processes between parent and child and between environment and genes, with respect to the articles of this special…

This paper argues for the use of social indicators, in conjunction with the traditional norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests, to assess the effects of local educational systems. A conceptual framework for the study of educational performance is presented, interrelating: (1) personal resources invested by youth; (2) opportunities for…

Comments on problems raised in this special issue, focusing on the distinctive aspects of the risk research reported. Highlights issues like sample characteristics, measurement strategies, specificity of risk factors, and risk mechanisms. Discusses the challenges of integrating alternative models of risk, with special references to research into…

Comments on research problems raised in this special issue. Suggests that recent research highlights the nature of the multiple processes underlying variability in child and adolescent adjustment. Views variability as a function of covarying influences from multiple domains, operating on specific developmental outcomes across a background of time…