This study investigated the effects of distractors on children's task-relevant (central) and task-irrelevant (incidental) recall on a short term visual memory task involving pictures of familiar animals and household articles. The effect of mode of distractor (auditory or visual) and the effect of developmental level were also studied. Subjects…

This paper presents a developmental study of the problem solving strategies of reflective and impulsive children. Subjects for the study were 30 nine-year-olds, 39 eleven-year-olds, and 23 thirteen-year-olds who had been classified as reflective or impulsive at ages 7, 9, and 11 and who had been followed longitudinally over a three year period.…

This paper presents a developmental study of social competence in preschool children which examines the relationship of motor competence, egocentrism and demographic characteristics to the development of social competence. Tests of motor skills and role taking ability were administered individually to 54 preschool children ranging in age from 3…

Witkin's Embedded Figures Test (EFT) was used to measure the changes with age in field dependence and problem-solving ability. Qualitative data concerning problem-solving strategies and quantitative data were collected. EFT was administered to 12 females in each of the following decades: 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s. All subjects were moderately…

This exploratory study was conducted to interpret age and individual differences in 48 kindergarteners' and second graders' performance on a referential communication task in light of the Pascual-Leone Theory of Constructive Operations, a neo-Piagetian theory of cognitive development. Stimulus materials were black and white photographs of dogs,…

The construct validity of measures of reading comprehension was discussed. A word deletion procedure was proposed consistent with a model of comprehension which emphasizes the importance of context. The procedure assures sensitivity to context by allowing only highly constrained words to be deleted and by increasing the information value of…

Parental separation or divorce is a life transition experienced by a significant number of adolescents every year. To examine the relationship between differences in current adjustment and a number of demographic, personal, and situational factors, 65 college students, aged 17-23 who had experienced parental separation or divorce between the ages…

Personal intent and discourse considerations play an important role in understanding the nature of a conversation between a youth and an elderly person. Each participant makes assumptions about the listener's knowledge and ability to communicate effectively. The way a speaker reacts to the other participant depends upon the speaker's own…

Predictors of academic staff administrators' job change were studied based on a conceptual framework derived from Rosabeth Kanter's work on opportunity. Questionnaire data from higher education administrators who had been employed between 1973 and 1978 following the application of affirmative action to higher education were analyzed. "Academic…

In order to evaluate how individual characteristics of hospitalized children influence their acquisition of information presented in a film depicting preparation for surgery, 42 children between the ages of 4 to 17 were assigned to experimental and control groups that were matched for age, sex, race, type of surgery and previous hospital…

The findings of this analysis include the following: (1) the magnitude of drug use among students in Seattle's high schools; (2) the student characteristics associated with drug use; (3) the problems students attribute to drug use; (4) student attitudes toward drug education and treatment/prevention programs provided by schools; and (5) school…

Some of the variations in reading achievement and fluency levels among bilingual students enrolled in the Seattle Public Schools are explained, and an examination of the effects of special language services (English as a second language and bilingual subject matter instruction) is emphasized. A model is presented which examines the relationships…

Interviews with same-sex adult members of three-generation family lines can dramatize similarities and differences by age and generation in ways of thinking and feeling. An analysis of interviews with 157 families examined the health of the grandparent, the happiness of each of the three generational representatives, and family salience. Twelve…

This study examined the effects of three modes of story reconstruction training on the development of children's story comprehension. One hundred and eight children in grades K to 2 were randomly assigned to one of three training conditions: thematic-fantasy play, adult lead discussion, or drawing. The children were read three books on separate…

A study, as yet unfinished, sought to replicate, expand, and provide preliminary answers to questions raised in previous research on the development of fantasy play by black children as functions of age, sex, income level, and other environmental factors. Fantasy play involves the attribution to persons, objects, materials, or situations of…