Infants expressed more joy and looked longer at their mothers during a joy condition, and they showed more sadness, anger, and gaze aversion during a sadness condition. They engaged in more play behavior in the joy condition than in the sadness condition. Several significant relations between infants' gaze behavior, emotion expressions, and play…

Presents findings on sex-role stereotyping in five-year-olds. White children gave more stereotyped responses than did black children, and their stereotyping increased as parent educational level increased. The latter trend was not evidenced in black children, and no significant differences in stereotyping were noted between the sexes. (KH)

Examines reasons that adolescents use alcohol and drugs, including role confusion, developmental factors, parental influence, and peer pressure. Reports that adolescents also abuse substances to feel excitement, cope with personality conflicts, and express their individuality through rebellion. (ABB)

Using two-parent families with early adolescent daughters, a study addressed three questions: (1) Is adolescent depressive mood affected by parent mood? (2) Do maternal and paternal mood states impact similarly or differently on adolecent mood? and (3) Can one parent serve as a buffer for the second parent's mood state? (HOD)

Describes a study which compared the effects of three types of adult feedback (acceptance, correction with joint labelling, and correction with explanation) on young children's inappropriate word usage. Findings showed that correction with explanation was more effective than correction with joint labelling, which was more effective than simple…

Infants whose mothers were supportive of their autonomy displayed greater task-oriented persistence and competence during play than did infants of more controlling mothers; securely attached and avoidant infants tended to exhibit greater persistence at tasks than anxious-ambivalent babies, and ambivalent babies were the most negative in affect.…

Assessment of development and home environments of twelve, 2-year-old children raised by mentally retarded mothers indicated for increased risk developmental delay, particularly in language. Cognitive development was significantly correlated with whether the mother had a previous child removed from the home by child protection authorities and with…

Reports the results of a survey of 215 college freshmen education majors. Discusses four of their reasons for selecting a teaching career: family influence, positive and negative examples by their teachers, experience, and personal benefits. (SB)

Father's occupation was found to be associated with significant differences in quantitative and verbal Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores. Further, significant relationships between sex, ethnic status, and father's absence and SAT scores were found. (Author/BW)

This report summarizes findings from a longitudinal study of 1,215 mothers and children from 10 locations around the United States, focusing on the links between maternal depression and child outcomes. Families were followed from 1 month to 36 months after the birth of their child. Data collection methods included observations of mother-child play…

This brief summarizes key research findings on new ways of thinking about father involvement and the roles that fathers play in children's lives. The main points addressed by the brief are as follows: (1) fathers can be involved with their children in more roles than just the provider role; (2) quality counts; (3) different styles of parent-child…

This review of the literature regarding the impact of maternal speech on the formation of a child's sense of self compares the speech of well mothers to that of depressed mothers. The review finds that maternal speech has a strong influence on the formation of symbolic self-representations during the toddler period. However, depressed mothers'…

These charts describe adults' and adolescents' views on teen sex and pregnancy. Data come from national surveys of adults and adolescents that examined attitudes toward teen sex and pregnancy, factors influencing teens' sexual decisions, parents' roles, and adults' and teens' advice for policymakers. There is near unanimous agreement among both…

This study explored the cultural influences on children's self-reported environmental actions, perceptions, and understandings; investigated the relationships among the behavioral, affective, cognitive, and demographic variables; and developed models of children's responsible environmental behavior (Huang, 2001). The cross-cultural comparison…

Values clarification involves presenting a hypothetical situation to students that requires them to make a moral judgment. That moral judgment must be publicly affirmed by the student, but not criticized by others. Values clarification's philosophical context is existentialist. The values clarification philosophies and methods were consistent with…