To assess how they compared themselves to peers, elementary school students were observed in class and interviewed over a three-year period. Found that overt forms of social comparison were most frequent among younger children, and subtle forms among older children. With increasing age, children were likely to see subtle forms of social comparison…

Effects of sex, education, and age on total test score on the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test, a college entrance examination, are studied using applicants aged over 25 with 1 to 4 years' work experience. About 10,000 applicants have taken the test annually since 1977. Genuine differences appear in each variable studied. (SLD)

This study of 2,130 predominantly Mexican American children evaluated for possible sexual abuse found significant differences related to ethnicity, race, gender, and age. Differences in these factors were found with respect to the perpetrator-child relationship, number of perpetrators, interval from abuse to evaluation, types of abuse, and…

Two experiments examined the relationship between developmental improvement in performance on tasks requiring acquisition of spatial knowledge and age-sensitive cognitive abilities. Found that age differences in landmark knowledge were mediated primarily by recognition-in-context memory and that age differences in route knowledge were mediated…

This literature review examines the research on the use of right and left hands in the reading of braille. Results suggest that right-handed people may read braille more accurately with the left hand. Studies have also found differences between girls and boys and changes over the developmental period. (DB)

Four experiments examined primary school children's confusion of /t/ and /d/ when spelling such words as "city" and "lady." They found that, until at least second grade, children often misspelled such flaps as /d/, with few children showing a bias toward /t/. Results indicated that young children are not purely phonetic…

Uses a dictionary-sampling method and multiple-choice testing of word knowledge to estimate the lexicon size of junior-high students, college students, and older adults. Suggests that there may yet be a role for direct instruction in affecting lexicon size of functionally important words. (SR)

Verbal and figurative classification tasks were presented to 30 blind and 30 sighted children (ages 6 to 11). Although younger blind children were significantly less efficient on tasks, older ones reached or were close to the level of their sighted peers. Analysis illustrates how the blind children adjusted their conceptual knowledge to their…

This study examined qualitative developments in 96 school-aged children's expressible knowledge of 434 words (selected to represent dictionary contents). Developmental changes were found in proportions of high quality definitions, semantic and syntactic form, effects of parts of speech, morphological composition, and lexical organization. Results…

Examined children's cognitive style and their play in different play areas according to sex and age. Found that females played most in the physical, block, manipulative, and dramatic play areas, while males played most in block play. Four-year olds played most in physical, block, and dramatic play, while five-year olds most often chose…

Two experiments examined the effects of interference on young children's long-term memory using paired-association recall and free recall. The results indicated that children were susceptible to interference, the locus of interference effects was at storage, and that both younger (preschool) and older (kindergarten) children experienced similar…

Explores the extent of preschoolers' knowledge of mixed emotions, and whether difficulty in discerning mixed emotions stems from beliefs about how emotions are portrayed on the face. Found that both four- and five-year olds can identify mixed emotions. Only five-year olds (with appropriate scaffolding and with simple, clear stories) can…

Studies examining physiological responses to stress during outdoor adventure activities found that regardless of participants' age or gender, some activities elicited a rapid heart rate and a strong neuroendocrine response, particularly for individuals with a low fitness level. Suggests that all participants in adventure activities be informed of…

Observed the reactions of 3.5-month-old infants looking at a carrot that should have but did not appear in a window after passing behind a screen. The results of this and several similar experiments indicated that 3.5-month-old infants are able to represent and reason about hidden objects. (BC)

Toddler triads were observed on consecutive days, with ample and scarce toy resources. Two-year-olds were more likely to resolve conflicts by sharing when toys were scarce rather than ample. Triads with older children or two boys were more likely than other triads to resolve disputes in prosocial ways. (BC)