Three experiments compared infants' reactions to videos of normally responsive women varying in eye contact. Found that, relative to frontal faces, three-month olds smiled less at images averting head and eye (H&I), head alone (H), and closing eyes (ECL) but not at averting eyes (E). Five-month-olds smiled less at H&I, E, and ECL but not…

Short-term longitudinal study compared influence of 6th, 8th, and 10th graders' closest friends (CF) and friendship groups (FG) on cigarette and alcohol use. Results showed that CF influenced initiation of cigarette and alcohol use. Only FG use predicted transition into current cigarette use. Only CF use predicted transition into current alcohol…

Substance-abuse-counselor supervisors (N=72) were surveyed on two measures to determine their perceptions of their supervisory style. Overall, they considered themselves as focusing on a collegial and relationship-oriented supervisory style. Although no sex differences were found, significant age and education-level differences were evident. (EMK)

Examines fantasies about the opposite sex expressed by 116 children, adolescents, and adults responding to the Drawing from Imagination task of the Silver Drawing Test of Cognition and Emotion. Results indicate that both males and females expressed more negative than positive feelings toward subjects of the opposite sex. Males were more negative.…

This study examined the abilities of adult listeners to discriminate and identify temporal order of sounds presented in tonal sequence. Listeners had either normal hearing or mild to moderate sensorineural hearing losses. In general, older listeners performed more poorly than younger listeners on the discrimination and identification tasks. Order…

Argues that successful tutoring depends, in part, on child tutors' ability to recognize and interpret accurately signs of misunderstanding by their tutees. Investigates age and gender differences in perceiving cues to misunderstanding. Finds that older children and females more accurately interpret signs of confusion and that females can better…

Examines effects of a child's age on interpretation of a violent act. Notes subjects were showed clips that depicted identical violent acts in which punishment and provocation were manipulated to create four conditions. Finds that younger children thought that unpunished violence was more right than punished violence, and older children thought…

Examines what sociodemographic and criminogenic factors discriminate between inmates in a boot camp for non-violent offenders who commit crimes against persons and other offenders. Stepwise discriminant analysis results are discussed. The intervention implications of the findings are also discussed. (Author/MKA)

Investigates effects of client-counselor ethnic match and client age group on counselor-evaluated Global Assessment of Function (GAF) and visitation. The sample consisted of 253 Asian-American outpatient clients of a community mental health center. Results reveal that ethnically matched clients had more positive GAF evaluations and more clinic…

Study examines age and gender variations in the multiple areas of self-concept and relations between these dimensions of self-concept and scholastic measures among high school students in South Africa. Results revealed a few statistically significant effects of age and gender on global and domain-specific self-concepts. The size and pattern of…

Investigated degree to which two shape dimensions were represented categorically by children and adults when learning object names. Found that adults accepted names more often to objects that fell within proposed shape boundaries than to objects that crossed boundaries. Children were just as likely to generalize names to novel objects that fell…

Three experiments explored change toward more flexible reliance on combinations of spatial and nonspatial landmark information to reorient oneself. Identified 5-7 years as age for this developmental change. Results suggest that language production skills play a causal role in allowing humans to construct novel representations rapidly, which can…

A comparison of male adolescents in foster care (n=58) with their nonfoster peers indicates that foster youths have lower family self-image and emotional health and higher social self-image. Lower scores on several domains were associated with being younger, being white, lower academic achievement, more foster placements, and staying at current…

Results of a study of the relationship between stress and self-concept among adolescents (n=1,482) indicate that there is a small negative relationship between overall self-concept and the frequency and effect of stressful events. Females experience more stress and express it as having a greater impact, while age does not reliably predict…

Performance on mathematics word problems was compared for 197 students (grades 3-8) with mild disabilities and 210 nondisabled students. Students with disabilities performed at significantly lower levels than typical students. Significant effects were also evident for grade and type of mathematical operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication,…