Results of a cost-effectiveness analysis of early intervention services in Massachusetts indicate that for a given investment, children demonstrate different levels of improvement in adaptive behavior and child-mother interaction depending on the severity of their disability and the age of entry into intervention. (SLD)

Four studies examined the claim that preschoolers understood biological inheritance. Found that it was not until age seven that children demonstrated that they understood birth as part of a process selectively mediating the acquisition of physical traits and learning or nurturance as mediating the acquisition of beliefs. (MDM)

A total of 270 children from 3 ethnic groups were tested for understanding of concepts of heating and cooling. A strong horizontal decalage effect was seen, with children of all ethnic groups using more sophisticated explanations at earlier ages for heating than cooling. Implications for developmental theory are discussed. (SLD)

Tells a number of stories about young people, including the author's own children, who find a second chance through two-year community colleges. Touts community colleges as one of the few places in this increasingly stratified society where persons of various ages and from a variety of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds come together.…

Examines differences in patterns of social mobility experienced by three generations (grandparents, parents, and children) within the same family lineages. Using data from the Longitudinal Study of Generations, found that each successive generation of offspring has had higher occupational attainment than the one before. However, the rate of upward…

Results of assessment with 34 children, 35 adolescents, and 40 undergraduates show that State of Mind (SOM) model ratios varied significantly depending on measurement method and self-versus-other condition, although age did not significantly influence SOM ratios, suggesting that the SOM model set point is applicable to children. (SLD)

Participants were 130 obese women who reported undertaking a mean lifetime total of 4.7 major diets on which they had lost a mean of 45.9 kilograms. Participants with a severe history of weight cycling had a significantly younger age of onset of obesity than mild cyclers and reported initiating dieting at a significantly younger age and lower…

Results of a study examining cynicism, fear, communication skills, and the impact of AIDS education among juvenile delinquents indicated that education is significantly related to objective knowledge and to cynicism about AIDS, but is not related to other attitudes about AIDS. Race, age, and sex differences were also examined. (JPS)

Examined Korean first, third, and fifth graders' judgments about authority commands regarding moral events. Found that children judged that a principal, teacher, class president, and child without an authority position have legitimacy and should be obeyed when giving morally right directives. Children gave greater legitimacy to persons giving…

Explored 14- and 18-month olds' ability to identify the target of the experimenter's emotional display of happiness or disgust in response to something seen or felt inside a box. Findings suggested that, regardless of age, infants used the experimenter's attentional cues to interpret her emotional signals and behaved as if they understood that she…

Extends dynamic attending theory to developmental questions concerning tempo and time hierarchies. Compares performance of 4- to 10-year-olds, and adults on dynamic attending activities. Suggests that growth trends could be expressed in terms of listeners' engagement of slower attending oscillators with age and musical experience, accompanied by…

Three experiments examined understanding of scalar implicature, specifically understanding that use of a term (e.g., some) indicates the speaker had reasons not to use a more informative term (e.g., all). Results reveal consistent ordering in which representations of weak scalar terms tend to be treated logically by young competent participants…

Presents a case study to illustrate the impact that an emergent literacy environment both at home and at school can have on literacy acquisition. Highlights interviews with 31 nursery school children about their perceptions of reading. Notes that hypotheses formed about language learning by age 3 offer food for thought in view of increasingly…

Two experiments investigated infants' sensitivity to amount of continuous quantity and to changes in amount of continuous quantity. Found that 6-month-olds looked significantly longer at a novel quantity than at the familiar quantity. Nine-month-olds looked significantly longer at an impossible event than at a possible event. Findings question…

Investigated relationships among youth risk behaviors and demographic factors. Data on risk behaviors (delinquency, truancy, weapon carrying, fighting, sexuality, substance use, demographics, and family structure) were compared within specific demographic factors and by age group for diverse inner-city adolescents. Survey and interview data…