Reports results of questionnaires and interviews conducted with 123 parents (mostly mothers) of preschool, first-grade, and sixth-grade children. Finds that parental limitations on children's altruism are based on cogent rationales and are a direct function of the situational cost involved and the age and familiarity of the recipient. (CB)

Surveyed students (N=400) from four ethnic groups for expected reactions to stressful events and preferences for help. White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian subjects completed questionnaires, which revealed differences between ethnic groups and indicated that subgroups exist within the ethnic groups. (BH)

Discusses results of a study of computer programers which assessed the emotional and social needs met by their interaction with computers, programers, and nonprogrammers. Since a significant portion of respondents expressed preference for computer interaction, an examination of needs fulfilled by computer interaction is presented, and societal…

Literature on the relationship between sibling structure and academic abilities and achievement since 1978 is reviewed. As the findings generally refute the confluence model of the influence of sibling structure, alternative interpretations are presented with implications for further research. (Author/BS)

Assessed possibility that developmental difference in social values is associated with development of information processing capabilities. Three- to 10-year-old children completed an individualized regression assessment of social values, a central-incidental memory measure, and a free-recall word list task. Results indicated age, sex, and memory…

Examined development of relations between causal explanations, the anticipated emotional consequences for others if these causes were communicated, and the decision to disclose or withhold causal explanation. Within a role-playing paradigm, children aged 5-12 were given scenarios involving social rejection or broken social engagement. Data…

Assesses the effect of same and different recognition experience intervening between acquisition and retrieval on cued recall for episodic information. Second and fourth graders and college adults were shown cue-target word pairs at acquisition and the cues alone at retrieval. In general, results showed that same experience facilitated memory for…

Systematic observations of affiliative interaction in 15 stable peer groups were conducted across three years in an urban day care center. Groups contained 193 French-speaking children ranging in age from one to six years. (Author/RH)

Interviews with 634 Hispanics living in California's San Francisco Bay Area provided data on their drinking patterns by sex, age, income, education, marital status, occupation, and religion. Results confirmed previous findings that indicate that Hispanics have a higher rate of heavy drinking and alcohol problems than other ethnic groups. (NQA)

Multivariate and bivariate analyses of teachers' responses showed that locus of control was related to teacher stress. As hypothesized, teachers who felt they were in control reported less stress in job related situations than did those who did not feel influential in their educational environment. (Author/DWH)

Using paired pictures of three houses and four automobiles, responses were elicited which measured impressions of the owners of each object. Comparisons of response patterns showed substantial differences between five- and eight-year-old groups but little difference among gender and social status within age groups. (Author/DST)

Examined the relationship between empathy and moral reasoning, age and gender differences in expression of emotional empathy, and flexibility of moral reasoning in 330 adolescents, ages 12 to 20. Moral reasoning, assessed by Flexibility of Moral Judgement Index, and empathy were found to be unrelated. (Author/DST)

Through written responses to a questionnaire, adolescents' perceptions of discussions with parents and friends were examined with reference to academic/vocational, social/ethical, family, and peer domains. Findings are discussed in terms of differences in procedures of social construction between parents' and friends' socializing influences.…

In order to determine how use of responsive listener cues (e.g. head nods, yesses, smiles, etc.) changes over preschool years, children were videorecorded as they listened to an adult speaker talk about his experiences. Age and sex differences in preschoolers' responsive behaviors are discussed as well as the relationship between the development…

A longitudinal study examined (1) development of relationship between physical maturation rate and cognitive performance as children become adolescent and (2) specific components of cognitive processing linked to physical maturation-related differences in performance on cognitive ability tasks. Differences were detected on cognitive process tasks.…