This descriptive study examined children's drawings and related language episodes to differentiate drawings exhibiting play from those exhibiting exploratory behavior. Drawings categorized as play were further analyzed to identify constructive and imaginary play. The play theory used as the basis of the study proposes that exploration and…

This digest explores some of the reasons for spanking, examines its effectiveness, and suggests alternative discipline methods. Many parents believe that spanking will teach children not to do things that are forbidden, stop them quickly when they are being irritating, and encourage them to do what they should. Others believe nonphysical forms of…

The Berlin Longitudinal Study of Early Adaptation to Novel Situations examined early day-care experiences and the security of infant-mother attachment. Thirty-four infants entering day care before their first birthday and 20 infants entering between 12 and 18 months were compared in their reactions to day care during the first 4 weeks of…

This study examined the effects that cumulation of slight risks-prenatal up to adolescence-had on cognitive competence and school achievement in Austrian students who had not been identified as being at risk. Data were collected on 91 randomly selected 11- to 13-year-olds who participated in the Vienna Developmental Study, which analyzed…

Since the early 1980s, open adoption has been rapidly gaining ground, replacing the sealed records and the secrecy and shame that were attached to the subject. This book considers the long-term effects of open adoption on the children involved and presents case histories and letters from adoptees. Chapter 1, "Open Adoption: Definition,…

This literature review examines whether verifiable evidence supports the supposition that early interventions result in better child developmental outcomes than later interventions for disadvantaged children with disabilities. First, existing reviews of the literature on the "earlier is better" supposition were examined. Second, a meta analysis on…

The purpose of this project was to develop a structural model using several important variables related to academic achievement among top college students. Measures of college grade point average (GPA), high school GPA, score on the ACT Assessment, age, and the number of credit hours taken during the college years were collected from graduating…

A study investigated the existence of a definite article in Montagnais, an Algonquian language spoken by about 6,000 Canada natives. The language has not yet been totally described, and teachers, who must create their own instructional materials for Montagnais language instruction, are unsure as to whether to teach their own usage or what they are…

Premature termination of client counseling has primarily been studied in university counseling centers and outpatient therapy settings. Findings from studies at university centers have indicated that some personality variables may be related to premature termination, including low self-esteem, low anxiety, high tolerance for ambiguity, and…

This study was conducted to evaluate a field-based mentorship program using a multi-method approach. It explored the use of mentorship as practiced in the Florida Compact, a business education partnership established in Florida in 1987. The study was designed to identify differences between mentors and mentorees, as well as differences within…

This study examined the relationship between the structure of narrative and false belief understanding in young children. A group of 109 children between 38 and 63 months were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Children in the first group watched a story on video, while children in the second group shared the same story in book format. The…

Money has significant impacts on people's motivation, behavior, and performance. This study was conducted to further validate and explore the Money Ethic Scale (MES), an instrument developed to examine the meaning of money, in a sample of mental health workers in Tennessee. It examined mental health workers' (N=155) attitudes toward money, as…

A cross-sectional study that investigated memory variables in 100 subjects in 4 age ranges (17-22, 40-50, 60-70, and 75-99) found that the 60-70 year olds were more impaired with respect to retrieval than storage and the major problem with memory among the 75-99 year olds was retrieval from short- or long-term memory. Because the study was…

Three different theory of mind tasks were conducted with 4- to 8-year-old Quechua peasant children in the Peruvian Andes. The study investigated the ways in which children in preliterate cultures think and the possibility that they think differently than children in literate cultures. The tasks included: (1) a false-belief task, which tested the…

This study was designed to identify developmental differences in the value priorities for individuals who spontaneously expressed a concern about nuclear war and those who did not. The Rokeach Value Survey and the Spontaneous Concern About the Nuclear Threat Scale were administered to a sample of over 5,000 adolescents and over 900 adult community…