Assessed developments in the theory of mind suggested by changes in the organization of cognitive verb extensions during elementary school years. Found three major changes with development: increased understanding of the role of memory in input functions, increased interrelatedness of memory- and comprehension-related verbs, and increased…

Examined knowledge about medicines and perceived benefit among 101 children, ages 7 and 10. Found that medicine knowledge was explained using age, educational environment, and degree of internal locus of control as significant predictors. The negative effect of internal locus of control predicted perceived benefit. Retention of drug advertising…

A study investigated whether the phonological properties of visually represented words routinely influenced the process of lexical access. Subjects were 40 college students and 40 fourth graders. Results provide little support for the claim that the phonological attributes of words are used standardly to achieve lexical access. (Author/MSE)

Analysis of French spoken by French girls aged 11-12 years found that, unlike older counterparts, theirs shows variable linguistic behavior on the phonological level that suggests avoidance of vernacular forms, the "sociolinguistic gender pattern." However, one speaker's discourse shows manipulation of conversational tone comparable to adult…

Examined mothers' and preschoolers' emotion talk for age- and gender-related patterns in use of labels and explanations. Found that children used emotion words mainly in labels. Boys' emotion talk increased with age. The youngest girls had more emotion talk than same-age boys. Mothers used more explanations than labels with boys but similar…

Presents 30 adult Chinese immigrant women's accounts of their experiences with, and perceptions of, learning English as a Second Language in Canada. Results from interviews with two age groups of adult women reveal the complexity of adult second-language acquisition, which involves factors pertaining both to the learners, and to the social context…

Examines the success of phonemic tone-marking for Dschang, a Grassfields Bantu language that uses tone to distinguish lexical items and some grammatical constructions. Participants from a variety of different age groups and educational backgrounds, and having different levels of exposure to the orthography, were tested on location in the Western…

Attempts to see whether children of a range of ages could use a Continuous Response Digital Interface (CRDI) dial to express feelings inspired by music, and to compare their responses with those of more musically experienced groups. Finds that younger children were successful and displayed varying correlations more than did experienced…

Predictors of alcohol consumption were investigated across age and sex among junior and senior high school students (N=1,942). The dominant predictor for young boys was whether their friends drink; for girls it was related to interpersonal disorder. Peer pressure was important for older girls and continued dominant for boys. (EMK)

Examined impact of phonological-awareness training with or without explicit attention to articulation and with or without manipulation of sounds. Subjects were 7- to 11-year olds with reading difficulties. Found that children in all training conditions outperformed controls on all tests except math. Individual differences in response related to…

Studies the development of self-regulation in school-aged children's help-seeking behavior within a Vygotskian framework. Hypothesizes that studying two age groups would allow definition of two levels of capacity for self-regulation. Shows that the level of self-regulation depends on both age and academic achievement, with older, high-achieving…

Determines when U.S. children begin to self-handicap, that is, to reduce preparation effort before evaluations. Finds that the high-self-esteem third graders acted adaptively by practicing more for the evaluation task, while the high-self-esteem sixth graders prepared more only if they had been reminded of their personal resources beforehand. (CMK)

Compared effects of a reciprocal model and a transmission model on 6-year olds' learning of English as a second language. Found that older 6-year olds performed significantly better than younger 6-year olds on receptive vocabulary and language and on reading accuracy and comprehension. The reciprocal model of teaching and learning had positive…

Used time-lapse video to record sleep/wake states of preterm infants for three 24-hour periods at 33 and 35 weeks conceptional age. Found that very-low-birthweight preterm infants showed marked stability and developmental change in the organization of sleep/wake states from a very early age, and their states were related to demographic variables…

Examined significance of close, cross-sex friendships to socioemotional functioning of tenth through twelfth graders. Found that having close, cross-sex friend was common and increased with age. Adolescents reported more companionship in same- versus cross-sex friendships. There were sex and age differences in support from cross- versus same-sex…