This study investigated school, grade, and gender differences associated with a range of factors related to participation in varsity soccer among 65 students attending two high schools (one emphasizing achievement, the other emphasizing competitive sports). Gender differences were found. (Author/LMO)

Examined the ability of three-year-olds, four-year-olds, kindergartners, and second graders to predict how certain internal and external conditions affect behavior. In two studies, a forced-choice procedure revealed that even the youngest group could predict the effect of various causes, while a third study examined more complex types of causal…

Surveyed beginning graduate students in counseling psychology programs approved by American Psychological Association to determine salient demographic characteristics, motivational factors influencing their decisions to enter training, perceptions of roles and functions of professionals in field, and goals and expectations regarding future…

Children have a variety of reactions to a sibling birth that includes disruptions in their physical and psychological functioning as well as apparent growth in these same areas. Explores the variety of factors that influence reactions to the sibling's birth and the relationship between the siblings. (BJV)

Examined stressors and coping strategies of two-generation farm families. Results identified four key factors creating stressors for family members and four strategies that family members used to cope with stressors. Significant differences in stressors and coping strategies were found between generations and among fathers, mothers, sons, and…

Two experiments look at factors influencing the ways children construct an abstract representation of story structure that contains the characteristics described by story grammars. (RWB)

Used Canadian Census data on the elderly in Quebec to show that the frequency of multigenerational households did not vary with rural or urban location of the elderly. Age and sex of elderly and homeownership by their children were factors in explaining family living arrangements. Concludes that multigenerational households can be resource…

Type and quality of nonfamilial child care were found to have no significant effect on peer social skills, sociability with strange adults, and child personality. The major determinants of personality maturity were background variables. Prior social skills and age were the best predictors of peer social skills. (PCB)

Examines research which suggests that children's developing knowledge about traditional gender roles has a substantial influence on how children process information pertaining to gender. Evidence also shows that as children attain gender constancy, their behaviors become especially responsive to gender-related information. (Author/RWB)

Focuses on three interrelated issues: (1) developmental theories of humor (2) variables that facilitate children's responses to amusing literature, and (3) strategies for the evaluation and more effective use of humorous children's books. Provides examples of books, an overview chart of the general chronology of children's humor development, and…

Investigates the effects of sociocultural changes on variables related to adolescents' self-concepts. Traditional and transitional adolescents from two cities in North India completed Indian adaptations of various questionnaires and rating scales. Results suggest the powerful influences of macrostructural variables (like sociocultural changes) on…

This study concerns the selection of mathematically talented students at the beginning of secondary school in Australia, using a version of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Age and sex differences were found. Younger and older students responded to SAT items in qualitatively different ways. (MNS)

Children's satisfaction with being a member of their own sex was explored within two Australian samples. Girls were less satisfied with their sex role than boys, and older girls were more dissatisfied than younger girls. In a sample chosen to include adequate representation of children of non-Anglo immigrants, non-Anglo girls were just as…

Examines the communication strategies adopted by people of differing ages attempting to perform a referential communication task and to determine their ability to adapt their strategies to various task conditions. (HOD)

Visual fixations were recorded in newborn, 4-, and 8-week-old human infants as they scanned displays that varied in contour length, size, number, and a new metric, CVAL (based on Contour Variability, Amount and Location). One of the findings was that both contour length and CVAL separately accounted for approximatel1 95 of looking-duration…