Explored the role of relationship orientations, gender-related characteristics, and perceptions of friendship quality during preadolescence and adolescence. Results indicated that grade and sex differences are evident in the early adolescent years and are linked to perceptions of friendship quality. Preliminary evidence showed that relationship…

Surveyed 207 parents who were using the Transitional Child Care subsidy 6 months after leaving welfare to examine their characteristics and demographics and illustrate the life circumstances they faced. Findings suggest that income, erratic schedules, and ages of children contribute to the complexities parents face in accessing and using child day…

Examines the process of consonant cluster reduction in the English of residents of a San Antonio, Texas, "barrio." The author compares Tejano patterns of "/-t,d/" deletion with the pan-English pattern. Results suggest a pattern of convergence and divergence. The study shows that Mexican American English exhibits regional and…

Reports on a study of 128 talented singers, ages 8-11, to determine the effects of age, sex and melodic/harmonic patterns on pitch-matching skills of children. Finds no significant differences between age and sex groups and significant differences among pitch-matching tasks. Suggests a task hierarchy for children's part-singing. (CFR)

Reports on a study of verbal behaviors of 25 piano teachers in private lessons. Finds significant differences resulting from student age in presentation of musical information, teacher talk, teacher coaching, and student participation. Also finds that student perceived as "average" received significantly more directive comments. (CFR)

Changes in political and social attitudes during college were studied for 303 Ivy League students in their freshman and senior years. Seniors scored higher on measures of liberalism, social conscience, tolerance of homosexuality, and feminist attitudes; they scored lower on male-dominant attitudes. Of particular interest is the increased tolerance…

Using a set of qualitative measures, 12 regular children in kindergarten and 12 regular children in grade 3 were asked to express their attitudes toward 3 same-age peers with special needs (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or learning disabilities). Results indicated that the kindergarten children were more accepting than were the grade 3…

Examined changes in prosocial moral reasoning and gender differences in prosocial reasoning over 15 years. Found that hedonistic reasoning declined and then increased somewhat; needs-oriented and stereotypic reasoning increased and then declined with age. Direct reciprocity and approval reasoning showed no decline into early adulthood, contrary to…

Studied the evolution of knowledge of the rules of a children's game, and children's capacity for putting them into practice at ages ranging from four to seven. Results showed distinguishable evolutive levels of knowledge and practice through age, with the development of the capacity for putting the rules into practice before being able to…

Ratings of emotional responsiveness of preschool children revealed more aggression among males than females during the infant-toddler period, but no interaction effects of group care entry status and sex of child were found. When young males exhibit differentially more aggression and noncompliance than females in daycare settings, other factors…

High school and college students (n=160) described their beliefs about the life course and the adulthood transition. College students described older ages of occurrence for leaving home, beginning full-time employment, marriage, and parenthood than did high school students. For both groups, however, marriage and parenthood were thought to occur at…

Conservation and metaphor acquisition were studied in 35 hearing-impaired children (ages 6-19) using either cued speech or oral-aural communication. Significant positive relationships were found between conservation and metaphor in both communication modes, age and metaphor, and age and conservation. Neither conservation nor metaphor was related…

Children between three and nine years of age were randomly assigned to so-called fast or slow teams and were asked to make self- and intergroup evaluations. Five year olds had high self-evaluations, strong in-group bias, and high group cohesion regardless of which group they were in. (BC)

This article describes the Colorado Phonetic/Phonologic Assessment of Hearing-Impaired Infants and Toddlers (PHONE) and the speech of 91 hearing-impaired infants and toddlers, examining number of vowels, consonants, elements per utterance, and utterances; differences by age and by hearing loss for each vowel and consonant; and relationship to…

Describes a study that investigated the performance of preschoolers and children in the first three years of formal education on tasks that involved skills using a mouse-based control of a graphical computer interface. The children's performance is compared with that of novice adult users and expert users. (five references) (LRW)