This study had two purposes: (1) to determine when children distinguish ambiguous from precise messages and when they can resolve ambiguity through additional questioning, and (2) to identify whether implicit messages were more difficult to identify than explicit ones. All children found ambiguous messages significantly more difficult to…

Used coercion theory to investigate aversive mother- child interactions. Literature indicated younger children produced higher rates of aversive interactions with their mothers. Mothers' role satisfaction varied as a function of such rates. Observation data showed mothers of aggressive children encountered higher rates of aversive interactions…

Studied a national database employed to examine the educational participation behavior of adults 60 years and older. Participation rates, subjects studied, reasons for participation, and locations utilized for learning were found to vary significantly in relation to relative age, educational attainment, sex, race, income, and other participant…

The extent to which enrollment rates are a good indicator of the extension of schooling in Italy is examined. These rates suggest that there has been a transition from elite to mass secondary education. The search for differences according to sex, social class, and regional variables is discussed. (MLW)

Extends earlier work on aging as a process of exchange by focusing on the issue of exchange rates and how they are negotiated. Access to power resources declines with age, placing the old person in the position of negotiating from weakness. (Author)

Elementary school students demonstrated a developmental trend in ability to judge speed solely on auditory cues. Second graders considered intensity cues relevant, and were most accurate on intensity shifts. Accuracy on frequency shifts increased across grades. Awareness of frequency and frequency-intensity relationships increased with age.…

These results supported the applicability of the Gottschalk-Gleser scales for the content analysis of speech samples to adolescents, based on 112 youngsters aged 11-18, stratified by age, race, and sex. Correlations with the Adolescent Life Assessment Checklist, Defense Mechanisms Inventory, and Rotter Internal External Locus of Control Scale were…

Elementary school children's understanding was assessed after they read or listened to brief texts that described a scene, explained a sequence of events, or told a story. Results indicated that effectiveness in understanding depends on the fluency with which component processes of perceptual recognition, comprehension, and memory are coordinated.…

Verbal coding and listening comprehension ability differed among skilled and less skilled readers in second, third, and fifth grades. As verbal coding speed increased, comprehension skill became the more important predictor of reading skill. Apparently, verbal coding processes, which are slow, inhibit other reading processes. (Author/CP)

Investigates transfer of direct and indirect forms of social influence on children's judgments of criminal cases. One hundred forty-two children in grades 4, 5, 7, and 8 were asked to impose sentence twice on criminal cases, the second time after hearing that the judge had imposed a harsh sentence. (SS)

The efficacy of small group instructional activities dealing with transitive inference, conservation, and class inclusion of length was investigated in a sample of kindergarten (N=44) and first grade (N=45) boys and girls. (Author/MP)

Two groups of children, 12 to 30 months (N=14) and 31 to 78 months (N=12), showing increased lead burden were compared to a sample matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status but evincing no increased lead burden. For the younger children, significant deficits in maternal IQ and quality of the caregiving environment were associated with…

Students (Grades 9-11) in two Florida metropolitan high schools rated their interest in 28 topics, such as travel, popular music, religion, the opposite sex, war, and politics. Interests were analyzed by sex, grade, and ability track in English (Honors, Average, Basic). Findings, especially those on romantic interests, are discussed. (SJL)

The Moral Dilemmas Test was administered to 1,057 Swedish boys and girls in four different grades (4, 5, 6 and 7) to examine the effects of social pressure on children. (MP)

The behavior of 32 mothers during an object-retrieval game was analyzed in terms of the hints and clues they used to direct their children's attention; age-related differences were found in the type of information offered. (Author)