Analysis of the relative contribution of age, gender, and verbal and mathematical reasoning abilities (measured by subtests of the Scholastic Aptitude Test) as predictors of success in accelerated secondary science courses found that a composite of verbal and mathematical reasoning ability was the most powerful predictor and verbal reasoning…

Examined drug use, involvement in problem behavior, and family and peer predictors of these behaviors among Indian and white adolescents in a Canadian urban community. Found the groups had a similar rate for alcohol use; however, Indian adolescents showed higher rates and more frequent use of cigarettes, marijuana, solvents, and greater…

This article examines age-related variables (e.g., neurological, cognitive, affective) in the acquisition of a second-language phonology and discusses six evaluation and intervention issues, including mispronunciations as an indicator of either disordered speech or normal second-language learning, culture and language influences, and effective…

Parental compliance to court-ordered assessment was examined in mothers whose children had been removed from the home because of maltreatment. Noncompliant mothers (n=30) tended to be younger, to lead more transient lifestyles, to show a greater degree of antisocial behavior, and to experience more violence in their spousal relationships than…

Fiscal threats mobilized a coalition of administrators and senior faculty at Long Island University's Brooklyn (New York) campus to address student retention. Drawing on collaborative curricular models from the honors program, the coalition created mutually reinforcing faculty development initiatives, to the benefit of both faculty retention and…

Investigated the reading development of children as they arrive in mainstream school in order to assess their progress from the emergent literacy phase into the early stages of beginning conventional reading. Found that if children enter school with developed alphabet knowledge and adjust quickly to school, they have an 80 percent chance of…

Reports the rationale, objectives, tools, and achievements of Project Motivation, which helps disadvantaged primary school children in Delhi, India, to develop required competencies through a child-to-child approach. Middle-grade children were oriented to work with the younger children, and these older children developed a positive self-concept…

Sexually abused girls (n=56) and their nonoffending female caretakers from primarily low-income, African American families were assessed to determine factors related to child symptomatology and self-blame. Child self-blame was related to overall relationships with caretakers, disruptions in relationship with a primary caretaker, child age, general…

Developmental changes and individual differences in children's conceptions of transgression were studied in 46 children from preschool through 1st grade. Differences in response to moral transgressions in kindergarten were related to mothers' control management and to siblings' friendly behavior in the preschool period, early understanding of…

Whether phonological awareness skills develop in a specific pattern and whether they transfer to another language were studied in 2 experiments with 126 English- and Spanish- speaking kindergartners and 1st graders. Results indicated that cross-language transfer can be detected in skills that are still developing. (SLD)

Examines children's variation in rate, style, and sequence of grammatical development, within and across natural languages. Using a sample of English and Italian infants, concludes that while there are structural differences between English and Italian that could affect the order in which nouns and verbs are acquired, no differences were observed…

Reports on a study of the influence of age and formal education on the development of moral reasoning among 215 Spanish citizens ranging in age from 12 to 48. Finds that moral development is highly related to both variables, although more so with formal education than with age. Includes five tables of illustrative data. (CFR)

The development of conceptual knowledge about the earth among 60 elementary school students in grades 1, 3, and 5 was studied through questions about its shape. In the process of knowledge acquisition, children appear to modify their initial models to make them more consistent with the culturally accepted model. (SLD)

Studied the extent to which teenagers' expectations about gender role in career and family contexts are altered when traditional parental sex roles were partially reversed. Used follow-up data on the consequences of fathers of intact, white, middle-class families taking responsibility for their preschoolers' care. (BB)

Assesses beliefs of 32 male and 35 female middle-class preschool children about the frequency and intensity with which girls, boys, women, and men experience anger, sadness, and happiness. Children's beliefs are complex; they vary as a function of the target person's age and sex and of the specific emotion. (SLD)