The first major goal of this study was to determine whether touch would enhance mother-infant coregulation in ordinary, nonstressful face-to-face interactions. In an experimental manipulation of presence versus absence of touch in face-to-face interactions between 79 mothers and their 3.5-month-old infants, results indicated that when touch is…

Although any new undertaking is exciting because of the opportunities it may bring, the transition to college life also brings new pressures and uncertainties. From the shelter of home, young people emerge into a new culture, with a new environment for success. Here they are their own masters, often far from the vigilance of parents and the…

A questionnaire consisting of two scales was administered to 550 Hong Kong secondary students to examine their emotional autonomy and susceptibility to peer pressure. Emotional autonomy was studied by the scale (EAS) developed by Steinberg and Silverberg (1986) and susceptibility to peer pressure was studied by the scale developed by Sim and Koh…

Autism awareness is spreading like wildfire. Diagnoses have increased at an astounding rate. The statistic most often quoted is that 1 child in 150 has autism. As if the high rate of autism diagnoses were not worrisome enough, many doctors are not properly trained, or kept up to date, on how to detect autism at the earliest possible age. In many…

Youth who present anti-social behavior need powerful interventions that strengthen empathy, counter negative peer influence, and challenge thinking errors. This article recaps some key points about EQUIP, a Positive Peer Culture (PPC)-based cognitive behavioral intervention program for behaviorally at-risk youth, and notes how the program has…

When do interactions on campus involving strong words or questionable conduct reach the point of incivility? What is the line between legitimate freedom of speech and lively debate versus that which causes classroom disruption? What constitutes unacceptable behavior? Although there might not be universal agreement on what standard to use to define…

This article explores bullying in mainland China. The authors conducted a study to determine the existence of a problem with bullying in younger Chinese children. Samples included 40 randomly selected, early childhood educators serving children ages 2 through 6, located in 10 different urban school settings along the Yangzi River. The authors…

LEGO[R] therapy and the Social Use of Language Programme (SULP) were evaluated as social skills interventions for 6-11 year olds with high functioning autism and Asperger Syndrome. Children were matched on CA, IQ, and autistic symptoms before being randomly assigned to LEGO or SULP. Therapy occurred for 1 h/week over 18 weeks. A no-intervention…

Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the aims were (a) to obtain, describe, and compare different solutions of three, five, and six first-order factors raised in the previous literature about the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI); (b) analyze the number and nature of the second-order factors; (c) test which model best reproduces…

Although social justice advocacy has increasingly been acknowledged as important in the field of psychology (e.g., Goodman et al., 2004; Toporek et al., 2006a, Vera & Speight, 2003), there is a dearth of empirical research examining social justice advocacy across graduate psychology students. This mixed-methods study examined demographic and…

The author shares a story about the positive power of nature in the lives of children, particularly those children who are at-risk for school failure. The setting for the story is the Central Child Development Center (CCDC) in Rock Hill, South Carolina, a public preschool with four-year-old kindergarten students (4K) and preschoolers with special…

Previous research has suggested that the understanding of modesty--downplaying one's achievements to evoke a positive social evaluation--develops in the primary school years. However, very little is known about how children's understanding of modesty is associated with social contextual factors, such as audience type. A sample of 92 children aged…

Auditory forms of nonpersonal communication have rarely been evaluated in informal settings like parks and museums. This study evaluated the effect of an interpretive audio tour on visitor knowledge and social behavior at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. A cross-sectional pretest/posttest quasi-experimental design compared the responses of audio…

Children's feelings and beliefs about peer relationships were examined as a possible mediator between mothers' positive and negative emotional framing and children's (n = 46) behavior with peers. Mothers' emotion framing was assessed as they and their young children read a picture book depicting emotionally-laden content, but no printed text.…

Although much scholarship has focused on the schooling experiences of African American boys, this article demonstrates that African American girls encounter unique educational perceptions and obstacles. Black girls in a predominately minority school performed well academically, but educators often questioned their manners and behavior. Some tried…