The New Haven (Connecticut) Public Schools established a district-level department of social development to coordinate all prevention and health-promotion initiatives. The goals are to educate knowledgeable, responsible, and caring students who acquire a set of basic skills, values, work habits, and positive self-concepts. (MLH)

Explores the process of socialization among black males in the United States through interview data from 230 subjects, focusing on the effect of structure of family of origin. Findings show the lack of a statistically significant relationship between family structure and effective early socialization. (SLD)

Reviews a research project of 15 years ago that investigated whether children were better or worse off when they attended preschools that emphasized adult-directed instruction and the basics of reading and math rather than preschools that focused on play and exploration. Now, the most effective early childhood classrooms nurture both children's…

Explores a link between the psychologically oriented identity status paradigm, and the sociologically oriented individualization theory. The primary link between these two approaches appears to be that the individualization process can be operationalized in terms of agency in identity formation. Concludes that identity statuses representing…

Studied gender effects on false belief development among children ages 2 to 6 years. Found a slight advantage for girls on false belief task performance in both datasets that was apparent in younger but not older children. Language ability could be controlled only in a small subsample and cannot be ruled out as a mediator to this effect. (JPB)

Procedures were developed to teach two young children with severe handicaps to get an adult's attention and make a request. Both mastered a routine of getting up, walking over to the adult, and exhibiting appropriate attention-getting behavior after training. Behavior was maintained at a three-week follow-up. (Author/PB)

Compared disabled (n=45) and nondisabled (n=45) undergraduates to determine how disabled compare to nondisabled in developmental tasks required of college students; whether academic performance can be predicted on basis of developmental skills; and whether age at onset of disability influences college student developmental skills. Found…

Discusses the social development of infants in terms of a set of tasks which include identity, culturation, and reproduction. Focuses on the task of identity, the role of self-awareness in relationships, and the relationship between identity and emotional life. (RJC)

Discusses domain-specificity with regard to social and cognitive development. General epistemological and theoretic considerations of the study of cognitive development are discussed. Included is a consideration of the intersection of the interactional model and a classification of systems of knowledge. (RH)

Investigated the development of social referencing (children's looks toward parents, instrumental toy behaviors, affective expressions, etc.) in 40 infants aged 6-9, 10-13, and 14-22 months. Results indicated that looking behavior of younger children may function differently from that of older children, and social referencing involves a number of…

Finds that both severity of violation and recipient of explanation affect the linguistic content of elementary school-aged girls' excuses. Concludes that older girls used fewer single apologies, incorporated more repair components, and tailored their explanations to the nature of each violation. (JAD)

In developing countries, older women are seldom part of the development agenda in spite of the fact that they are major supporters of emerging social orders and contributors to the stability of relationships. The well-being of older women must be recognized as a political question. (JOW)

Assessed effects of maternal employment on socioemotional development of young children. After controlling for differences at time of child's birth, found that children whose mothers worked full-time beginning in child's first or second year scored more poorly on composite measure of adjustment than did children of mothers who were not employed…

Infants participated in a nonsocial contingency task immediately after a social interaction with their mothers. The amount of time mothers and infants spent in a state of vocal turn-taking predicted individual differences in infants' subsequent performance on the contingency task. (PCB)

The number of children who molest other children in school settings is increasing. To respond appropriately, school psychologists need to have an understanding about sexually aggressive behavior in children. Reviews the relevant literature and presents a continuum of sexual behavior to assist in identification of children who molest. Delineates…