The study examines changes in assertiveness, territoriality, and personal space as a function of group assertion training. Subjects were 42 females who were assigned to either a treatment (assertion training) group or to a control group. Implications for counseling and use of ethological constructs are discussed. (Author)

Dating is experienced by most adolescents in our society as a prelude to mate selection. White and black youth (N=354) were studied to measure their dating-mating choices. Implications for teachers and practitioners, based on racial and gender differences, as well as perceived peer group influences are discussed. (Author)

Comparison of 20 socially accepted and 20 socially rejected intermediate grade students with mental retardation in regular class settings found accepted children displayed a higher level of social behavior and a lower level of sensitive-isolated behavior. Accepted children chose friendly-submissive (rather than friendly-assertive) goals and a low…

Reviews laboratory research on behavioral momentum conducted with pigeons and summarizes its findings and their generality to people, including those with mental retardation. Discusses the high-probability procedure used to establish compliance in clinical settings and based in part on an extension of the momentum metaphor. (CR)

This commentary discusses John Nevin's article on establishing compliance via behavioral momentum involving high-probability procedures, and questions whether applications of behavioral momentum can be derived from the theory, whether applications could have been developed if the theory not been formulated, and whether the theory will add…

Considers four issues pertaining to aggression and adaptation: (1) conceptual and operational definitions of aggression; (2) how aggression relates to adjustment difficulties for boys and girls and for children from different ethnic and socioeconomic groups; (3) whether specific forms of aggression relate to truly positive correlates and whether…

Presents salient features of workshop discussion on encouraging social collaboration through play. Main topics covered are: theories and play; play and the curriculum, including evidence that play-based curricula are developmentally appropriate, desirable educational outcomes; and promoting the value of play, including Parten's typology, grouping,…

Examined whether generalization about prosocial style of well-accepted children applies to conflicts involving rights infraction. Interviewed fourth- and fifth-graders about strategies for handling situations in which a peer infringes on their rights. Found that well-accepted children were neither aggressive nor particularly prosocial in conflict…

Studied the adjustment status associated with engagement in gender normative versus gender nonnormative aggression for boys and girls. Teacher and self-reports were used to assess internalizing and externalizing difficulties. Found that 9- to 12-year olds who engaged in gender nonnormative aggression were more maladjusted than children who engaged…

Evaluated the ethological approach in studying children's interactions and play in an Australian preschool. Factor analysis yielded a gender-linked factor loading on looking and playing house, a physical activity factor, and a sociability factor. Findings suggest that though time consuming and labor-intensive, this approach can provide unique…

Presents research on children's understandings and use of time; findings suggest that time spent with family cannot be seen as separate from time spent with friends, at school, and on their own. Argues that the quality/quantity time conundrum needs replacing by fuller and more representative accounts of the varied aspects of time that matter for…

Examined relations between preschoolers' emotion production and classroom social behavior. Also examined influence of familiarity with a child on the perception of emotion expressions and on those relations between emotion expression and social behavior. Found that children who were more negative and dependent had angry production biases and were…

Explores the different attitudes of English girls and boys to General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) work. Provides suggestions to account for the differences, particularly related to peer pressure, image, and social groupings. Finds that boys were ridiculed more for working hard and were under greater pressure to confirm to a cool,…

A study compared 143 girls (ages 6-14) with Rett syndrome with 85 girls with severe mental retardation on the Developmental Behavior Checklist. Girls with Rett syndrome presented more "autistic relating" and fewer antisocial behaviors. When compared to children with autism, they did not present with classic autistic behavioral features.…

The effects of a cooperative learning program on the social acceptance of 51 children (ages 6-7) with moderate to severe mental retardation by children without disabilities were examined. Children without disabilities in the cooperative learning program gave the children with disabilities higher peer acceptance ratings, greater popularity indices,…