The Child Development & Behavior (CDB) Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) seeks to improve the health and well-being of individuals from infancy through early adulthood by supporting research into healthy growth and development, including all aspects of child development. The study of typical child…

This report summarizes results from three large-scale reviews of research on the impact of social and emotional learning (SEL) programs on elementary and middle-school students--that is, programs that seek to promote various social and emotional skills. Collectively the three reviews included 317 studies and involved 324,303 children. SEL programs…

This pilot study examines the effects of the implementation of the Cool Tool, a social skills strategy, on the disruptive and problem behaviors of third-grade (n = 4) and fourth-grade (n = 6) African American students in an urban elementary school. Following the completion of the social skills intervention in both classrooms, the findings of pre-…

Although second language (L2) research has explored connections between sociopsychological variables and L2 socialization processes, relatively few investigations have compared heritage language (HL) learners to traditional foreign language (FL) learners in the North American context. This descriptive study compares the learning and acculturation…

Background: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is associated with a characteristic behavioural phenotype whose main features are, alongside compulsive hyperphagia, deficits in social behaviour: social withdrawal, temper tantrums, perseverative speech and behaviour, mental rigidity, stereotyped behaviour, impulsiveness, etc. Similar symptoms may also be…

This study investigated the effect of full-time nonparental care during infancy on children's acquisition of developmentally inappropriate patterns of interaction with peers and teachers in preschool classrooms. Subjects, 105 children with a mean age of 53 months, were divided into 3 groups of children who had: (1) full-time nonparental care…

This study compared the task activities and social interactions of 10 five-year-old kindergarten children in a mixed-age (MA) classroom of children age 4 through 6 to those of ten 5-year-old kindergartners in an organizationally equivalent same-age (SA) classroom. Compared to children in the SA class, kindergartners in the MA class remained…

A child's best interest is served when parents enjoy and are satisfied with their family responsibilities. This book, for parents of children ages 2-10, illustrates how children learn their communication styles, imitate their parents, and acquire and modify their own dispositions. So that the family may be enjoyed by everyone, children need good…

This action research project evaluated the impact of a 16-week intervention to improve primary school children's conflict resolution skills and to enhance their self-esteem. The targeted population consisted of one kindergarten class, one first-grade class, and one third-grade class at three different elementary schools in the same suburban…

This study investigated the communicative behavior of five high-level and five low-level autistic children (ages 3-5 years). Differential responses of parents and a clinician to the children's protesting, responses, and initiations were assessed. Findings indicate differential interaction behavior and behavior problems of autistic children with…

How the social density of a household affects interpersonal relations, physical health, and psychological well-being in neighborhoods with very low outside density, such as rural areas has not been examined. Two questionnaire studies of women in rural Georgia examined how social density affected respondents' interpersonal relations, physical…

This study examined the degree to which 50 high school students with learning disabilities (LD), 50 normally achieving high school students, and 50 high school mainstream teachers agreed as to which social skills are important for success in the mainstream. Results indicated that LD students differed significantly from teachers on the importance…

This study examined high-aggressive and low-aggressive boys' ratings of the effectiveness of aggressive and assertive strategies for solving social problems involving hypothetical peers and actual peers. Subjects were 66 third-grade boys (11 groups of 6 boys each for a total of 22 high-aggressive, 22 low-aggressive, and 22 average aggressive boys)…

This paper examines the identification of children with learning disabilities who are at risk for problems in the social domain. Based on sociometric measures, teacher rating scales, and measures administered to the children, it is found that children with learning disabilities may have problems related to rejection or related to neglect, and that…

Self-efficacy is defined as the belief that one can successfully perform a behavior. Self-efficacy theory asserts that self-efficacy expectancies exert powerful influence on behavior and behavior change. The Self-efficacy Scale, which was developed to assess generalized self-efficacy expectations, consists of two subscales: general self-efficacy…