As part of a series of reports designed to support the implementation of Proposition 10: The California Children and Families Act and to provide comprehensive and authoritative information on critical issues concerning young children and families in California, this report reviews the research about early childhood brain development, examines the…

Describes the value of nonparental adult-child relationships for infants and toddlers and outlines specific steps that American and Italian educators from relationship-oriented programs rely on to expand on children's relationship dances with their parents. Suggests that educators should initially take the initiative to become attuned to the child…

The effects of a package of instructional methods on the academic achievement, behavior, and social bonding of 77 experimental and 83 control students in grade seven who were low achievers in math are described. The potential for preventing discipline problems through promoting sound teaching practices in mainstream classrooms is reviewed. (TJH)

Reviews research on influences on children's symbolic play. Finds little support for the effects of child-adult symbolic play interactions on child solitary play. Discusses three theoretical perspectives that should support these effects: attachment, ethological, and scaffolding theories. Reconsiders the essence of specific variables affecting…

Response to article by Bornstein and Tamis-LeMonda in this same issue. Delimits the faults of the ethological, scaffolding, and attachment theories in assessing maternal effects on children's symbolic play. Concludes that environmental influences are important to, but are not necessarily the sole cause of, child behavior. (JW)

Examined the effects of parent involvement on child adaptation and growth of autonomy during a home-school transitional year. Found that parent involvement had significant potential for change in children who struggled with problems of attachment and other issues of adaptation, and enhanced the quality of the nursery school experience for the…

Examined potential differences in psychological correlates between mothers with high and low levels of separation anxiety when their children were 8 months, 3.5 years, and 6 years of age. Mothers with extremely high levels of anxiety about short-term separation from their six year olds tended to have higher levels of depressive symptomatology.…

Provides a review of the literature concerning grandkin (grandchildren raised by grandparents) and grandparents in grandfamilies, particularly as the relationship influences the children's school functioning. In addition, the Grandfamily School Support Network is discussed as a means of ameliorating the difficulties experienced by grandkin and…

Compared adolescents attending college to adolescent nonenrollees and found that (1) college attendees experienced improved means of perceived security to parents, decreased perceptions of social support, and increased feelings of loneliness and social anxiety; and (2) perceived security to parents at end of high school predicted positive changes…

Assessed 8-year-olds' perceptions of emotional support from mother and best friend. Found that preschool attachment security predicted age-8 maternal-support perceptions better than did mother's behavior. Identification of best friends as part of the support network related positively to social competence. The more insecurely attached children…

Used meta-analysis to examine premise that the early child-parent bond is reflected in interpersonal relationships across the life span. Found that overall effect size (ES) for child-mother attachment was small to moderate. ESs were similar in studies using Strange Situation and Q-sort methods. ESs were larger for middle childhood and adolescent…

Examined the moderating effect of risk on the relation between autonomy processes and family and adolescent functioning. In families in low-risk contexts, behavior undermining autonomy was negatively related to relationship quality; adolescents' autonomy expressions related to positive social functioning. In high-risk-context families, undermining…

Discusses the attachment principles in relation to infant/toddler care programs. Emphasizes a secure base for exploration of physical and social worlds, physical comfort, and child-teacher relationships. Concludes by describing the five major benefits of attention to attachment concepts for the infant care field in general. (MOK)

Considers alternative ways of measuring the sensitivity of caregivers. Observed 30 professional caregiver-infant dyads in three different situations. Reports that the results support the view that sensitivity is subject to contextual influences and that researchers need to think carefully about the when and where of sensitivity measures. (DSK)

Investigates how the age of entry into regular group day care influences short-term behaviors expressing well-being or discomfort in the day care environment. Finds that children entered at two particular ages displayed difficult reunions with their mothers and were less resistant to frustration; children entered at another age showed lower…