Role models serve important functions for students, providing standards against which students can evaluate themselves, and motivating students toward innovative achievement. The findings of a study show that students tend to prefer models of the same sex. (Author/MLW)

Examines important behaviors and changes through which adolescents establish their autonomy. Concludes that high school students' drive for autonomy incorporates: (1) growth in behavioral autonomy from parents; (2) increased emotional autonomy from friends; and (3) the development of "grown up" identity through commission of status offenses that…

Creative dramatics were used to stimulate the moral development of students in inner-city schools. Moral dilemma situations were dramatized. The dramatic presentations, followed by discussion, may be a method for growth in moral judgments and ultimately in advanced moral behavior. (Author)

Studied preschool children's inability to distinguish fantasy from fact utilizing the case of the popular movie Jurassic Park and the subsequent false information children obtained about dinosaurs. Described attempts made by teachers to address the resultant aggressive behavior and false knowledge gained and replace it with constructive knowledge.…

Two longitudinal studies examined patterns of reading disability in children. Results indicated that remission of reading disability was relatively common with up to 37% of reading-disabled children showing remission within a 2-year period. Results suggest that the presence of measurement errors may lead to misleading impression of the rate of…

Reports on classroom management in 15 Japanese first grade classes. Describes intensive training of children in procedural skills during the first month of school, peer pressure through class monitors and small groups to achieve management goals, and emphasis on children's socioemotional development as a target of pedagogy. 22 references. (SV)

Ten language-impaired children, aged three-four, were observed playing with toys and with objects requiring object transformations for play. Chronological age-matched normal subjects performed more object transformations than either the language-impaired subjects or children matched for mean length of utterance. All children performed more object…

Alcoholism etiology is discussed from developmental behavior genetic perspective. Temperament features that appear to be associated with heightened risk for alcoholism are examined. Their interactions with the environment during course of development are considered within epigenetic framework and, as discussed, have ramifications for improving…

Developmental differences in behavior and self-perception were examined in 44 children suspected of having been sexually abused and 41 comparison children. Results suggest that subjects' self-perception varied by their developmental level, and that some preschool children responded to abuse with elevated perceptions of themselves. No group…

Three investigations examined the contributions of a history of choosing attitudinally relevant situations to attitude-behavior relations. Results point to an interrelated set of mechanisms, such as behavior, by which situational choice is linked to attitude-behavior relations. By choosing attitudinally relevant situations, individuals increase…

This study examined the relationship between (1) sex and family size of 33 siblings of autistic children; and (2) siblings' performance on achievement, self-concept, home behavior, and school behavior measures. Overall, the siblings' performance was not suggestive of a need for special intervention. (Author/JDD)

This study evaluated whether behaviors often taught as part of social skills training for individuals with mental retardation were judged favorably by 61 community judges. Results indicated that the skills of following instructions, accepting criticism, and negotiating were relevant to judgment of social performance and likely to be reinforced by…

Used an event-based approach to study the nature of coordination in 3- and 6-month olds during interaction with their caregivers. Found that infants coordinated their vocalizations and facial actions more than expected by chance. When two communicative events were temporally associated across modalities, one event tended to be embedded within the…

Introduces this special journal issue by describing what developmental approaches are and how they can be applied to children with disabilities. Gives a short preview of the articles in the issue and raises future challenges for developmental research and intervention with young children with disabilities. (JS)

Studied mothers' behavior toward their infants with disorganized (type D) attachment strategies. Found that mothers whose infants are classified disorganized exhibit an elevated level of atypical maternal behaviors in the Strange Situation test. Mothers of type D Forced Insecure infants showed more negative-intrusive behaviors and role confusion…