Examined the nature of family social interactions appearing in contemporary novels written especially for adolescent readers. Investigated: (1) family structures and parenting behavior; (2) family decision-making processes; (3) autonomy; (4) affect; and (5) global-health-pathology. As a norm, fictional families were not functioning optimally but…

Discusses parent-child interactions in which the content of television programing appears as explicit subject matter. Examines ways in which a child's development may be affected by these parent-child interactions. (JMF)

The author argues that moral behavior can be developed by instructional strategies that are primarily cognitive in nature. These strategies include the teacher telling, explaining, or arguing; and students being encouraged to identify, discuss, and analyze ethical issues. (Author/RM)

The author argues that moral behavior cannot be developed by instructional strategies that are primarily cognitive in nature. Encouraging students to (1) analyze and clarify their own values and behavior and those of others and (2) evaluate different values and/or solutions to moral problems will not make anyone more moral. (Author/RM)

This study determined the effects of using structured learning techniques to train lower socioeconomic emotionally disturbed children and adolescents (N=40) in verbal behaviors. Posttraining results indicated significant effects for the experimental treatment on subject acquisition of interview initiation and interview responsibility. (Author)

After-school settings and activities for 206 urban children, grades one through four were examined, and associations with behavioral adjustment noted. Found that effects of activities on externalizing and internalizing behaviors were more pronounced in lower income children than in those from middle and upper income backgrounds. Peer interaction…

Traces the interrelations between neighborhood sociocultural factors and adolescents' networks, leisure preferences, and school behavior. The overall conclusion is that both the background variables and most of the network indices correlate with the outcome variables. Results show that time spent with peers indulging in passive leisure consumption…

Compared boys' and girls' use of interference competition during game play when resources were scarce or plentiful, among children from kindergarten or fourth grade. Found that fourth-grade girls used less interference competition when resources were plentiful, while their male peers and kindergartners of both sexes used interference competition…

A group of high-potential girls in grades three-six met with researchers to discuss internal barriers to female achievement. Dilemmas identified as blocking girls' success in school included: smart versus social, silence versus bragging, failure versus perfection, media beauty versus marginality, passive versus aggressive, conforming versus being…

The Residential Checklist portion of the Adaptive Functioning Index was evaluated with 218 individuals with mental retardation in a large Australian residential facility, and found to be both valid and reliable for rating the intellectual and behavioral functioning of individuals, despite some inconsistency in the more subjectively rated measures.…

Describes the use of dyadic tasks to examine children's prosocial behavior and the supplement information already obtained from the use of four-person tasks. Describes tasks and information obtained from observation. Warns that validity of the tasks is questionable. Suggests that tasks have the potential for use in making comparisons. (KO)

This overview of Soviet developmental psychology and its influence on special education focuses on dialectical materialistic interpretations of behavior, socio-historical determinism, zones of proximal development, realization and enhancement of children's cognitive potential, influence of Jean Piaget's work, linking of mental retardation with…

Focuses on the work of girls who take on the role of refereeing the course of action within the game of hopscotch. The fieldwork for this article is based on a study of the interaction of bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking girls. The range of experiences within this game challenges characterizations of girls' play as limiting the development…

Parents (n=52) of blind and partially sighted infants and preschoolers were surveyed concerning the frequency of occurrence and stability of the children's stereotyped behaviors. Stereotyped behaviors frequently observed in blind children proved to be stable, whereas other stereotyped behaviors were less stable. Age of child and frequency of…

This study assessed the relationship between parent/teacher ratings of hyperactivity and developmental indices in psychiatric clinic children (ages 5-16). Findings suggest that chronological age should be considered when behavior ratings are used to assess cognitively delayed children for hyperactivity but do not support use of mental age in…