Argues that Nigerian tribal myths and beliefs keeping infants and young children from looking into mirrors interfere with the early development of self-concept. The self-concept of infants is viewed as contributing importantly to the way they perceive other aspects of their environment. (RH)

Interviewed 24 parents whose children were hospitalized for low birth weight to assess the availability and use of social support during the child's hospitalization and after discharge. The overall adjustment of parents to their child was then rated. Findings indicated a significant positive relationship between support and adjustment. (JAC)

The transition from preverbal to verbal communication of 13 retarded and nonretarded children was explored in a prospective, longitudinal study. Mental development was tested at ages 13 months and at 2 and 3 years. Results seem to support the postulate of a skill-specific homology in the transition from preverbal to verbal communication.…

Using Locke's 1983 model, analyzes one tendency, consonant use in babbling and early words, and phonological word-selection patterns in 10 children, aged 8 to 16 months. Individual differences were found in all three domains analyzed, with some increase in uniformity across subjects with increasing knowledge of language. (Author/SED)

Changes across time were compared for 31 abused and high risk children and for two comparison groups. Residential treatment was associated with restored physical development, slightly depressed motor ability, maintained mental functioning, and significantly improved mother-baby interaction scores. Socioeconomic status had a greater effect than…

Reviews early theoretical and research literature on handedness and places it within the larger context of the nature-nurture controversy. Discussion focuses on Baldwin's study of the development of hand preference in infants in relation to the recapitulation theory, mental development ("dynamogenesis"), and speech development.…

Reports use of the strange situation procedure to explore the effects of Israeli kibbutz child-rearing practices on the development of infant-mother, infant-father, and infant-caretaker attachment. (Author/NH)

Examines the relationship between visual attentiveness, search behavior, and duration of independent mobility for 56 eight-to ten-month-old infants when presented with three versions of the Piagetian Stage IV object permanence task. (HOD)

Discusses the potential role of temperament dimensions for the development of mother-infant attachment relations as measured by the Strange Situation Assessment. (HOD)

Describes the development of 126 preterm infants studied throughout their first 2 years of life and then retested at age 5. Examines social-environmental factors in the interaction between infant and mother that are associated with more-or-less successful mental development. (AS)

From a developmental-structuralist perspective, describes stages of child development; presents operational criteria to help the clinician categorize infants and young children whose behavioral and emotional patterns may fall outside the expectable, normal range; and illustrates the diagnostic approach with five case studies. (RH)

Examines (1) the relationship between children's scores on the Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME) Inventory and their achievement test scores, and (2) the relationship between children's intervening home environments and their school achievement. Data were gathered from 37 normal first-grade children and their families.…

Studies 40 children ages 1 to 3 with respect to stage 6 object permanence, representational language, and symbolic play. Examines methodological problems in investigations of Piaget's model of cognitive-linguistic relationships related to the definition of these variables and associated with the use of correlations for data analysis. (Author/CB)

Examines difficulties associated with the use of conversational features in the analysis of mother-infant vocalization episodes. Observations of six mother-infant dyads revealed difficulties involving (1) pooling of data; (2) the unit of analysis; and (3) selection of appropriate "expected" values for dyadic parameters used in tests of…

Reviews current research on a woman's chances of bearing twins and the genetic relationship, prenatal competition, and personality similarities between twins. In addition, the nature/nurture controversy is discussed in terms of evidence from studies of identical twins reared apart. Future studies are suggested to discover the ways twinning might…