The research focused on the exploration of gender differences in interaction with infant siblings in the home and the maternal socialization of baby care in girls as opposed to boys. Observations were made of 20 families, each with 2 parents, an infant under the age of 12 months, and an older child between the ages of 46 and 102 months. Five…

From Erikson's (1968) psychosocial criteria of crisis and commitment, Marcia (1964) derived four ego identity statuses, i.e., achievement, moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion. To explore antecedents of Erikson's ego identity construct, 130 college females completed a modified identity status interview, and questionnaires designed to elicit…

A study examined the effects of preschool reading intervention procedures on the knowledge about reading (reading readiness) of the subjects as they entered kindergarten. One such intervention, carried out for two consecutive years, involved giving low and middle income parents packets of several small, easy-to-read books and guidelines for using…

Participating in an initial investigation of parental goals and guidance techniques related to child self-regulation, 15 parent-child dyads were videotaped in their homes while engaged in four functional tasks: a laundry folding task, an animal matching task, while mixing a snack, and while putting on a smock. The children, averaging 7 and…

Youth is considered to be a developmental stage between childhood and adulthood. In this stage, adolescents have to master certain developmental tasks step by step, and as they manage to do so, they will grow to the status of adulthood. This study examined how adolescents direct themselves towards the expectations and conduct requirements of their…

An investigation was undertaken of the hypothesis that the parent-child interactions of children having an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) would resemble those of rejected children and differ systematically from the interactions of popular and neglected children. Subjects were 12 popular, 12 neglected, and 12 rejected boys of…

This longitudinal study was designed to identify familial origins of children's developmental competencies and dysfunctional behavior at the critical life stages of preschool (T1), juvenile (T2), early adolescence (T3), and early adulthood (T4). Child subjects were born between 1964-66; their parents between 1931-39. Children were studied when…

As adolescents progress from elementary to secondary school, their academic success increasingly depends on their ability to manage their own time and behavior. Because the family plays such an important role in the development of responsible autonomy, this study examined authoritative parenting and the hypothesis that authoritative parents…

Observational records presented in this report demonstrate the powerful influence that adults have on the developing literacy of young children. The report reveals the role that language plays in contextually providing adults' expectations for the extent of children's participation in written language events. Observations of 4-year-old fraternal…

This paper, which concerns changes in beliefs of parents whose children were making the transition from elementary to junior high school, describes changes in parents' (1) perceptions of their children's abilities and effort in English, math, social activities, and athletics; (2) expectations for their children's performance in each of the four…

This seminar paper explores research bearing on the provision of early childhood education in Zimbabwe. Initially, unresolved problems in the developmental literature are pointed out to support the view that those concerned with intervention in the developmental process can only proceed heuristically by basing their action on theoretical…

This investigation addresses problems of defining verbal imitation, and suggests solutions by analyzing verbal interactions between two children and their mothers. Children were between 18 and 35 months old, with a mean length of utterance between 1.4 and 4.2 morphemes. Analyses focus upon the uses these children made of maternal models; 10…

A group of students of average intelligence, from backgrounds incongruous with higher education, who were all higher education bound were identified to study internal psychological dynamics of achievement. The students' values related to a positive or negative identification with parental values. Students displayed a wide range of personality…

Data collected by the smallest-space analysis technique indicates a pattern of occupational inheritance from father to son and the tendency of sons to choose work offering their fathers' vocational experiences, which supports the hypothesis that attributes of fathers' occupations are related to values transmitted to sons and reflected in their…

Reports the findings of a study which investigated the effect of parental involvement in the school on student achievement in inner city elementary school classrooms. (SF)