In a western educational context that evidences a decrease in the use of the Bible, this research uses qualitative data to offer insights into how children encounter the creation narratives of Genesis I-III. In order to comment on the meaning-making interpretative process that children employ at different key stages of development, the insights of…

The official baptism of primary education offered in the "Hadow Report" of 1926 signalled a new beginning for "elementary" education. The indication that primary education would form the basis of a progressive and continuing education until the age of 14 was an important statement of intent. However, if Hadow signified the…

Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent psychiatric problems in children and adolescents. The present article summarizes the main evidence that has accumulated on the pathogenesis of childhood anxiety disorders during the past two decades. Various risk and vulnerability factors (e.g., genetics, behavioral inhibition, disgust sensitivity,…

Many outcome variables in developmental psychopathology research are highly stable over time. In conventional longitudinal data analytic approaches such as multiple regression, controlling for prior levels of the outcome variable often yields little (if any) reliable variance in the dependent variable for putative predictors to explain. Three…

Vygotsky (1978) presented ideas influential to the "constructivist" approach to education. This approach included the "zone of proximal development," and defined what is essential for student's development of a higher cognitive ability in order to become self-motivated learners. His theory also directly relates to the research regarding the…

This article reviews the assessment data, literature and research on gender differences in mathematics. The question of whether boys are better at mathematics has been an issue in education for the past 5 years. The assumption is that there is a biological difference between boys and girls that make boys predisposed to do better in mathematics.…

The high school transition was examined in an ethnically diverse, urban sample of 1,979 adolescents, followed from 7th to 10th grade (M[subscript age] = 14.6, SD = 0.37 in 7th grade). Twice annually, data were gathered on adolescents' perceptions of school climate, psychological functioning, and academic behaviors. Piecewise growth modeling…

Parental care plays an important role in the emotional and cognitive development of the offspring. Children who have been exposed to abuse or neglect are more likely to develop numerous psychopathologies, while good parent-infant bonding is associated with improved resiliency to stress. Similar observations have also been reported in non-human…

We argue for the importance of processes of shared intentionality in children's early cognitive development. We look briefly at four important social-cognitive skills and how they are transformed by shared intentionality. In each case, we look first at a kind of individualistic version of the skill--as exemplified most clearly in the behavior of…

Developmental research is reviewed to evaluate how race, ethnicity, racial identity, and ethnic identity are defined and investigated for minority populations. First reviewed is how these terms are used in developmental and counseling research. Early practices limited these terms to their demographic denotations (e.g., heritage), but more recent…

Background: Limited information is available on gender differences and young-adult poor outcome in children and adolescents following distinct developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms. Methods: Parent information on depressive symptoms of 4- to 18-year-olds from an ongoing Dutch community-based longitudinal multiple-cohort study (N =…

Background: This study is the first to evaluate the "Social Communication Questionnaire" (SCQ) and the "Developmental Behaviour Checklist-Autism Screening Algorithm" (DBC-ASA) in the same sample of school-aged children with intellectual disability (ID) with and without Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs). Method: Parents of 49 children (36…

To further explore central developmental themes of emerging adulthood, the authors conducted a study that combines qualitative and quantitative data about the types of personal growth and decline reported by a sample of emerging adults, who also described the life events and other experiences that brought about these personal changes. After…

In this article, the author reviews the research on young children's emerging writing and presents a comprehensive synthesis of this research on emergent writing. She discusses children's early writing knowledge; writing skills development; the social process of learning to write; teacher support; and a supportive environment. She also lists six…

Intended for parents of K-8 children who want to take an active role in their children's reading, writing, and spelling development, this handbook presents guidelines, tools, and strategies to help children spell better, read better, and write better. The handbook provides developmental guideposts to track children's literacy; tips for helping…