How do families influence the ability of children? Cognitive skills have been shown to be a strong predictor of educational attainment and future labor market success; as a result, understanding the determinants of cognitive skills can lead to a better understanding of children's long run outcomes. This paper uses a large dataset on the male…

The neuropsychological and clinical histories of three male siblings affected by pyridoxine-dependent seizures with known homozygous antiquitin mutations are presented. Neuropsychological evaluation is reported from when the siblings were 11, 9, and 7 years of age. Two of the siblings had received early pyridoxine treatment (antenatal, 2-4 wks…

Executive dysfunction has been postulated as the core deficit in ADHD, although many deficits in lower order cognitive processes have also been identified. By obtaining an appropriate baseline of lower order cognitive functioning light may be shed on as to whether executive deficits result from problems in lower order and/or higher order cognitive…

We evaluate multiple variants of a commonly used intervention to boost education in developing countries--the conditional cash transfer (CCT)--with a student level randomization that allows us to generate intra-family and peer-network variation. We test three treatments: a basic CCT treatment based on school attendance, a savings treatment that…

In 2003, a study of two Canadian adult literacy programs included 37 learners who revealed a variety of reasons for having dropped out of school as teenagers and younger adults. Chief among these were the influences of parents, siblings, and peers both in and out of school. This article considers these research findings, in light of the…

We use administrative data on a sample of births between 1978 and 1985 to investigate the short-, medium-, and long-term consequences of poor infant health. Our findings offer several advances to the existing literature on the effects of early infant health on subsequent health, education, and labor force attachment. First, we use a large sample…

Background: The identification of specific nonshared environments responsible for the variance in behaviour problems is a key challenge. Methods: Nonshared environmental influences on teacher-reported behaviour problems were explored independently of genetics using the monozygotic (MZ) twin differences design. Six aspects of classroom environment…

Background: Bullied children are at risk for later emotional and behavioural problems. "Resilient" children function better than would be expected given their experience of bullying victimisation. This study examined the role of families in promoting resilience following bullying victimisation in primary school. Method: Data were from the…

This study examined the role personality variables play in sibling relationships. It proposed that the characteristics of sibling relationships are influenced by: family constellation variables such as birth order, gender, and age spacing; parent-child relationships including quality of relationship and parent management of siblings; and the…

One of the most notable findings in contemporary behavior genetics is that children growing up in the same family are not very similar. The nine chapters in this book examine the contribution of genetics, shared environment, and nonshared environment to development. Chapters include: (1) "Behavioral Genetic Evidence for the Importance of…

This paper argues for the need to move beyond the paradigm of parental involvement in reading, which presently informs home/school reading programs for linguistic minority children in the United Kingdom (UK). The first part of the paper examines the literature informing the current model showing the marked absence of studies on the role played by…

A study compared 72 girls (ages 5-16) sexually abused by brothers, fathers, or stepfathers. Results suggested few differences in characteristics of sexual abuse. However, penetration was much more frequent in the sibling incest group. More victims of fathers and brothers manifested clinically significant distress (90%), than stepfather victims…

The paper reminds readers of the importance of "playful talk" in bridging home and school discourses. Through a number of excerpts of bilingual and monolingual children drawn from homes and classrooms over the past decade, it illustrates how school discourse may be taken home and transformed into "home talk" through play.…

Based on their classroom experiences with learning disabled (LD) nonhandicapped students during the school year, 16 third grade teachers were asked to complete rating scales predicting expected performance of siblings of these students who might be assigned to them in the future. Results revealed that teachers hold significantly lower expectations…

A previous study of undergraduates' sibling deidentification (global judgments of being different from one's sibling) was cross-validated on a new population, mothers judging pairs of their own children; at a new age level, varying in age from 1 month to 18 years; and using same-opposite as well as alike-different judgments. (Author/JMB)