This paper assumes that environmental inadequacy is the primary factor leading to progressive intellectual retardation and inability to cope in a complex society. An intervention project begun in 1966 was designed to develop cognitive, motivational, personal style, and physical variables, which are functional categories related to competence.…

The purpose of this study was to generate a library of 198 specimen records of the behavior of 24 3-year-old children in different socioeconomic environments: low income urban, low income rural, and middle income urban. (A specimen record provides a continuous narrative in natural language of the behavior of an individual together with the…

This is a study of how children in a small community called Rosepoint, in the vicinity of New Orleans, acquire speech. The author provides essential contextualization for her problem, dealing with family composition, life space, means used to control children, and interaction between members of the household. The author made intensive observations…

Two studies are reported: one examines stereotypes about only children and the other examines stereotypes about mothers of only children. A sample of 150 college students were the subjects for the first study which utilized the Prisoner's Dilemma Game, the NASA exercise, and a questionnaire to test the hypotheses that only children are selfish,…

In this study, siblings who developed school adjustment problems had more similar referral patterns than demographically matched, unrelated referral pairs. This effect was strongest among like sex pairs. Common environmental characteristics leading to similar coping patterns were seen to explain the results. (NG)

Administered questionnaire to adolescents concerning difficulties experienced with both newly adopted school-age siblings and with other children already in family. Difficulties with all siblings were seen primarily as hassles; however, adoptee was reported as creating more problems than "old" siblings, mostly involving invasion of turf…

Fifty-one 10- to 16-year-old siblings of mentally retarded children were given the Family Relations Test and Rotter's Incomplete Sentence Test. Results indicated family dynamics were influenced by parent reaction to the handicapped child. Compared to controls, the siblings showed idealization of the mentally handicapped child and more conflicts…

Examination of children with disabled siblings reveals that nondisabled children may treat their siblings more kindly and spend more time caring for them than do children with nondisabled siblings. Their experiences may produce more worries and anxieties; however, they also may develop more tolerance and humanitarian concerns. (Author/BJV)

Used the Sibling Inventory of Differential Experience with 396 adolescent and young adult children to determine the extent to which genetic differences between siblings or sibling differences in family constellation variables were responsible for differential experiences. (HOD)

Siblings of handicapped children may have adjustment problems associated with increased family responsibilities, increased parental expectations, and perceived parental neglect in favor of the disabled sibling. Problems may be related to socioeconomic status; family size; age, sex, and birth order of the sibling; and severity of the handicap. (GDC)

The article reports the results of a longitudinal study of 39 children from birth to 3 years in which the child's relationships with his mother, father, and older siblings were recorded under the general categories of affection, imitation, direct aggression and indirect aggression. (MS)

This paper examines three inter-related issues: whether past levels of resources, context and opportunity structures carry long-term consequences for subsequent child attainments and behaviours; whether shocks, or transition events, alter the path of these outcomes in a positive or negative fashion; and what role can be played by policy…

While conflict is a normal part of family life, there are ways to head off fights before they begin or peaceably resolve those conflicts parents cannot stop. This videotape-based parent workshop program builds from realistic scenarios of parent/child and sibling conflicts to present parents with the tools they need to help change the household…

This study examined how 3 Dominican children, ages 2 to 4 years old explore reading and writing in the context of their everyday lives and how adults and older siblings socialize young children into literacy. Data were collected during a school year. Each participant was observed 3 times a week for 2 hours per session, totaling approximately 200…

Individual differences in the social behavior of young siblings were studied in 40 sibling pairs observed at home, when the second child was 8 months old and 14 months old. Differences between same-sex and different-sex sibling pairs were marked by the second observation. More positive social behavior characterized same-sex pairs; more negative…