Reports on a study of the ability of preschoolers and first, second, and third graders to use three computer input devices: a joystick, a mouse, and a keyboard. For all grade levels, the mouse offered the greatest ease of use in manipulating icons, followed by the joystick and the keyboard. No effect for gender was found. (Contains 30 references.)…

Strategies for recruiting and keeping alumni for college volunteer programs address specific issues: demands on personal time; length of assignment; accommodating spouses and divorced alumni; generation gaps; advancing technology; economic climate; occupational and geographic mobility; and competition with other organizations for volunteers' time.…

Surveyed 416 Nigerian students ages 10 through 16 to examine levels of reproductive health knowledge. Television ranked first as students' sources of information on reproduction, pregnancy, birth control, and AIDS. Older children indicated more knowledge than preteenagers, girls more than boys, and students living in dormitories more than those…

Surveyed all secondary school students (n=1,175) in rural county school system to assess prevalence rates of substance use for teenagers and their parents. Age, sex, and race were related to frequency and type of substance abuse. Lifestyle variables such as music preferences, sexual activity, and choice of friends also related to substance use.…

This 4-year study of 191 girls and 185 boys living in intact families in the rural Midwest examined the trajectories of life events and depressive symptoms during adolescence. Compared with boys, girls experienced a greater number of depressive symptoms after age 13. Changes in uncontrollable events were associated with increases in girls'…

Examined the impact of 2 environmental factors--social class and family risk levels--and 2 biological factors--intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and medical risk--on the cognitive and motor development of 175 preterm infants. Family risk, early medical risk, and the interaction of family risk and IVH were found to be significant predictors of…

The effect of summer break on mathematics and spelling performance of second through fifth grade students were assessed by comparing aggregated curriculum-based test scores administered in the spring and fall. Results indicated second and third grade students regressed in spelling; not in mathematics. The reverse was true for fourth and fifth…

The study developed an inventory of nonacademic employment competencies and subcompetencies for students with visual impairments. Following validation and rank ordering of 32 competencies, an instrument with 464 subcompetencies was developed and administered to 53 students, ages 3-18. Significant differences were found on 13 competencies based on…

Children's discourse with peers was examined in relation to speaker gender, partner gender, and age level. Girls' and boys' communication patterns were more similar than different, but gender-related differences with medium to large effect sizes were found. Findings are interpreted in terms of developmental and contextual accounts of gender and…

A study of 8 to 35 month olds found that informally employed mothers had more undernourished children than did formally employed or nonworking mothers. With maternal education controlled for, no effects of maternal employment on children's growth patterns were found. Percentage of family income earned by the mother was associated with children's…

Psychometric characteristics and factorial replicability of the factor structure of the adolescent version (grades 7-12) of the Walker-McConnell Scale of Social Competence and School Adjustment were studied in an initial wave (n=266) of the national normative sample. The version studied has substantial utility in assessing adolescent social…

Attitudes of adolescents about the justifiability of sexual coercion under certain circumstances are examined for 118 suburban high school students (65 percent females) who heard a date rape lecture and completed pretest and posttest surveys. Gender is the most salient variable explaining attitude about sexual coercion and rape. (SLD)

Examined behaviors of second and sixth graders during (1) unsupervised free time; (2) unsupervised desk work; (3) supervised free time; and (4) a class lesson. Second graders worked on their assignments whether or not the teacher was present. In the class lesson context, children in both grades exhibited work behaviors and few peer interactions.…

Costs and benefits that adolescents perceive for engaging or not engaging in potentially health-harming behaviors of alcohol use and nonmarital sexual intercourse were studied for over 2,400 seventh through twelfth graders. Perceptions of costs and benefits are related to gender, age, and the behaviors themselves. (SLD)

Two prominent themes are inferred from interviews with four Canadian women educators. One theme is the "competing urgencies" of their dual roles in the family and the profession. The other theme is the idea of "late blooming" as their careers developed after their midthirties. (SLD)