Nineteen infants with deafness and 19 infants who are hearing were observed during face-to-face interactions with their hearing mothers. Mother-identified "difficult" infants with deafness displayed significantly more repetitive activity during normal interaction and significantly more gaze aversion during a still-face episode, compared to "easy"…

Survey administered to 958 girls studied effects of sociodemographic risk factors for adolescent nonmarital childbearing. Analysis showed adolescents girls who experienced five or more sociodemographic risk factors were 16 times more likely to experience a nonmarital childbirth during their teenage years. Under similar levels of risk, adolescent…

Develops a measure of male identity based on Wade's theory of Male Reference Group Identity Dependence. The Reference Group Identity Dependence Scale (RGIDS) assesses feelings of psychological relatedness to other males. Undergraduate males (N=344) completed the RGIDS. Discusses findings in terms of implications for the theory and future research…

A study, using Myers-Briggs Type Indicators, of 256 dental students in four classes found introverted students performed better on the National Dental Board Examinations but had progressively lower class rank over four years and experienced more major academic difficulties. Judging and sensing students had higher rank than perceiving and intuitive…

Offers a trenchant critique of Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg, both of whom claimed to identify stages in moral development that are "universal, culturally invariant, and nonregressive." Explains some inadequacies in these theories, which have become so influential in education, and offers suggestions for further investigation. (MJP)

Compares relationships in adoptive and non-adoptive families (N=253) containing late-adolescents and examines family member roles in preventing adolescents' psychosocial risk. Results suggest a different relational configuration between family types. The father/child relationship and the mother/child relationship play different roles in preventing…

Using a socio-ecological perspective, examines the influences of adolescents' social networks, personal resources, and environmental risks on adolescents' behavior problems across three samples of youth (N=155). Findings show that social support can operate as a protective agent or as a risk factor, depending on other characteristics of subsystems…

Explores the relationship between antisocial behavior and social resources in a two-year longitudinal study of 100 high-risk adolescents (N=146) in a residential foster care facility. Risk factors and protective functions of variables are discussed, along with theoretical implications and methodological problems. (EMK)

Examines the role of parents as a significant social environment for children in transition to adolescence. Differentiates four groups according to perceived parental environment: children with conflict parents, with control parents, with partner parents, and with "easy-going" parents. Explores the familial contexts of these groups and…

Discusses the negative effects of neglect and abuse on young children, including the cognitive, neurological, and psychological effects. Considers interventions that can prevent neglect and abuse and foster resiliency in the affected children. Advocates the community, family, and professional support of preventive and therapeutic efforts that…

This article discusses risk factors that influence the development of educational problems in children and protective factors that foster resilience. It reviews three aspects of risk and protective factors: early in-child signs, families, and schools. The effect of instructional programs, curriculum, and teachers' perceptions and expectations are…

Many new, enthusiastic superintendents with backgrounds in business, law, and the military apply a service mentality and a results orientation. Profiles of Alan Bersin, John Stanford, Harold Levy, John Fryer, Brian Benzel, and Paul Vallas illustrate nontraditional leaders' challenges and accomplishments in the nation's largest school districts.…

Used confirmatory factor analysis to examine whether the two-factor solution to the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (E. Hart, M. Leary, and W. Rejeski, 1989) was meaningful. Results for 4 samples of data for college students, high school students, and athletes (n=1,053) from previous studies support the existence of a single substantive factor…

In this account of a gifted black child living in an impoverished rural environment, a university researcher and a classroom teacher collaborated in order to describe the young man's creativity, his resilience, his struggle to find a place for himself in his community, and the factors that influenced a strong self-identity. (Contains references.)…

A study investigated the extent to which personality traits associated with teaching effectiveness changed with aging, mediating the relationship between age and teaching. Peer ratings of 29 personality traits and student evaluations of teaching for 33 full-time psychology faculty, ages 33-64, were examined. Teaching effectiveness was found to be…