Describes the benefits and drawbacks of teaching a course outside one's area of expertise. Claims this enhances faculty development and alleviates burnout. Finds the positive aspects, personal and institutional, outweigh the negative. Results show favorable student evaluations. (Author/NL)

Linnakyla examines definitions of literacy as an object of individual and social development and compares concepts of knowledge and literacy. Gronholm advocates the effectiveness of parents reading aloud to their children for 15 minutes per day in the improvement of children's reading skills. (SK)

Major life changes and role transitions, though often treated as stressors necessitating adjustment, in fact produce a wide range of effects on mental health. Focusing on the role context within which transition events occur, finds that life transitions can be nonproblematic or even beneficial when preceded by chronic role problems. (AF)

Explores how foreign language teachers can respond to students'"system-building" need as well as their grammar and communicative needs, focusing on the implications of such new English-as-a-Foreign-Language trends as the return to grammar instruction, individual development, and the theory of depth processing. (CB)

Tested a two-step infant preventive intervention model. Subjects were 147 multiproblem mothers and their infants. Data partially supported the model. Additional analyses explored factors associated with individual differences in delivery of services and response to treatment. (RH)

State officers of secondary Distributive Education Clubs of America (n=142) expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the benefits of participation. Personal and professional development opportunities were experienced in the areas of leadership development, vocational understanding, civic consciousness, and social intelligence. (SK)

Positively correlated were verbal fluency scores and scores for strategies expected to distinguish levels of verbal fluency among 64 third-graders and 71 sixth-graders. When a smaller sample of similarly aged students completed expanded versions of tasks, results revealed grade and gender differences in strategy use and level of task performance.…

Reviews literature on effects of early maladjustment on later behavior problems. Discusses development as transactional process in which risk and resilience are central, a cumulative risk model of behavior problems as resulting from a variety of factors, and longitudinal research that focuses on externalizing behaviors. Concludes predictive power…

A strategy for transferring learning from adventure experiences to daily life situations incorporates the use of isomorphs and metaphors. Explains how to develop isomorphic frames and select metaphoric experiences that can be used in adventure programming, especially with clients in therapy. (LP)

A qualitative research project with 71 successful adults with learning disabilities found that their individual achievements shared commonalities which can be taught and learned. A model of vocational success is presented which inculcates behaviors that facilitate adult adjustment. The model's focus is on student strengths rather than weaknesses.…

Gifted adults are recognized by society solely by their achievements, though the unusual developmental trajectory of the gifted creates an extraordinary experience of life at any age. The achievement orientation is now taking over gifted education and makes it difficult for the gifted to understand and honor the qualities of mind that make them…

Reviews research that examines the role of sexual orientation on human development, and introduces the articles in this special issue. Argues that research on sexual orientation and human development has the potential to make important contributions to both the theory and practice of developmental psychology. (MDM)

Examined hormonal influences on activity and playmate preferences in children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) age 2.5 to 12 years and their relatives. Found that girls with CAH preferred boys' toys and activities, whereas boys with CAH did not differ significantly from controls. Activity and playmate preferences were not related. (MDM)

Reviews research examining the predictive aspects of childhood sex-typed behavior for sexual orientation. Prospective studies suggest that childhood cross-typed behavior is strongly predictive of adult homosexual orientation for men, whereas retrospective studies are useful in determining how many homosexual individuals displayed cross-sex…

Examined the sexual orientation of 82 adult sons of 55 gay men. Found that more than 90% of the sons whose sexual orientation could be rated were heterosexual. Gay and heterosexual sons did not differ on potentially relevant variables such as length of time they had lived with their fathers. (MDM)