Few intellectual and social movements of this century have had so pervasive an influence on the theory and practice of American education as the mental hygiene movement. This movement substantially altered ways of thinking about education, in particular, the school's responsibility for children's personality development. The movement's history is…

Most criticisms of American schools are too broad and are off-base. The first criterion in evaluating education should be its contribution to character formation. Students cannot cope with authority figures, rules, and routines; a school structure that teaches them to regulate themselves is needed. (PP)

A Solomon 4-group design was used in order to study further the effects of Gestalt workshops on the measured self-actualization of college students. Results indicated a significant treatment effect on an overall measure of self-actualization. (Author)

Argues caregivers play an important role in infant personality development and growth. Provides a review of theories on temperament styles, attachment relationships, sex role socialization, and the roots of prosocial and aggressive interactions. Describes how caregivers promote positive personality development through free play and responding to…

Explores two dichotomies that depict moral education and examines the strengths and weaknesses of the four principal orientations to moral education. Provides an integrated theory of moral education that incorporates both sides of each dichotomy providing necessary dimensions to research, theory, and practice of moral education. (Author/DB)

The individuation process was explored from a social-cognitive perspective using 61 kibbutz adolescents and youth in grades 4, 7, and 10, and post-high school in military service. Results support the developmental sequence of the individuation construct in kibbutz adolescents and fit the model proposed by A. Mazor (1985). (SLD)

Describes the personality development of a normal infant during the child's first year. Development is interpreted in terms of psychoanalytic, cognitive-developmental, and mother-infant systems perspectives. A working relationship among the theories is demonstrated through analysis of case material. (RJC)

Surveys 300 public high schools to explore the hypothesis that high school psychology courses focus on personality development while college courses have a scientific-experimental basis. Provides current information for comparison with prior research relative to high school courses and teachers. Concludes that high school psychology courses and…

Examined relationship between student characteristics of ego development, psychological type, and educational aspiration and importance assigned by college freshmen (N=220) to dimensions of pre-registration course choice information. Results revealed that student characteristics examined related to importance assigned to different kinds, sources,…

Reports a British study that explores relationship between social class and personality among 11-year-olds, using the Junior Eysenck Personality Inventory-Short Form. Social class was determined by the father's occupation, and alternatively, by neighborhood. No correlation was found between father's occupation and any of the four personality…

Recent data suggest that genes influence three domains of great importance to family researchers: (1) developmental outcomes; (2) family variables that are thought to influence those outcomes; and (3) covariance between measures of family process and developmental outcomes. Influence of genes on variances and covariances challenges current…

Comments on Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper's article in this issue. Offers three likely reasons for adaptation of human behavior. Argues that Belsky, et al. use only two of these reasons in their proposed evolutionary theory of socialization. Suggests that an evolutionary approach is useful if it integrates diverse facts, aids clinical practice,…

Discusses the influence of culture and family and the importance of self-esteem in the development of competency in young children. Describes the role of the teacher in creating a developmentally appropriate environment that fosters self-initiated learning and a personal locus of control. (SH)

National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data indicate that sense of personal control increased from age 14 to 22. Dropping out of school hampered development; teen pregnancy did not. Adolescent sense of control and further adult development correlated positively with cognitive skill and parental education. Low perceived control predicted subsequent…

Tests a theoretical model for the constitution of the self among adolescents in a cross-cultural, comparative study. Examines the impact of schools and families, as institutions and networks of interaction, on the self of adolescents. Based on data from three sample surveys from an East/West study of adolescent students. (DSK)