Reports findings from interviews of 389 Nso parents or grandparents. Found that traditional values were widely endorsed but that mothers, parents, and urban respondents expressed less indigenous viewpoints than did fathers, grandparents, and rural respondents. Also discusses topics related to the socialization, learning, and social interaction of…

Found that patterns of associations in adolescent coping and adult adaptation over time differ by sex. Coping and adapting to stress by turning to religion or to friends were found to be sex-specific. Convergence between adolescent coping strategies and traditional gender roles predicted good young-adult adaptation. (TM)

Profiles two educators with new books about challenge of teaching. Philip W. Jackson, philosopher/professor of education, muses about teaching and quests for knowledge in "Untaught Lessons." In "You Can't Say You Can't Play," kindergarten teacher Vivian Gussin Paley advocates storytelling as way to build more moral world in the…

Adult play develops curiosity and self-determination, builds knowledge of self and social relationships, builds self-esteem and a sense of personal power, develops powers of concentration, provides foundations for success and competence, and helps one value differences. (AC)

This paper examines how participants in an engineering project, motivated by their existential strategies, unintentionally contributed to maintaining the same organizational factors they experienced as inhibiting their creativity, but were generally unaware of the effects of their actions on the organization's social sphere. Suggestions for…

On 2 consecutive days, a total of 96 children were observed in groups of 3, once with scarce and once with ample toy resources. Sharing was affected by the number of toys and availability of duplicate toys. When pressured by peers, one year olds shared more often than did two year olds. (BC)

This essay provides a rationale for including social competence as a prominent feature in the understanding of mental retardation, outlines efforts to describe socially competent behavior, and considers factors that underlie social competence. The essay introduces the papers in this special issue on social skills in individuals with mental…

An elementary teacher describes how she helped a shy kindergarten student find the magic within himself that would lead to accepting friendship from other children. She discovered he needed patience and gentle prodding in order to move in the right direction. (SM)

This article argues for the application of curriculum-based evaluation (CBE) in social skills instruction. A rubric is proposed which combines variables related to social competence and summarizes the status of a student's social skills. The model provides a structure for aligning social skills curriculum, assessment, and instruction. (DB)

Gives an overview of the 10 research articles in this issue. Notes that all studies in this issue examine child behavior from a perspective that views behavior as mediated by social context, challenging the logical positivism of conventional experimentation. (MM)

A total of 113 adults from 26 to 31 years of age who had participated in previous social interaction studies while in college kept detailed records of social activity for 2 weeks. Found that from college to adulthood opposite-sex socializing increased, whereas same-sex, mixed-sex, and group interactions decreased. (MDM)

Examines the development of social networks from middle childhood to adolescence based on a longitudinal sample of 100 children. Age changes, sex differences, and the relation between network characteristics and self-perceived competence are considered. Adolescent girls' social networks are larger than boys' and are also more related to specific…

Interviews with 22 mothers of children with ambulatory disability and 33 nondisabled siblings showed no differences in sibling's child care responsibilities, general home responsibilities, or independence related to severity of the ambulatory disability. A difference in the amount of social activity, reported by mothers, was not confirmed by…

Investigated the associations made by fifth- and sixth-grade children and their closest age siblings between siblings' affective relationship quality and conflict strategies. Found that focal siblings who engaged in more destructive conflicts reported greater negativism in their relationships, frequency of conflict was positively correlated with…

In Northern Ireland, 127 adults, largely unemployed and with negative past schooling experiences, participated in a personal and social development program. A six-month follow-up found the learner-centered methodology effective in enhancing self-esteem, motivation, social skills, community involvement, and participation in further education and…