Traces the Montessori view of adolescent social development and provides illustrations in short-term rural life with 12- to 14-year olds. Provides clear signs pointing to Erdkinder based on the theory that adolescents are in the midst of a social transformation and they want to be treated with respect. (MOK)

An innovative intergenerational program in Miami-Dade County (Florida) Public Schools trains adolescents to teach senior citizens about fire safety at an adult education center. Kids enjoy their relationships with "second grandparents" while imparting valuable information and translating safety checklists into Spanish. (MLH)

Second-order mental state attribution in 22 children (ages 8-17) with Williams syndrome, 14 with Prader Willi syndrome, and 13 with nonspecific retardation. Participants were given two trials of a second-order reasoning task. No significant differences between children with Williams syndrome and the others were found. (Contains references.)…

Assessed the role of maternal affect mirroring on development of prosocial behaviors and social expectancies in 2- to 3-month-olds. Found that infants whose mothers ranked high on affect mirroring (attention maintenance, sensitivity, responsiveness) ranked high on prosocial behaviors and social expectancy, whereas infants whose mothers ranked low…

Presents annotations of articles, commentaries, and publications that emphasize the importance of communication and the role of the study of communication in contemporary life. Discusses six emergent themes. Concludes that communication education develops the whole person, improves the work of education, advances the interests of society, bridges…

Discusses utopia and utopianism and the relevance of both to thinking analytically and practically about the form and content of education policy. Advocates a particular application of utopian imagination (utopian realism), which envisages possible futures in terms of detectable trends in actual social development, to practical educational…

Notes that functional approach to social dominance or resource control advances important and unique developmental questions not suggested by structuralist approaches. States that the functional approach to social dominance centers on consequences of competition first and form of behavior second. Notes two areas for further research: whether…

Examined gender, friendship, and contrast in choices for potential social partners among 122 children, ages 4 to 8 years. Found that gender and friendship are equal factors for the younger participants, and that friendship status moderates the influence of gender on social reasoning as children age. (LBT)

Characterizes primate and human forms of sociality and cultural transmission, describing the ontogeny of human cultural learning (joint attention, imitative learning, and cognitive representation). Humans share most cognitive skills and knowledge with other primates, but they also possess a species-unique social cognitive adaptation that enables…

Examined relation between parents' reactions to preschoolers' negative emotions and social competence. Found that the relation between harsh parental coping strategies and children's emotional responding was moderated by parental distress. Relation between the interaction of parental coping and distress to children's social competence was mediated…

Explored the extent to which variations in social initiative relate to adolescents' history of interpersonal relationships. Found that positive aspects of the parent- adolescent relationship predicted adolescent social initiative 2 years later directly or indirectly. Differences in variance accounted for in two age cohorts suggested that the…

Differences in rate and quality of parent-child communication in parents of socially anxious and normal children 9-12 years old were examined. Socially anxious children, like the control group, tended to mirror verbalizations of parents. In contrast, socially anxious children did not show the same similarities in responsiveness. (BF)

Compared mothers' and fathers' direct involvement in adolescent girls' versus boys' peer relationships, and examined the links between parents' involvement and the qualities of adolescents' friendship and peer experiences. Findings revealed mothers were more knowledgeable about adolescents' peer relationships than fathers, and both mothers and…

Bronfenbrenner's process-person-context-time model is used to examine theories that explain adverse effects of economic deprivation on children's socioemotional development. Processes of not only the family, but also those of the peer group and school, and in other levels of the ecological environment may also explain the relation between economic…

The purpose of this study was to examine how total duration of social play of preschool children with disabilities varied as a function of both chronological and developmental age of their social partners. Fifty-five 33- to 60-month-old children with mild to moderate developmental delays were observed in dyadic play situations with four different…