James Baldwin's ideas, such as that of a genetic science, and their influence on later theorists such as Piaget, Vygotsky, and Kohlberg, are described. The further Baldwin moved from the study of infancy, the more speculative and the less empirically verifiable became his ideas. (BC)

Examined young children's social play for length of play episodes, use of communicative strategies, and complexity of play. Concluded that children spontaneously constructed shared meaning during interactive play from their shared knowledge about everyday activities and by responding to and building on their partner's ideas as the play unfolded.…

Elementary school children named peers they felt were best described by each item in the Revised Class Play measure. Reasons for naming peers were classified under the categories "passive withdrawal" and "active isolation." Results indicate the importance of refining peer assessment measures of withdrawal. (LB)

Examined the links between children's relationships with their parents at one and three years and their relationships with a friend at five years. Positive and secure parent-child relationships were associated with children's positive friendships and negative family relationships with negative friendships. Several counterintuitive findings…

Children between 5 and 10 years of age watched boys and girls endorse toys of varying attractiveness and then play with the toys. Boys with gender constancy spent more time than other boys in playing with unattractive sex-typed toys. Among girls, toy play was related to the toy's attractiveness. (BC)

Examined attempts by five-year-old children to influence mothers and peers. Children were immediately successful with mothers less often than with peers and were more often able to negotiate a compromise with mothers than with peers. Mothers' strategies for influencing children predicted children's styles of influencing peers. (BC)

The relations of dependency and self-criticism to social function were studied for 106 secondary-school students who completed measures of depressive experiences and interpersonal problems. Results show that self-criticism is strongly associated with reporting interpersonal problems, but dependency is only marginally related to interpersonal…

Two children (ages 13 and 16) with autism were taught to differentiate appropriate from inappropriate social behaviors. Children's treated behaviors improved rapidly, and there were generalized changes in untreated social behaviors. Results suggest the possibility of identifying pivotal response classes of social behavior that may improve peer…

The normal course of children's development of social competence from preschool through high school is reviewed, and its relationship with developing language skills is discussed. Peer aspects of developing social competence, particularly those relating to friendship development and the development of interpersonal understanding, are highlighted.…

For a sample of 69 mothers and their preschool-age children, mothers completed measures that assessed their social networks and perceived parenting difficulty, and children's peer acceptance and cognitive performance were assessed. Maternal network characteristics directly predicted children's cognitive performance and indirectly predicted…

The Social Strategy Rating Scale, which measures social competence in young children with disabilities across multiple contexts, was completed with 47 toddlers in 3 social settings over a 16-month period. The scale exhibited relatively high interobserver agreement across items, high internal consistency, and sensitivity to skill changes over time.…

This article examines the origins of aggression and identifies the link between aggression and conduct disorders in children. The existence of two subcategories of conduct disorders is noted--undersocialized and socialized. The role of the family, peer group, and school is explored. (JDD)

Shows why most discussions of self-esteem theory and practice are unsatisfactory. Part I reviews available research, which finds little causal relationship between self-esteem and student achievement. Part II calls into question the values inherent in the concept, particularly the overemphasis on individualism and self-actualization. Part III…

Examined patterns of interaction between Mexican parent-child dyads to understand the relationships between childrearing practices, culture, family social environment, and children's social and emotional development. Found that warm, supportive parenting was related to both supportive and assertive, self-expressive child behavior, whereas…

This paper examines data from three survey activities conducted by the National Center on Educational Outcomes for specific relevance to social/behavioral outcomes development and assessment. Findings suggest that little effort is being directed to the measurement of the extent to which students with behavioral disorders are meeting such outcomes.…