Discusses the vital importance of the preschool period in educational terms and maintains that early influences are much more effective than later experience; one cannot look upon nursery schools as merely child care services. (MS)

Results of an experiment with preschoolers and adolescents indicated that aggression by females toward females was relatively stable over age, while aggression by males toward other males increased markedly. The implication of findings for reinforcement explanations of sex differences in aggression are discussed. (Author/SB)

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, 1998?1999 Kindergarten Cohort, the study examines two research questions: What are the effects of participation in the National School Lunch Program on changes in children?s behavior, test scores, and body weight? Do these effects differ by gender? To address issues of selection, we use…

Conceptions of the male role are a highly salient facet of worldview worthy of consideration for counselors working with male populations. This paper introduces broad conceptual models of the male role including traditional masculinity, ideology, and gender role conflict and briefly summarizes research using these models, which illustrates the…

The "Research in Practice Series" is published four times each year by Early Childhood Australia. The series aims to provide practical, easy to read, up-to-date information and support to a growing national readership of early childhood workers. The books bring together the best information available on wide-ranging topics and are an…

This study examined the interaction among parental conflict, self-efficacy, and friendship satisfaction levels. It was predicted that self-efficacy would be a mediating variable between parental conflict and outcomes, specifically ability to have successful friendships. Participants included 235 undergraduate students from a small Midwestern…

This compendium is designed to provide a quick overview of assessment instruments that can be used with kindergarten-aged children. It provides a starting point for gathering information on assessment instruments by giving information on approximately 40 instruments published since 1986 that are commercially available. Information on each…

This applied dissertation reports on an intervention to develop the social skills of six cognitively gifted fourth and fifth grade students. The twice-weekly, after-school intervention was intended to address the asynchronous development of these children who experienced functional disability in social settings due to social dissonance, a…

The number of very young children entering center-based child care programs is growing. Now, more than ever, it is important for caregivers to understand the impact they have on the healthy development of the children in their care. "Emotional Connections" translates new research on cognitive, social, and emotional development in the early years…

Adolescence is a critical time for the development of self-identity; a time which often changes enthusiastic and assertive 8- and 9-year-old girls into 11- and 12-year-old girls with poor self-images and little faith in their abilities. To better understand this process, this study investigated the relationship between hope and general…

The aim of this study was threefold. First, to investigate the strategies adolescents use to coordinate conflicting social and academic goals in situations where these conflicting goals varied in urgency. Second, to examine the importance of social versus academic goals in such situations, and third, to examine the effects of gender and academic…

The general reluctance to use public policy to confront social concerns has increased over the past 20 years. This document discusses how America arrived at this view of public social policy. Mentoring and after-school programs are examined to help explain specific opportunities and limits likely to make up the social policy climate for early…

During the past two decades, a convincing body of evidence has accumulated to indicate that unless children achieve minimal social competence by about the age of 6 years, they have a high probability of being at risk into adulthood in several ways. This digest presents a checklist of attributes of child social behavior that teachers are encouraged…

Attachment describes the unique human ability to form lasting relationships with others, and to maintain these relationships over time and distance. Research into attachment has shown that children have the potential to form many attachment relationships, and that each relationship can contribute to the child's growing sense of self. This booklet…

Two purposes of this compendium are: (1) to recommend to researchers and funders of research promising lines of inquiry and study suggested by recent, strong studies of the academic and social effects of learning in the arts; and (2) to provide designers of arts education curriculum and instruction with insights found in the research that suggest…