A review of 41 studies on pharmacological treatments for children with autism and pervasive personality disorder not otherwise specified, found empirical evidence for significant reductions in hyperactive symptoms was strongest for the antipsychotics, psychostimulants, and naltrexone. A theoretical model is proposed for using attentional…

Used longitudinal sample of 187 mother-child dyads to examine the role of child behavior problems in explaining the effect of maternal prenatal smoking on adolescent daughters' smoking. Found that maternal prenatal smoking retained a unique effect on girls' current smoking with controls for current maternal smoking, child behavior problems, and…

Examined longitudinally the influence of gender and family factors assessed during adolescence on young adult romantic intimacy. Found that men reported more problems of insufficient intimacy than women, regardless of family dynamics. Flexible control, family cohesion, and mothers' marital satisfaction predicted young adults' intimacy. Family…

Examined data from NICHD study to determine relationship of children's child care experience to peer competence at 24 and 36 months, after controlling for effects of family and child characteristics. Found consistent, modest relations between early child-care experiences and peer competencies. Maternal sensitivity and children's cognitive and…

This research comprised three studies (two prospective and one short-term longitudinal) designed to investigate mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals as predictors of achievement-relevant processes prior to the undergraduate examination experience. Results from across the three studies were supportive of hypotheses and…

Investigated college students' personal choices for taking Web-based courses and whether their self-efficacy for the course content and technological components would predict performance in online courses. Results showed students who enrolled because they enjoyed Web-based learning had higher self-efficacy and better performance than students who…

Investigated the roles of gender labels and gender identity in predicting drug use among diverse, urban middle school students, examining nurturant femininity, confident masculinity, and dominant masculinity. Overall, gender labels and gender identity were important predictors of drug use. Gender labels were more salient in explaining differences…

This study acknowledged that parents maintain social networks that may affect the role they play in their children's education. Survey responses of 195 mothers indicated that size of social network predicted degree of involvement and that type of network predicted type of involvement. Findings suggest that parents' social networks can function as…

Presents a case-control study of the association between nearly lethal suicide attempts and facets of alcohol consumption; namely, drinking frequency, drinking quantity, binge drinking, alcoholism, drinking within 3 hours of suicide attempt, and age began drinking. In bivariate analyses, all measures were associated with nearly lethal suicide…

Off-line metacognition (prediction and evaluation) was assessed in 437 children (grades 2-3) with or without learning disabilities. Off-line metacognitive scores of children with reading disabilities were comparable to those of age-matched typical peers. Significantly lower prediction and evaluation scores were found for children with specific or…

A study compared Medicaid children with and without serious mental health problems (n=965) using parent reports of global health status, physical functioning, and general health perceptions. Children with more serious mental health problems were significantly more likely to have chronic health conditions. The number of conditions also predicted…

Investigates relationships among a diverse sample of elementary students' social skills, problem behaviors, academic competence, and academic achievement. Results indicate that social skills are positively predictive of concurrent levels of academic achievement and problem behaviors are negatively predictive of concurrent academic achievement.…

Teacher self-reports of the frequency of currently advocated early literacy practices in Grades 1 through 3 were entered into regression models in an effort to predict 3rd-grade outcomes. Explicit skill instruction was a significant predictor of higher passing rates on a state examination and lower rates of special education referral but was also…

Examined performance funding, specifically one common performance measure--student persistence--at three institutions within a single state: a flagship university, a historically black university, and a regional, comprehensive institution. Sought to determine if the outcomes were those intended by policy makers. Uncovered variables that affected…

Using a symbolic interactionism framework, this study examined the relationship between the perceptual differences relating to parenting and custody and coparental conflict. For both mothers and fathers, perceptual divergence regarding fathers' child-rearing skills and perceptual divergence regarding mothers' willingness to be accommodating…