Infants and their mothers participated in a longitudinal study of the sequelae of infant goal-blockage responses. Four-month-old infants participated in a standard contingency learning and goal-blockage procedure during which anger and sad facial expressions to the blockage were coded. When infants were 12 and 20 months old, mothers completed a…

Infant cortisol and behavioral responses to receiving one versus two inoculations on one pediatric office visit were observed at two and six months of age. The findings indicate a developmental trend for a decline over age in adrenocortical reactivity to inoculation for infants showing a cortisol release following perturbation. Results were…

Data provide strong evidence that studies of stress and cortisol release in infants must take into account basal level, circadian rhythm, and behavioral effects and employ appropriate statistical procedures. Participants were infants of two, four, and six months of age from whom salivary cortisol was obtained before and 15 minutes after an…

Observed infants' stress responses to a well-baby examination and inoculation at two, four, and six months. Found an increase in salivary cortisol level over baseline in response to the procedures and that the cortisol response decreased with age, indicating a developmental shift in adrenocortical functioning between two and six months of age. (BC)

This study examined the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure, environmental risk, and maternal verbal intelligence on children's cognitive ability. Gender and age were examined as moderators of potential cocaine exposure effects. The Stanford-Binet IV intelligence test was administered to 231 children (91 cocaine exposed, 140 unexposed) at ages 4,…

This study examined the characteristics of the child's social network as it changes within the preschool period. Of particular interest is how the social network changes as the child moves from a more home-centered existence at 3 years to a more school-centered existence at 6 years of age. Also of concern is the effect of sex and socioeconomic…

Designed to explore (1) developmental changes in exact and partial imitation of manual and facial movements, (2) model differences, and (3) gesture differences, this study observed infants at 2, 12, and 24 weeks of age. A hypothesis is proposed that links early nonselective behaviors and attributed imitation to emergence of imitative behavior…

Reports results of an investigation of the effects of age, sex, and experience with peers on infants' peer-directed behavior. (Author/BH)

Observation and analysis of questionnaires completed by mothers of 82 handicapped children (three months to three years old) revealed that infants differed in temperament profile as a function of their dysfunction. (CL)

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 96 children and 73 adolescents following sexual abuse found significant age and sex differences. Adolescents reported a higher level of depressive symptoms, negative reactions by others, and lower levels of self-esteem, social support, and sexual anxiety. Girls reported higher levels of intrusive thoughts, hyperarousal, sexual…

This study examined the social labels which are first used by infants, social differentiation on the basis of labeling behavior, and overgeneralization of social labels. Subjects were 81 infants from 9 to 36 months of age. The 9- to 24-month-olds were shown slides of themselves, their mothers, their fathers, and unfamiliar children, babies, and…

Ten mother-infant dyads were observed in their homes for four hours each during one month in order to measure interactive aspects of their behavior. Demographic data are included for the participating families, who are members of the Wolof in Senegal, Africa. For this study, interaction was defined as a sequence of behaviors involving both…

Examines differences in habituation in a visual attention task as a function of chronological age, mental age, and handicapping condition. Subjects were 102 children who ranged in age from 3 to 36 months and who were classified as Down Syndrome, cerebral palsied, developmentally delayed, or multiply handicapped. (Author/RH)