Despite the established physical, social, and emotional benefits of participating in youth sport, such outcomes are not guaranteed. Indeed, purposeful efforts must be made to ensure that sport offerings are age-appropriate, promote engagement and enjoyment, and involve quality social relationships (e.g., Côté et al., 2020). The current article…

In a study of the effect of task demands on attention allocation, 20 9-year-olds and 20 13-year-olds were presented with a primary and a secondary task. Subjects were instructed either to respond to the primary task or to respond to both tasks. Overall, findings indicate that ability to allocate attention in accordance with task demands improves…

Examines videotaped excerpts of treatment sessions from an intervention study to explore the changes occurring during social skills training and their relation to treatment outcome. Children who received social skills training displayed more conversational skills and received more positive peer support than children who were not coached.…

This experimental study explores how 60 primary-age children's (9-11 years old) understanding of rocks was effected by instruction that used the conceptual structure of the rock cycle together with the analogy of aluminium can recycling. Using a combination of probes into children's understanding, including concept maps and semi-structured…

Data indicate that for girls, affective dispositional factors (empathy, depressive affectivity, aggression, and self-concept) are intimately linked to cognitive development and academic achievement. (PCB)

Compares second-, fifth- and eighth-graders' reasoning about their relative ability and that of another child (who applied more or less effort) with their reasoning about the relative ability of two others (who differed in effort). Responses to specific questions may be more sensitive to situationally induced motivational influences than responses…

A total of 50 children between 6 and 13 years of age were tested for a predicted, eight-step sequence of family role concepts. Dolls representing typical roles were used as props, and each child was asked questions concerning role explanations and increasingly abstract family definitions. The sequence was found to be scalable and age-related.…

Three eperiments assessed the effects on strategy transfer of supplements to keyword method instruction; supplements included more comprehensive instructions concerning strategy application, additional practice with strategy during instruction, and combined directions and practice. Generally, results indicated that more explicit instructions are…

Results suggest that adolescent values can be used to illuminate the facets of social competence in adolescence. Supports Ford's (1982) definition of social competence, which requires that explicit value judgments be made prior to defining social competence for any given group or setting. (RH)

The differences between 27 emotionally disturbed/behavior disordered (ED/BD) 9-to-13-year-old elementary students and 27 of their peers on measures of perception of locus of control (LOC) were investigated. The two groups were matched on sex, race, and age. No differences were found between the groups. (Author/BN)

Investigates possible differences in measured self-concept between preadolescent physically disabled children attending either a special school for the physically disabled or a regular school. Comparisons were also made with a group of nondisabled controls, and self-concept of participants' siblings was also studied. (RH)

Equally divided by sex and distributed equally across fourth/fifth, eighth/ninth, and college grade levels, 144 subjects performed a mental rotation task under instructions emphasizing either accuracy or speed of response, or both. Instructions had large and consistent effects on speed of response but were not as uniformly effective in their…

Reports that both learning-disabled (LD) and non-learning-disabled (NORM) children recalled disproportionately more adjacent words than semantically related or spaced words in a free recall task. Spaced words were less likely to be recalled by the younger children and by the LDs. NORMs' recalls were governed by purposive semantic processing to a…

Study examined peer sensitivity to (1) differences in the social behaviors of hyperactive and normal comparison peers, and (2) medication-related behavioral differences. Discussion focused on children's detection of treatment-related differences in social behaviors of peers, as well as on the imperfect relation between social behavior and social…

The social adaptation of mainstreamed mildly retarded children was assessed. Results indicated that mildly retarded children were very much rejected by their peers. In comparison with nonretarded classmates, they reported significantly more dissatisfaction and anxiety about their peer relations. (PCB)