Preliminary results from data on 146 Australian, 284 American, and 70 Norwegian preschool twins indicate reliable genetic influences on phonological awareness and memory and learning. Vocabulary, grammar, and morphology showed significant shared environment and negligible genetic effects. A print knowledge composite showed genetic and shared…

Genetic involvement in specific verbal and spatial abilities and memory and perceptual speed was assessed using 163 adopted and 142 non-adopted 7-year-olds and their biological, adoptive, and non-adoptive parents. Results imply the existence of some genetic continuity from the early school years to adulthood for verbal and spatial abilities. (TJH)

Our culture's preoccupation with gender differences is reflected in the importance developmental psychologists have placed on gender-related issues. Discusses the following areas of research where gender has been a primary focus: (1) measurement of intellectual abilities; (2) biology and behavior; and (3) socialization processes. Discusses policy…

This paper offers a model of the nature and development of talents, which views genetic factors as determining potential strengths and setting limits and views abilities, aptitudes, and intelligences emerging as a result of experiences, motivations, and styles. Specific talents are characterized by precocity, creative insight, a functional…

Data from Colorado Adoption Project were used to examine hypothesis that association between parental divorce and children's adjustment is mediated by genetic factors. Findings for psychopathology were consistent with an environmentally mediated explanation for the association. Findings for achievement and social adjustment were consistent with a…

Examined environmental and gene-environment processes linking parenting (affect, control, responsiveness) and preschoolers' behavioral adjustment difficulties (noncompliance, conduct problems). Found that estimates of shared environmental variance and mediation were greatest for observational data, and estimates of child genetic variance and…

Intelligence tests were administered twice to 426 members of 93 transracial adoptive families, once when the adopted children's ages averaged 7 years and again when they averaged 17 years. Correlations suggest that influences on intellectual development in this sample of black and interracial adoptees reared in white families are similar to those…

Suggests that intimate, proximal situations within the genetic environment, more than heredity, determine child development and achievement. Stresses the need to compensate for skill deficiencies among children from disadvantaged environments through early training for language acquisition and personality development. Describes a program in Iran…

Reviews the career and contributions of George Combe, an Edinburgh lawyer who proselytized for the cause of using phrenology in education. Although dismissed today as pseudoscience, phrenology (attributing various character traits to specific locations in the brain) was taken seriously as a science during the early 19th century. (MJP)

Two essays address these issues in American higher education: popular response to a 1994 book entitled "The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life," which addresses assumptions underlying intelligence testing; and recent litigation and controversy over colleges' responsibility to provide instruction at a level…

Responds to Dunn's monograph on Hispanic-Anglo differences in IQ scores. Reviews studies of between-group variance in IQ scores for Blacks, Anglos, and Hispanics; concludes that sociocultural factors are major contributors to such variance. Presents an IQ assessment system that develops sociocultural norms via multiple regression. Contains 24…

Examined the genetic and environmental contributions to the predictive association between parenting and adolescent adjustment in identical and fraternal twins, and full, half, and genetically unrelated siblings in nondivorced and stepfamilies. Found that cross-lagged associations between parental conflict-negativity and adolescent antisocial…

Results of seventh-grade students taking Scholastic Aptitude Test indicate that, by age 13, a large sex difference in mathematical reasoning ability exists; among students scoring greater than 700, boys outnumbered girls 13 to 1. Hypothesized factors thought to influence the difference (such as course taking, attitudes) were not supported by data…

A review of the social science literature traces the history of the construct of multiracial identity, 1890-1995. Research emphases have shifted from racial categorization to ethnicity, from behavioral observation to self-report, and from the inferiority or marginality of multiracial individuals to their phenomenological experiences. Contains 139…

Discusses findings providing evidence for the significance of early childhood for brain development, highlighting pivotal discoveries that should guide care and education of the young. Includes information on stages of brain wiring, critical periods, and the role of environment in brain development. Makes recommendations for broad policy changes…