The concepts and paradigms "development", "evolution", and "developmental behavior genetics" target, in their statements, populations. The laws of genetics and evolution are supposed to apply to every single case in a population. It can be counted among the major contributions of Gottlieb (1992, 1995) to have pointed…

The main theme of this paper concerns the persistent critique of Gilbert Gottlieb on developmental behavior genetics and my reactions to this critique, the latter changing from rejection to complete acceptation. Concise characterizations of developmental behavior genetics, developmental systems theory (to which Gottlieb made essential…

Deborah Nolan is Professor of Statistics and holds the Zaffaroni Family Chair in Undergraduate Education at the University of California-Berkeley, where she has also served as Associate Dean of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. She is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. This interview…

In the focus article of this issue, von Davier, Naemi, and Roberts essentially coupled: (1) a short methodological review of structural similarities of latent variable models with discrete and continuous latent variables; and (2) 2 short empirical case studies that show how these models can be applied to real, rather than simulated, large-scale…

Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate a recent medical school curriculum change at our institution 3 years ago; specifically: shortening the Psychiatry core clerkship from 4 to 3 weeks and adding an optional 6-week core/elective combination rotation in lieu of the 3-week core. The authors aimed to determine whether clerkship length was…

This paper provides a critique of available quantitative measures of spirituality and well-being that have been used with children and youth. These measures range in scope from single-item to complex multiple-item instruments. The four domain model of spiritual health and well-being has been used to classify each item in the spirituality measures…

It has been proposed that it is possible to decompose changes in variability of human motor behavior into 3 independent components: covariation, task tolerance, and stochastic noise. The authors simulate learning to throw accurately and show that for this task the proposed analysis does not give an unambiguous answer to the question of what the 3…

Over the second half of the twentieth century, changes occurred in parent reports of their engagement in cognitive activities with their young children in the United States. This article argues that the growing trend of "parenting for cognitive development" in young children in the latter half of the twentieth century is associated with the…

In their comment on the tolerance-noise covariation (TNC) method for decomposing variability by H. Muller and D. Sternad (2003, 2004b), J. B. J. Smeets and S. Louw show that covariation (C), as defined within the TNC method, is not invariant with respect to coordinate transformations and contend that it is, therefore, meaningless. Although the…

In a series of reforms started in 1998 and formalized with the 2000 introduction of the Blueprint for Student Success, the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) implemented a wide-ranging series of reforms designed to boost the literacy skills of students. This article provides an overview of the reforms, assesses the contributions made by the…

An analysis using data drawn from Nancy Bayley's Berkeley Growth Study is performed for didactic purposes to illustrate the use of structural equation modeling on a child development data set. Alternatives to standard latent factor approaches are demonstrated for use in research situations in which the subject-to-variable ratio is less than…

Used latent class analysis to test statistically Siegler's rule assessment methodology, the number of rules needed to fit a set of data. Found that rules can be identified, that some are different from those proposed by Siegler, the correct rule is not acquired by subjects, and that the rules in the transitional period are difficult to identify.…

Identifies interaction effects as the defining feature of resilience and resilience research. Maintains that interaction effects are responsible for the unique contributions of this field of study to the understanding of human development. Suggests that the methodological and statistical challenges posed by interaction effects do not, by…

This essay deals with a series of methodological issues involved in assessing training priorities in developing countries. It is argued that the present methods of arriving at these priorities leave much to be desired, and a number of suggestions are made that might lead to more informed policy decisions on education and training. (CT)

Over many decades, the efforts of researchers to understand key issues in the reading performance of those children most at risk for developing later reading problems has been relentless. This article presents the author's commentary to three studies: (1) Vanderwood, Linklater, and Healy (2008); (2) Edl, Jones, and Estell (2008); and (3) Baker et…