This study evaluated whether personality and family characteristics could predict socioemotional adjustment of 44 adolescent girls enrolled in a residential early college entrance/acceleration program. Results indicated predictive relationships between staff, student, and peer assessments (such as Jackson Personality Inventory and the…

Three construct scores (academic skills, parent discipline, and parent involvement) and 2 discrete code category measures (positive responses and total positive behavior) were recorded for 39 antisocial and 41 at-risk grade-4 boys. Five resulting regression prediction models produced strong effects in accounting for school achievement, adjustment,…

Analyzed experiences of five mothers as they settled their children into their first child care center, and presented evidence that the mothers operated with intuitive theories about what this experience involved for their children. Connected themes in the cases to themes in psychological and societal discourses about children's development and…

Explored pathways of influence linking parenting practices, child perceptions of their parents and peers, and social adjustment. Found parenting practices were related to peer- reported social behavior, peer dislike, and child social problem solving. Children's perceptions of parenting experiences were related to their social problem solving and…

Compared aggressive, withdrawn, and aggressive/withdrawn children to normative and matched control groups on teacher and peer relationship attributes, loneliness, and social satisfaction from kindergarten through grade 2. Found that withdrawn behavior was neither highly stable nor predictive of relational difficulties. Aggression was fairly stable…

Research on the four prototypic parenting styles has consistently demonstrated their relationship to psychosocial adjustment in offspring from preschool children to high school students. The present study used self-report surveys administered to 2,255 graduating high school seniors (HS) and 419 university freshmen (UF). Students indicated their…

A structured social skills program was developed for young African American males (N=33), in grades one and two in an urban setting. The study was designed to employ social skills to improve reading and mathematics skills. The students selected had demonstrated previous social skill deficits as determined by a pre-assessment instrument. These…

Most studies of child and adolescent personality have identified three main types (resilients, overcontrollers, and undercontrollers) and further subtypes using Q sort methodology. This study investigated the generalizability of a personality typology by using cluster analysis on the Big-Five scale with adolescents between 12 and 16 years of age.…

This study investigated attitudes of educators from both the middle school movement and gifted education, by means of a survey of 400 members of relevant professional organizations. The survey focused on six interest clusters: (1) grouping strategies, (2) identification issues, (3) curriculum modifications, (4) teacher preparation, (5) program…

This study examined whether students with learning disabilities (LD) differed from general education (NLD) students in terms of depressive symptomatology, causal attributions for success and failure, self-concept, and locus of control. Eighty-two students in grades 4, 5, and 6 participated in the study. Subjects were given the Intellectual…

The economic decline of rural America has widespread consequences for families, children, and education. Broad changes in farming and in the rural nonfarm sector have pushed the poverty rate for rural areas in the 1980s higher than the central cities rate. Projections indicate that by the mid-1990s, one-half of all farm families in the midwest may…

Compared longitudinally were effects of biological risk and social influences on the physical, psychomotoric, cognitive-linguistic, disability, adjustment, and academic domains of 1,008 children at eight stages between 3 and 6 1/2 years of age. Over 20 tests such as physical measurements and the Preschool Attainment Record (PAR) were used. Some of…

Based on McLoyd's (1990) model of African American children's development, this study examined the linkages between poverty, maternal psychological distress, marital conflict, the home environment, and children's outcomes among a sample of 805 African American 4- to 9-year-olds whose families were interviewed in 1992 as part of the National…

This study examined the degree to which parent behavior and sibling behavior are differentially related to adolescent adjustment. Using reports from adolescent sibling pairs (41 seventh graders and an older sibling), this study was designed to examine the degree to which parent and sibling behavior (i.e., warm/supportive and hostile) uniquely, and…

Compared children retained in kindergarten with matched samples of age and grade mates, using teacher ratings as an index of their social and academic skills. Found that retained children showed a reduction in behavior problems, specifically acting-out and shy-anxious behaviors, but only slightly increased competence for task orientation across…