While research on humor in children has increased in the past 20 years, there is less information on adult humor. The Humor Assessment Instrument (HUMA) was developed as part of an ongoing humor intervention project. HUMA was used to interview 398 adults on their perception of humor in the media, humor among acquaintances, humor in parents, most…

Reported in this paper are results from two studies undertaken to explore the impact of parental age on childrearing practices. The first study involved administering the Child Rearing Practices Report to 65 adult participants, then asking the participants to describe their parents' childrearing attitudes. Results suggest that those respondents…

This study assessed the quality of caregiver-infant feeding interaction with 3- and 9-month-old infants. Findings on several measures indicated that caregivers appear to be more vigilant to their infants' needs at three months than at nine months, although infants became clearer in their cues by nine months. Maternal personality was not related to…

The document examines the roles of peer relations and parent monitoring in increasing children's risk of developing a deviant network of friends. Subjects were approximately 200 boys and their families. Boys were assessed in school and interviewed when 9-10 years old and when 11-12 years old. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the…

This study examined gender and race differences in children's interactions with infants. Subjects were 53 black and white children between 8 and 10 years of age. An experimenter of the same race as the children presented them with a 6-week to 12-month-old infant of the same race. Children were photographed with the infant; while playing the role…

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate age-developmental differences in boys' incorporation of information about chronicity of a transgressor's behavior in their judgments of the efficacy of paternal disciplinary behaviors. Additionally, the study was designed to investigate boys' evaluations of fathers' applications of different types…

The interdependence of home and work lives is especially salient among women workers as a result of their greater family responsibilities. To examine the relationship between occupational status, marital status, and number of children among working women, a telephone survey of 1,232 Los Angeles adults (827 females, 405 males) was conducted. An…

In this investigation of the effects of maternal employment on adolescents, 88 male and 128 female adolescents from grades 7 through 12 completed the Children's Report of Parental Behavior Inventory and the Inventory of Psychosocial Development. Several questions were addressed: (1) Does maternal employment status influence adolescents'…

The perceptions of parents of 113 developmentally delayed preschool children were compared with mental ages derived from the Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale and the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale. With the parents as informants, an Alpern-Boll Developmental Profile was completed. Findings demonstrated a high degree of correlation between the…

Traditional ideals discourage Japanese women from working outside the home. This study was conducted to explore generational differences in Japanese attitudes toward women's employment and to interpret those differences in terms of social change. Questionnaires were distributed to approximately 900 Japanese men and women. Subjects were classified…

Investigated as a function of adults' birth cohort--a group of adults born during a specific time period--were beliefs influencing current attitudes toward parenting that prevail in England and the United States. Particular attention was given to the value attached to parental role in relation to the specific roles of spouse and worker. The total…

This study explored children's perceptions of good parenting. An open-ended question "What makes a good parent?" was asked of children aged 8 to 9 years, 14 to 15 years, and 17 to 18 years of age to investigate developmental processes. Adolescents' perceptions were compared to parents' perceptions using the same measure among 14- to…

This study examined adults' beliefs about parenthood in terms of Veevers' (1973) notion of "cultural myths" about adulthood and tried to account for the origins and importance of the myths. Subjects were 93 undergraduates in a junior-level course on parenting who completed the Survey of Beliefs about Parenthood at the beginning and end…

Examined were differences in satisfaction with parenthood among 125 primiparous, middle-class, working and non-working women above and below 30 years of age who completed multiple-choice questionnaires within 6 months of the birth of their child. Questions pertained to responsive attitudes toward infants, attitudes toward women's roles, and…

The rates of depression among a sample of 75 adolescent mothers were studied in order to investigate the relationship of environmental stress and support to depressive symptomatology and to investigate the relationship between depression and adolescents' interactions with their children. The Stress, Support, and Family Functioning Interview,…