Children's attention to four cartoons was observed in a laboratory session at the end of a two-year longitudinal study of home television viewing. Age (5 or 7), verbal ability (PPVT-R score) and home viewing history were examined as predictors of visual attention. There were no age differences, but PPVT-R scores were positively related to…

This overview of the home market for microcomputers and computer software presents a brief history of the development of the microcomputer and its use in the home. Factors which shape the home market are discussed, e.g., desire for improvement of educational skills, presence of children, previous experience with a computer, and decreasing prices.…

Popular opinion suggests that teaching is a stressful profession. A dissenting view is supported in this investigation of women teachers in five Canadian provinces. Self-report attitudinal questionnaires containing 26 items were mailed to a sample of 940 elementary and secondary school principals in eight Western and Eastern Canadian provinces.…

An important concern related to the increase in numbers of home computers is the integration of technology into the family system. This paper defines a theoretical perspective and research strategies from which to assess gender-related perceptions surrounding home computer use. The perspective is drawn from B. Bernstein's (1971, 1973) notions of…

The early cognitive development and motor development of male preschool children with an alcoholic father were compared with matched control subjects from non-alcoholic families who resided in the same neighborhoods. Families were participants in the Michigan State University Longitudinal Study, into which were recruited all drunk drivers…

This paper focuses on two dimensions of interventions for disturbed and disturbing youth, i.e., treatment intensity and restrictiveness. Treatment intensity is presented as a dimension of intervention that includes the factors of: (1) the individualization of the assessment and the treatment plan; (2) the amount of time spent engaging in the…

Evidence is accumulating that experiences of children within the violent family are fundamental causes of the continuing problem of family and societal violence. To examine attitudes and values as a function of experience with family violence, 114 male undergraduate students completed a questionnaire assessing general demographics, and several…

Trends in recent literature advocate a family systems approach to career development. To examine associations between process aspects of adolescent career development and family adaptability-family cohesion, 262 Virginia high school students (157 females, 105 males) completed the Career Development Inventory, the Assessment of Career Decision…

The study investigated the relationship between characteristics of 35 preschool handicapped children and their developmental gains in an early intervention program. The specific characteristics that were examined included age at intervention, length of intervention, socioeconomic status, first born as compared to all other ordinal positions in…

The general aim of this longitudinal investigation is to characterize the interactions that preschool children have with written communication. Specifically, an attempt has been made to describe (1) the literacy resources available to particular children, (2) the frequency and organization of literacy events in their lives, (3) the functions which…

The question of whether single parents are able to parent as well as those in two-parent families, as well as the differences between attitudes and practices of single mothers and fathers toward child rearing, were investigated. Members (N=179) of the Southeastern Wisconsin Parents Without Partners group completed the Single Parent Questionnaire,…

Change in family forms and functions is not necessarily evil or frightening unless one chooses to deify and cling to the past and to insist upon the rightness of by-gone ways. The crisis of American families today is not a crisis of form, or size or function, of governmental interference, economics or energy; it is a crisis of emotions, of…

This paper uses Edward T. Hall's theory of Primary Message Systems (PMS) as a basis for suggesting ways in which multicultural education can be organized around a learner's everyday life. It is argued that typical multicultural education programs do not take into account the variety and complexity of a learner's everyday life at home, in the…

This paper describes two activities used in a course that implemented the "Foxfire" approach for studying the local community of Rock Hill, South Carolina. The first activity, a unit on the family, encouraged discussion of students' families, presented poems exploring the details of family experience, and provided the opportunity for…

Summarizes ideas on five main issues presented at the World Conference on Computers in Education held in Norfolk, Virginia, in August 1985: impact of transferring practical information processing to technology; size of devices; information technology costs; computers at home, in public schools, and universities; and information technology's impact…