Examines the relationship of parental agreement in child rearing during early childhood and the psychological characteristics of adolescents. Results suggest that early family socialization experiences are important but different for boys and girls with respect to psychological content and the developmental timing of effects. (RJC)

Studies 6th, 9th, and 12th graders' ideal and typical perceptions of family relationships using the FAST (Family Systems Theory), a spatial technique in which wooden figures are placed on a board to represent cohesion and power in a family. Between 6th and 12th grade, adolescents perceive gradually decreasing cohesion and power differential…

Investigated effects of a year-long home intervention with a sample of preterm infants randomly assigned to one of three groups: developmental intervention, parent/infant intervention, and a no-treatment control. A full-term no-treatment control was also used. Findings confirm earlier studies and demonstrate changes in behavior and behavioral…

Examines the continuity of behavioral adjustment from the preschool through elementary and junior high school years. Behavior checklist data were obtained from 541 children, ages 9 through 15, who had participated in a preschool epidemiological study. Analyses focused on the relationship between internalizing and externalizing behavior dimensions…

Examines the relationship between cognitive functioning (as measured by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development) and the symbolic play levels of Down's syndrome children. Symbolic play level was more highly correlated with mental age than with chronological age. Performance on the Infant Behavior Record was also highly correlated with symbolic…

Explored the roles of genes and environment in masculinity and femininity during pre- and early adolescence in 70 twins of 8-14 years. Results revealed significant genetic influences in all measures. Environmental influences were specific to each individual and not shared by members of the same twin pair. (RJC)

Interviewed 72 children across grades 1, 3, and 5 from an impoverished inner-city black community on their views and values about the natural environment. Overall, children showed sensitivity to nature and awareness of environmental problems, although this sensitivity and awareness were attenuated by both developmental and cultural factors. (MDM)

Compared the relationship between psychosocial environmental factors and toddlers' adaptive behavior in Egypt. Consistent with studies done in Western cultures, it was found that caregiver vocal stimulation was positively related to indices of toddler behavioral competence, whereas nonverbal response to vocalization and physical contact…

Life history theorists have proposed that humans have evolved to be sensitive to specific features of early childhood environments and that exposure to different environments biases children toward development of different reproductive strategies, including differential pubertal timing. The current research provides a longitudinal test of this…

A socialization model of coping with community violence was tested in 101 African American adolescents (55% male, ages 9-13) and their maternal caregivers living in high-violence areas of a mid-sized, southeastern city. Participants completed interviews assessing caregiver coping, family context, and child adjustment. Caregiver-child dyads also…

For a sample of 398 middle grade students in a rural area, found that youth from homes in which adults were employed in low-income occupations had lower levels of school achievement than other students and that youth from families in which neither parent had graduated from high school exhibited worse socioemotional and academic adjustment than…

Reports on three experiments that assessed the attentional responses of 4-month-old infants to frequency-modulated sweeps corresponding to the frequency range of adult-to-infant and adult-to-adult intonational patterns. (HOD)

The IQ performance of children who experienced the birth of a younger sibling was found to drop 10 points during the next two years for singleton children and 5.8 points for last-born children from families of comparable size. The study controlled for sex, family size, age at assessment, and IQ before the birth of the sibling. (Author/RH)

Members of Average (adjustment) Families made decisions faster and talked more equally to one another than members of Low (adjustment) Families and had higher normality scores than either High or Lows. (Author)

Results show individual differences in intelligence progressively stabilizing by school age, with each child following a distinct pattern of mental development. Monozygotic twins became increasingly concordant over an Hes and were closely matched on developmental trends. (Author/RH)