An extended longitudinal study compared cognitive development in children adopted from Romania before 24 months and in United Kingdom adoptees with an additional sample of Romanian children adopted after 24 months. Findings indicated that there was considerable catch-up among late-placed Romanian children but they exhibited lower cognitive scores…

Investigated whether three types of family decision making on adolescent adjustment were moderated by ethnicity and/or community. Found that, for joint and unilateral youth decision making, community context interacted with ethnicity in three patterns of influence, refuting the notion that ethnic differences in the influence of parental strictness…

Examined parent-child interaction during toddlers'"terrible twos" stage. Found that families experiencing difficulty could be identified, troubled behavior could be predicted based on family ecology, and families at moderate and high contextual risk were more likely to experience troublesome behavior when the child experienced 20 or more hours per…

Presents an overview of a developmental structuralist model based on integration of psychoanalytic and Piagetian developmental psychology. Includes discussion of patterns and insights from a clinical-descriptive intervention study of multirisk families and suggests lines for future research. (RH)

Studied early family experiences of boys who later emerged as both aggressive and bullied during middle childhood. Found that aggressive victims had experienced more punitive, hostile, and abusive family treatment than others. Nonvictimized aggressors had greater exposure to adult aggression, but not victimization, than the normative group,…

This study examined the exposure to multiple physical and psychosocial stressors among low-income, rural, white 8- to 10- year-olds. Findings indicated that low-income children confronted a wider array of multiple physical and psychosocial stressors than did middle-income counterparts. Children showed evidence of higher levels of self- and…

Individual differences in inhibition were moderately but significantly stable over the two years of the study. Compared to other children, inhibited children engaged in less high quality peer play at home and in day care, and were less able to play alone in the mother's absence. Other findings underscored the predictive and construct validity of…

Examined factors contributing to depressive symptoms and co-occurring depressions, substance abuse, and conduct problems among runaway and homeless adolescents. Found that although family-of-origin factors contributed to depressive symptoms and comorbidity, experiences and behaviors when adolescents were on their own also had powerful effects.…

Compared outcomes of middle-school-age children born at very low (less than 750-g) or low birthweights (750 to 1,499-g) and full-term. Found that the very-low-weight group fared less well at school age than the low weight and term groups on cognitive functioning, achievement, behavior, and academic performance. Those without neurosensory disorders…

Examined relationships between quality of center-based child care and infant cognitive and language development. Subjects were 79 African American 1-year-olds. Found that quality of infant care positively correlated with scores on standardized assessment of cognitive development, language development, and communication skills. Quality of care in…

Evidence indicates that peer victimization is predictive of later maladjustment, but the mechanisms by which harassment impairs development have yet to be identified. The objectives of this study were (a) to discern normative trends in peer victimization experiences and self- and peer perceptions during preadolescence and (b) to investigate…

Examines whether there are sex differences during middle childhood in children's choices to participate in activities differing in level of adult-provided structure; effects of structure on children's compliance, leadership, and recognition seeking directed to adults and to peers; and relation of sex-typed social skills or dispositions and…

Scores on the Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME), designed to reflect parental support of early cognitive and social development, were correlated with elementary school achievement five to nine years later. Results supported the predictive value of the instrument for school achievement among low-income families. (Author/DB)

Examined the experiences of 180 children and 152 parents with 30 school-aged child care programs. Found that children had more positive program perceptions when programs offered a greater variety of activities, while parents had more positive perceptions when child-adult ratios were smaller and when their children reported more positive climates.…

Discusses results of a longitudinal study of effects of divorce and remarriage on children's adjustment. Results suggest that individual characteristics play an important role in either protecting children from negative consequences associated with their parents' marital transitions or in making children vulnerable to such consequences. (RJC)