Introduces this thematic issue of CHILD DEVELOPMENT which addresses schooling and child development. (PCB)

Examines the differences in parental reasoning about child development along a dimension ranging from categorical to perspectivistic in a group of Mexican-American mothers and a group of Anglo-American mothers of comparable SES. Results emphasize the importance and usefulness of examining within-culture diversity in developmental research.…

In order to determine whether non-Western children would show a memory deficit for contextually organized spatial ability, the performances of 30 Mayan and 30 American nine-year-olds on reconstruction of an organized three-dimensional miniature scene were examined. (MP)

A total of 72 schooled and 67 unschooled Tanzanian 8-14 year-olds from the Meru tribe were interviewed individually to determine their degree of mastery of conservation. Methodological defects in the application of Piaget's clinical method in cross-cultural studies were corrected. (SB)

Examines 2,000 Strange Situation classifications obtained in eight different countries. Differences and similarities between distributions in classifications of samples are investigated using correspondence analysis. Substantial intracultural differences are established; data also suggest a pattern of cross-cultural differences. (Author/RWB)

Although the performance of American 5- and 8-year-olds was superior to the Guatemalans, the 11-year-olds in both cultures performed at an equally high level. (Authors)

A referential communication task was used to compare the effects of linguistic structure on the encoding and decoding performances of 120 five- and seven-year-old children. Results suggested that differences in adjective ordering rules and stylistic variation affect encoding and decoding accuracy. (Author/MP)

Developmental color perception of 278 four- and eight-year-old Black and White children in three societies was examined in relation to the theories that proximity to the equator and that fundus pigmentation (as measured by skin color) reduce shortwave (blue-green) in comparison to long-wave perception. (Author/MP)

Examined (1) whether Korean children exhibit superior levels of mathematics achievement, compared to U.S. children; (2) whether an early advantage in informal mathematical thinking contributes to superiority in mathematical achievement; and (3) whether the superior achievement of Korean children is qualitatively different from that of U.S.…

A total of 36 American and African mothers and their children in three age cohorts from 6 to 36 months of age interacted around age-appropriate teaching tasks. Major behavioral differences between cultural groups and tasks were demonstrated. (Author/RH)

Japanese and American children participated in a free word association experiment. Results indicated that culture was influential in the formation of language. (ST)

This study investigated the relative conformity of American and Brazilian students across ages from 9 to 21 years old. (Authors)

An experiment using 132 Italian-born and Canadian-born mothers paired with their children examined the relationship between maternal communication and ethnicity, sex and age of child. Direct observation of maternal communication was employed during three discussion tasks in which the mother and child were required to reach a consensus. (WY)

Results of cross-cultural comparisons of verbal responses indicate that social desirability has a higher value for Indian adolescents and activity has a greater value for American adolescents. Greater sex differences in self-perception occurred for Americans, and greater cultural differences for boys. (WY)