Fifth-grade children's interests were assessed and two weeks later each child received a set of encyclopedia passages in cloze format. Half of these passages corresponded to the child's most preferred topics and half to the child's least preferred topics. Results indicated that both Black and White children comprehended more of their high- than…

Interviewed second through sixth graders to assess parameters of worry. Found that girls reported more worries than boys, and African American students reported more worries than white or Hispanic students. The three most commonly reported areas of worry were school, health, and personal harm. Anxiety was significantly associated with worry. (BC)

The effects of classroom climate, organization of instruction, and class racial composition on the interracial friendliness of students in desegregated classrooms were studied. (PCB)

From original data at age 13 years on 386 North American females, statistics are presented for 10 somatic variables. Findings are compared with those of other studies. (Author/SB)

Internal-external control (IE) expectancies of disadvantaged Head Start children were compared with those of middle class children in one Montessori and two parent cooperative nursery schools using the Stephens-Delys Reinforcement Contingency Interview IE measure. Middle class groups had significantly higher internal control scores than Head Start…

Investigated the extent to which category clustering in recall is dependent on preferred organization of the to-be-recalled items and whether preferred organization or recall performance is associated with ethnic or economic group membership. White children sorted taxonomically more often than Black children, who preferred functional organization…

Black children generally receive poorer sociometric nominations compared with Whites. This effect is not fully understood because Black children rarely hold a classroom majority and teachers' race is rarely investigated. Research from a person-environment perspective suggests that the effects of children's race depend on the racial composition of…

An observational method was used to investigate the effects of race, socioeconomic status, and the child's sex on maternal interactive behavior. Both free-play and command periods were used. Of the three independent variables, socioeconomic status proved to be the most significant in determining the nature of maternal behavior. (Author/CS)

Studied the psychological well-being of 159 white and black students during the transition to junior high school. Group differences in adjustment were examined with respect to race, sex, and academic competence. Adjustment patterns were found to be complex and highly differentiated. (PCB)

Black and white male schoolchildren evaluated their own performance at a verbal task administered by black and white male experimenters. It was hypothesized that academically successful children would be predisposed to appraise themselves favorably and vice versa. The prediction was upheld in the white experimenter condition but not in the black…

Differences in the recall of printed language patterns were explored with 156 Negro and Caucasian low-socioeconomic-status children. (Author)

This study explored inter- and intraindividual immigrant group differences in children's English verbal ability over ages 6-16 in 4 racial/ethnic groups--White Americans, Black Americans, Mexican Americans, and Puerto Ricans (N=2,136). Although all children's mean verbal scores increased with age, immigrant children (except for Black Americans)…

The autonomous and social comparison achievement motivation of 197 black and white children was assessed at the end of first or fourth grades and again at the end of second and fifth grades. Level of aspiration and projective story telling measures of motivation were used. (Author/JMB)