Asserts that cross-cultural comparison serves a crucial function as a final test of paradigms emerging from intracultural studies of child and adolescent adjustment and maladjustment. Argues that cross-cultural research's doorkeeper function is best performed when a wide range of cultures is sampled, for which core beliefs are measured directly…

This commentary details a number of problems with the study design and data analysis reported by Finkel et al. The commentary also provides suggestions for more fruitful approaches for analyzing data from such studies in the future. (Author/BC)

Discusses procedures and considerations involved with secondary analyses of longitudinal databases. Procedures involve (1) formulating questions; (2) creating a feasibility matrix; (3) reformulating questions; (4) creating derived variables; (5) performing data reduction; (6) analyzing data; and (7) interpreting results. Problems associated with…

Draws on journal articles to discuss how cultural variability can be reconciled with developmental theory and dimensions that matter most for development. Argues that cross-cultural research should be predicated on a model of how culture interacts with forces that guide development and that interpretation of cross-cultural research is severely…

Although Grusec and Goodnow provide a compelling framework for organizing disciplinary encounters found to affect moral internalization, their hypothesis remains untested. Researchers need to devise conceptually sound measures of message acceptance and show that message acceptance does indeed mediate internalization before committing themselves to…

Considers assumptions underlying design of Bussell et al.'s Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development study. Suggests that a source of the common environment specific to this study is the effect of an individual in mutual ratings of relationship with siblings, leading to a larger common-environment effect across variables than within…

Addresses concerns raised in Neale's commentary regarding the Bussell et al. (1999) Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development study. Discussion of assumptions focuses on those most relevant to study sample. Because Neale's proposed alternative models did not provide a better fit, the appropriateness of Bussell's model and importance of…

Asserts that journal's three studies examining cultural influences on emotional development reflect Western cultural model, using Western scripts for how data were collected and meaningfulness attributed. Addresses: (1) search for universals versus cultural specificity; (2) effect of unit of analysis; (3) whose perspective is used when proclaiming…