Equally divided by sex and distributed equally across fourth/fifth, eighth/ninth, and college grade levels, 144 subjects performed a mental rotation task under instructions emphasizing either accuracy or speed of response, or both. Instructions had large and consistent effects on speed of response but were not as uniformly effective in their…

Adolescents struggle to establish their own identities and become independent in making the transition from childhood to adulthood. Adolescent alienation can result from changes in family structure from traditional two-parent families to one-parent families, decreased family stability, increased mobility of society, population increases,…

The study attemped to link cognitive and social problems seen in girls with Turner syndrome by assessing the girls' ability to process affective cues. Seventeen 9- to 17-year-old girls diagnosed with Turner syndrome were compared to a matched control group on a task which required interpretation of affective intention from facial expression.…

Three procedures were used to elicit information from children 9-10 and 13-14 years old on their conceptions of war: (1) children were asked to give at least 10 answers to the question, "What is war?"; (2) each child was interviewed individually; and (3) children were asked to respond to magazine pictures of war scenes. The detailed and…

Relations among hormone levels, emotional dispositions, and aggressive attributes were examined in 56 boys and 52 girls, aged 9 to 14 years. (PCB)

Relations between hormone levels and aggressive behavior of adolescents in family interactions were examined. Higher estradiol and androstenedione levels were associated with higher degrees of aggressive behaviors in girls. Findings for boys were sparse. (PCB)

Assesses the information used by 5- to 13-year-olds to make dispositional attributions. Children were shown a boy interacting with others harmfully. Results of trait adjective ratings and predictions of causal responsibility for subsequent property damage revealed that the use of frequency and covariation information differed with age. (Author/CB)

Parents (N=100) of children (ages 9 to 13) with or without learning disabilities (LD) responded to a retrospective developmental survey. Parents reported that the children with LD had significantly more neurodevelopmental problems or delays across domains (e.g., language, motor, attention, social behavior) than normal achievers. A pattern of…

Competence and self-esteem of 445 fifth- and sixth-graders were examined across a one-year period. Half of the children made the transition from elementary to secondary school and the other half continued in the same school. Beginning at the end of the school year before transition, self- and teacher-ratings of competence were administered at…

Examines the impact of pubertal status and timing, independent of chronological age, on the family relationships of adolescents in 204 families with a firstborn child between the ages of 10 and 15. Measures included adolescent and parental reports of closeness, confict, and autonomy and assessments of adolesents' pubertal status and pubertal…

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

Partially replicates Elkind and Bowen's (1979) investigation of adolescent egocentrism. Studies the relations between imaginary audience and operational thought by testing children and adolescents on a Piagetian-based written test of operational thought and the Imaginary Audience Scale. (Author/AS)

Examined young runaways' current risk behaviors, knowledge of AIDS, and beliefs about preventing AIDS by questioning 130 male and female subjects from shelters in New York City in 1988-89. Results did not explain the 6.7 percent seroprevalence rate reported in l988. Recommends closer inquiries regarding IV drug use and prostitution. (DM)

While evidence exists that a person's peripheral temperature responds to his state of arousal or stress, it also responds to other environmental factors. Wrist temperature has been found to vary with ambient temperature, and to increase during the school day. Before wrist temperature can be established as a valid measure of anxiety, stress, or…

Analysis of data from the 1958 Philadelphia Birth Cohort Study indicates that individuals who dropped out from delinquency were less likely to renew their involvement with crime as adults regardless of race, socioeconomic status, gender, or particular dropout period. (FMW)