This study compared perceptions of mentoring relationships among early adolescents, middle adolescents, and emerging adults. In ten focus groups, 56 middle school, high school, and college students described relational experiences that were analyzed thematically. Differences in the characteristics of the mentors nominated by the youth across the…

This paper reviews the literature on handedness in infants and reaching behavior in neonates and speculates on evolutionary reasons for the development of handedness. Modern studies have reliably detected handedness from the second half of the first year of life. One study found a preference for the right hand in unimanual tasks at 6.7 months.…

The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) was begun in 1958 to trace the effects of aging in humans and to distinguish between the true effects of aging and those processes, including disease, socioeconomic disadvantage, and lack of educational opportunity, that may appear or become more pronounced with time but are biologically irrelevant…

Studies investigated the development of children's ability to differentiate what they see from what they know in the context of conceptual perspective taking. Two developmental levels accounted for children's performance when they were asked about a naive observer's knowledge of the identity of objects. Perspective awareness training improved…

Advocates extra time between kindergarten and the first grade for academically and socially immature children to acquire learning skills and develop positive self-esteem. Includes three case studies of former transitional class students. (PKP)

Preferences for moving versus static bars were assessed in 8-, 16-, and 20-week-old infants. Findings revealed that at both 16 and 20 weeks, preferences were affected only by the velocity of the bar's movement. This effect persisted at 20 weeks even when static reference features were added to the display. (RH)

Examined how age (age 22 and younger vs. age 28 and older) and enrollment status (part-time vs. full-time) contribute to learning and personal development of traditional and new-majority students at 6 metropolitan institutions. Administered College Student Experiences Questionnaire to 2,485 students. Found that relationship between age, enrollment…

Study looks at whether religious doubt is related to psychological well-being, and tests for age differences in the relationship between these two constructs. Findings suggest that religious doubt tends to erode feelings of psychological well-being. The deleterious effects of doubt were found to be greater for younger than older people.…

People acquire spatial information from many sources, including maps, verbal descriptions, and navigating in the environment. The different sources present spatial information in different ways. For example, maps can show many spatial relations simultaneously, but in a description, each spatial relation must be presented sequentially. The present…

This exploratory study began by postulating a theoretical model of the dynamics of racial identity choice by biracial children based on the literature cited and counseling experience with biracial children in public educational institutions in Hawaii. The structured interview approach was used with high school students (N=50). A questionnaire…

Although the majority of researchers are probably in agreement regarding the existence of childhood depression, there is less than consensus regarding its structure. In this study age-related differences in child and adolescent self-reports of depression were assessed using two different analytic strategies. Subjects were children (N=515) and…

Young infants discriminate both native and nonnative phonetic contrasts, but 10- to 12-month-olds and adults fail to discriminate some nonnative contrasts. To explain this, Best, McRoberts, and Sithole (1988) hypothesized that at the age of 10-12 months, a phonological influence begins by means of which nonnative sounds are assimilated to native…

A new action-theoretical conceptualization was used to study developmental differences in children's generalized perceived control. Cross-sectional age differences in control beliefs, means-ends beliefs, and agency beliefs about school performance and friendship were studied in 240 boys and girls between 7 and 12 years of age. (RH)

The goal of this study was to determine some of the factors that contribute to developmental differences children and adults display when they use cues to retrieve specific memories. (PCB)

Results indicated that the more frequently the children studied expressed emotion, the older the age of language achievements; and the more time spent in neutral affect, the younger the age of language achievements. (PCB)