Hypothesized that audience pressure would prove most detrimental to the skilled performance of adolescents (due to vulnerability to self-awareness) but not of children. Performances of skilled players of video games with and without audience indicated a curvilinear relationship between age and performance change which confirmed the hypothesis.…

Students (N=200) in grades 4 through 8 and 10 completed questionnaire measuring perceptions of school theft incidence and seriousness, personal responsibility for correcting theft, causal attributions of theft, and perceived consequences of thievery. Main grade effect was observed for personal responsibility and consequences, but represented…

Differentiates between several terms used to refer to the five-year period between ages 9 through 13 (for example, "youth,""pubescence,""puberty," and "preadolescence"). Theories related to preadolescence, including the developmental theories of Piaget, Kohlberg, and Erikson, are briefly discussed, and…

Compared young adults who had experienced parental divorce before school age (n=134), in latency (n=129), and in adolescence (n=71). Found that 24% of boys who had experienced parental divorce in latency were depressive as compared with 9% and 6% in other groups. Among girls, depression was independent of timing of parental divorce. (Author/NB)

Investigated developmental changes in the perceived usefulness of help from the perspective of the person receiving the help. Results indicated a development increase in the perceived usefulness of help across the school-age years. Girls consistently perceived help as being more useful than boys, and girls were generally rated as the most…

Analyzed attitudes of suicidal ideators (n=104) and nonideators (n=104) at elementary, middle, and high school levels. Findings from responses to Student Attitude Measure revealed that ideators' attitudes were significantly more negative than those of nonideators. Some grade level and gender differences were found. (Author/NB)