Investigates, among delinquent and nondelinquent subjects ages 10 to 11 and 14 to 15 years, differences exhibited on moral reasoning tasks, social problem solving/metacognition, effects of clues on performance on a social problem-solving task, effects of age, and the interaction of age and delinquency. (Author/RH)

Compared the psychological characteristics of withdrawn, aggressive, and average fifth-grade children. Both withdrawn and aggressive children were found to be less popular among peers than were the average group; the aggressive group was most actively disliked. Teachers rated aggressive children as most hostile and as having more learning problems…

Compared conversational styles mothers used with preadolescent and middle adolescent daughters with styles used with friends. Found that with friends, mothers used a high involvement style with high rates of overlaps and simultaneous speech, whereas with daughters, they used a high considerateness style with low rates of overlaps and simultaneous…

Background: The present study explores the relationships between several information processing capacities and internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in a general population sample of 10- to 12-year olds (N = 2,037 51% girls). Methods: Parent-reported behavior problems as assessed by the Child Behavior Checklist were used to form four…

Observing that plot and character changes in the daytime television serials has increased the teen and preteen share of soap opera audiences, a study compared demographic, personal experience, and attitudinal variables among adolescent soap opera fans, occasional viewers, and nonviewers. Data were collected from 230 students in the classrooms of…

The document examines the roles of peer relations and parent monitoring in increasing children's risk of developing a deviant network of friends. Subjects were approximately 200 boys and their families. Boys were assessed in school and interviewed when 9-10 years old and when 11-12 years old. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the…

The followup study of 15 autistic and 14 dysphasic boys at middle childhood found that few of the autistic boys had developed good language skills; that the autistic group remained stable in its general characteristics; and that many of the dysphasic boys showed problems in peer relations. (DB)

With passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1990, autism was recognized as a distinct special education category. Subsequently, there has been a steady increase in the number of students qualified in the schools to receive special education services under this category. There are a number of questions as to the types of…

In this study, data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY 97) were used to examine early adolescent functioning as a result of being bullied. The NLSY 97 asked 4807 youths from age 12 to 14 whether they had been the victims of repeated bullying before the age of 12. In this study, 19.1% of the youths responded that they had…

Sixth graders (N=698) participated in program classroom, receiving 12-session cognitive skills development curriculum aimed at reducing substance use rates. Compared to controls (N=674), Program participants showed greater decision-making skills and reported less use of tobacco, but only one difference between groups was found in use of alcohol,…

Examined empathy and conservation abilities of nonretarded children with autism and compared their performance to that of normally developing children. Autistic children performed surprising well, but not as well as normal children. There was a closer association between cognitive abilities and affective understanding among the autistic children…

Examined the effect of socially ambiguous information on behavioral and trait perception. White children and black children were shown drawings of white characters and black characters whose behavior could be interpreted positively or negatively. Results provided evidence that race affects the manner in which behavior is interpreted in ambiguous…

Young adolescents (n=396) from single- and two-parent families carried pagers for one week, reporting on daily activities, companionship, and quality of subjective experience. Found that adolescents' overall patterns of time use and subjective experience were similar in both family types, although similarity was achieved by reorganization of…

Assessed fourth-graders' peer clique characteristics as a function of socioeconomic status, gender, and aggressiveness. Found that rejected youth were less central group members than average-status peers; aggressive preadolescents were no less involved than nonaggressive peers; rejected preadolescents belonged to smaller cliques and cliques…

Two studies compared multidimensional self-concept measures in preadolescents. Findings indicated that the Self-Description Questionnaire and Self-Perception Profile for Children were highly correlated and comparable in reliability, stability, subscale interrelations, and associations with others' evaluations. Correspondence among various…