Examined evidence for reciprocal influence between adoptive parents' behavior and heritable characteristics of adopted children. Found that psychiatric disorders of biological parents were significantly related to children's antisocial/hostile behaviors and consequently with adoptive parents' behavior. Also, the adoptee's antisocial/hostile…

Negative emotionality and poor attention may combine or interact as risk factors in development. Negative emotionality is considered a challenge for self-regulation, whereas good attention is a potential means of self-regulation. In the current study, composites of 1- and 2-year maternal ratings of negative emotionality and global ratings of…

Creation of a parent license would validate parental rights, establish parental responsibility, and provide a basis for societal support of parenting through financial benefits, parent education and training, and protective services for children. Government has played an increasing role in family life through laws defining and mandating parental…

This report presents information on selected activities that preprimary children engage in with family members, based on the 1991 and 1993 National Household Education Surveys. Focusing on parent-child activities found to facilitate the development of literacy skills and the motivation to learn, the report examines (1) the changes between 1991 and…

Intended for use by teachers on the senior high school level in Kentucky, this curriculum guide outlines a semester course in parenthood education. The eleven instructional units include (1) the individual and his self-concept; (2) the family and its structure; (3) human reproduction, emphasizing heredity, biological systems, conception, and…

This longitudinal study explored (1) the power of the mother relative to affect achievement behaviors and achievement test outcomes in a sample of low-income black youth; (2) the potential role of teacher evaluation in these outcomes; and (3) the relationship between self-esteem and achievement orientation to a child's academic performance. From…

Discusses growing recognition of the importance of parenting and of parents as educators, due to the increase in single-parent households and awareness of importance of early childhood learning experiences. Ways outdoor education can help (emphasizing methods, materials, motivations) are described, including 11 starting points and 15 tips for…

This book provides a comprehensive guide to recent development in the research and practice of assessing children in need. The book examines the policy framework for assessment, the process of assessment, and how to assess a child's developmental needs and the capacity of that child's parents and family to respond to those needs. Following an…

Parents today are tagged as a generation preoccupied with work and themselves but at the same time overly focused on their children. This book attempts to explain this paradox. It explores the ways in which social, cultural, and psychological changes have come together with a new definition of the child to create a situation in which parenthood…

This annual report presents several articles related to the work of the Clinical Center for Child Development at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. The articles are: (1) "Maternal Speech and Behavior during Mother-Infant Play: Comparison between the United States and Japan" (Sueko Toda, Marc H. Bornstein, and Hiroshi Azuma); (2)…

Examines fear as a social construct. Reviews literature and traces changes in the use of fear to control and socialize children in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Collects evidence from manuals directed to middle-class parents, children's fiction, and popular reading materials, written between 1850-1950. Discusses female images portrayed…

Examines growing acceptance of the concept of adolescence among Italian immigrants in New Haven, Connecticut before and after World War I. Notes changes in young people's ideas about their obligations to parents as high schools become popular institutional space for adolescence, and modifications of parents' views of education. (DLH)

Compiled by members of the Reading Committee of the North Middlesex Regional School District (Massachusetts), this illustrated guide provides tips, suggestions, and activities that parents can follow at home to help their children read. The Clues about Reading Enrichment (CARE) guide notes that regularly reading aloud to and with children is an…

This collection of papers on parent-child relationships consists of three research reports, six research reviews and two position papers on issues critical to research and practice. Papers included were selected on the basis of their relevance to the work of practitioners who counsel parents. The volume's four thematic sections are entitled: (1)…

This study tested the effects of two group-oriented supportive and educational approaches on the parents of children with cystic fibrosis (CF). Thirteen families were randomly assigned either to a group which received information on medical and technical aspects of CF or to a group which received instruction in communication skills in addition to…