Data indicate that for girls, affective dispositional factors (empathy, depressive affectivity, aggression, and self-concept) are intimately linked to cognitive development and academic achievement. (PCB)

Administered questionnaires to 272 preadolescents to assess their degree of parent-peer compliance. Results revealed that, on most items, youths were clearly parent compliant. There was, however, a significant age trend in the direction of peer compliance, with males demonstrating the greatest degree of change. (Author/NRB)

Addressed the need to provide normative and psychometric data for the FIRO-BC questionnaire. Reported are the means, standard deviations, test-retest reliability coefficients, and interscale correlation coefficients. Data are reported separately for boys and girls (N=282). In addition, techniques of FIRO-BC data analyses are reviewed and…

Results suggest that adolescent values can be used to illuminate the facets of social competence in adolescence. Supports Ford's (1982) definition of social competence, which requires that explicit value judgments be made prior to defining social competence for any given group or setting. (RH)

Examined disagreements between 9 and 10 year olds as a function of friendship status. While children played a board game, conflicts occurred more frequently among friends than among nonfriends. During conflicts with friends, girls tended to use assertions accompanied by rationales, whereas boys tended to use assertions without rationales. (MDM)

Examined whether gender differences in affiliative aspects of dyadic conversations occur because girls are more oriented than boys toward goals focused on others. Found that high-affiliation conversations and mutual-participation goals were more prevalent in female than in male and mixed- gender dyads. Mutual-participation goals mediated gender…

To explore the relationship between a child's self-concept and psychosocial processes related to the perception of time, 74 preadolescents with asthma were studied. Results suggest that females' perception of the past, present, and future are significantly associated with a host of psychosocial variables and associated with the self, males' less…

Compares the effects of interpersonal distance, number of people, acquaintance level, and sex on perceived crowding and discomfort in two cultures. Data obtained from 90 eighth and ninth graders indicate that distance is more important a variable than number and that males are more sensitive to crowding than are females. (Author/RH)

Ten male and 10 female young adults, who had lost parent by death as adolescents, completed Expanded Texas Grief Inventory to examine bereavement process of this group as compared to that of formerly studied adult group. Subjects reported more intense shock, disbelief, and sense of loss than did adult group at time of loss. (Author/NB)

Examined the experience of collaboration from sixth graders' perspective as a function of dyad gender and degree of friendship. Found that enjoyment expectations and affiliation perceptions were greater in dyads with greater degrees of friendship and in same-gender dyads compared with mixed-gender dyads. More positive expectation and greater…

Erickson's 1951 study of gender differences in preadolescents' play construction was replicated and expanded to correct for sex bias of materials. Erickson's finding of innate biological differences in the experience and perception of space was not confirmed. Instead, differences were attributed to the materials provided. (KH)

Results of study of 256 adolescents and preadolescents randomly assigned to same-sex grade-level pairs in two social situations--a neutral situation and a "male-appropriate" athletic situation-- showed no differences between sexes in overall amount of touching or proxemics, though girls smiled significantly more often than males. (CMG)

One study of 9-12 year olds found that only girls showed toy preferences among a variety of sex typed and neutral toys, but that both sexes interacted differently with masculine and feminine toys. In another study, play constructions and stories reflected the gender association of toys provided, rather than child's sex. (AOS)

Examined the existence of friendship and friendship network characteristics among 227 fifth- and sixth-graders who differed in popularity status. Found that all children reported having at least one unilateral friend, while unpopular children were less likely than popular children to have at least one reciprocal friend. (MDM)

Highly creative children (n=100) and uncreative children (n=100) were selected from 1,450 fifth- and sixth- grade students. Comparisons using data from the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking revealed significant differences in terms of quantity and quality of primary process content. Girls gave more libidinal content and boys gave more aggressive…