Home, neighborhood, and community are critically examined from the perspective of a young child, and some hard questions are posed as to the value structures that various environments implicitly reinforce. (CS)

Current programs to aid Negroes focus on them as people who are culturally deprived rather than culturally different. This approach dooms these programs to failure. (CK)

Responds to a parent question regarding two children's differing temperaments. Provides information on temperament traits, focusing on approach-withdrawal, adaptability, distractibility, mood, and the role of stress. Discusses the importance of parents recognizing their own temperament as well as their child's and offers suggestions for addressing…

Discusses the usefulness of information from parents in the identification of young children with handicaps. Includes: (1) a rationale for the use of information from parents; (2) description of methods used to gather information; and (3) a review of research that has determined the accuracy of parental information. (RJC)

Details of a UNESCO project concerning the young child and the family environment are presented. The three major aspects of child development addressed by the project are nutrition for the child, children's handicaps, and interaction between the child and its family. (BG)

Study 1 identified proximal processes in home environments of 78 children aged 6-9: maturity facilitation, use of stimulating materials, and parent-child relationship. Study 2 tested the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment instrument for consistency and construct and criterion-related validity with samples of 307, 171, and 73,…

This study examined passive genotype-environment correlations (GECs) for language related abilities by comparing environment-child language associations in adoptive and nonadoptive families. Findings indicate genetic mediation of the association between home environmental variables with children's language-related abilities. Implications for…

Using Ecological Systems Theory and stage sequential modelling procedures for detecting mediation, this study examined how early developmental contexts impact preschoolers' performances on a measure of sustained attention and impulse control. Data from 1273 European-American and African-American participants in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care…

This paper draws upon evidence from a three-year longitudinal study of young children drawing across home, pre-school and school. The study shows how the belief systems of significant adults and more able peers/siblings impact upon the child's access to, use of and beliefs about drawing. Concentrating upon the children when in the Foundation Stage…

Sleep disorders are common in childhood. Their prevalence is especially high in the presence of disability or chronic illness. They cause considerable stress to the children themselves and to their parents. Sleep deprivation leads to daytime behavioral problems and educational difficulties. In assessing sleep problems thorough history taking is…

This study is concerned with experiences of ethnic identity amongst a group of three-year-old and four-year-old children, four-fifths of whom are of Pakistani heritage and the remainder of white indigenous heritage. Focused on a nursery school in the United Kingdom, the study explores the relationship between the individual and the social and…

The risk of tobacco use during adolescence may be traced back to early childhood, the time when a child is most vulnerable to environmental influence. We examined daily-life enrichment during pre-kindergarten period as a predictor of initiation of cigarette smoking among Asian American and Hispanic/Latino children during adolescence. Survey data…

This paper focuses on findings from a qualitative study of care-giving Arab Muslim families of children with developmental disabilities in the United Arab Emirates. The perceptions of mothers in relation to family acceptance and social inclusion issues are explored. Parental views of existing provision are also considered with regard to existing…

This study used the Learning Potential Test to demonstrate the independence of learning potential from the characteristics of the family environment. The subjects were 36 white children age 46 to 75 months from low and middle socioeconomic level families. Demographic information was obtained by a questionnaire and the home environment quality was…

Examined home environments of children whose mothers were married/working, married/nonworking, or divorced/working across an 18-month period. Home environments of children from divorced/working homes were found to be less cognitive and socially stimulating than those of married homes. Home environments of the married families with and without…