Home observations of Israeli families with retarded children (N=40) and with normal children (N=40) indicated that, among families with retarded children, there was less frequent maternal behavior toward the child, less frequent communicative behavior of the child toward the parents, and more frequent spousal interchanges regarding the child.…

A path model of genetic and shared family environmental transmission was fitted to general cognitive ability data from 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old adopted and nonadopted children and their parents to assess the etiology of longitudinal stability from infancy to early childhood. (HOD)

Children deprived of the normal give-and-take of family during the first three years of life often suffer long-term psychological damage, according to Alberta Siegel, professor of psychology and psychiatry in the behavioral sciences, Stanford University Medical School. Discusses the importance of a caring environment as a requisite for language…

Examined longitudinally maternal emotional distress, parental behavior, and provision of cognitively stimulating activities as mediators of the association between family income and prematurely born young children's development. Found that provision of stimulating experiences in the home mediated the relation between family income and children's…

A 2-year study concludes that cognitive and developmental changes are less important determinants of children's television use than are family patterns and external variables affecting the opportunity to view. Subjects were 326 children within 3 months of their third or fifth birthdays at the beginning of the study and their families, most of…

Notes arguments supporting the importance of parent education to help parents become better teachers of their young children. Describes two projects of the Parents as Teachers Program (NPAT), one in the state of Missouri; the other, a related pilot project in Australia's New South Wales. Notes the positive evaluation results from Missouri's…

National Center for Education Statistics survey shows family members read to 35 percent of 3-8 year olds daily and to 58 percent of young children several times weekly or monthly. Children not enrolled in school watch about 3.1 hours of television or videotapes daily, those in nursery school/kindergarten about 2.5 hours, and primary grade…

This study examined the relationships between children's musical ability and various factors of social environment and child characteristics. There was a positive correlation between children's musical aptitude and fathers' encouragement and children's cognitive and creative abilities. Cognitive ability was the only significant predictor of…

Examined whether links between the marital relationship and sibling interaction were directed or mediated by the mother-child relationship. Found that older siblings' negative behavior was linked with negative dimensions of the marital and mother-child relationship. Younger siblings' negative behavior was linked with the mother-child and…

Used a subsample from the Infant Health and Development Program to examine effects of neighborhood and family income and family risk factors on developmental test scores at ages 1 through 3. Family poverty was associated with lower scores at ages 2 and 3. Neighborhood affluence was associated with higher scores at age 3. Home environment was a…

This study explored the development of children's early understanding of visual and orthographic aspects of print and how this is related to early reading acquisition. A total of 474 children, ages 48 to 83 months, completed standardized measures of phonological awareness and early reading skills. They also completed experimental tasks that tapped…

This study examined family stressors among 3-year-old children who were classified as hyperactive (HYP), hyperactive and oppositional defiant (HYP/OD), and non-problem based on mothers' reports of behavior. Children with HYP/OD were found to experience higher levels of family stressors than non-problem children on almost every family stressor…

This monograph, the last in a series of four volumes, reports data gathered in a study designed to discover and interpret the home conditions under which young children in the English-speaking Caribbean Islands, especially the underprivileged, are nurtured. Section 1 of the document details the interview schedule, providing a comprehensive outline…

Findings indicate drug usage in early adolescence is related to concurrent, as well as preschool, personality characteristics. Personality concomitants and antecedents of drug use differ somewhat as a function of gender and drug used. (PCB)

Examined the relationship between low income mothers' (N=243) knowledge about child development and their ability to design a quality home learning environment. Controlling for income and education, parents who knew more about critical environmental factors and infant normative development did score higher on the parenting skill measure. (JAC)