Videotaped four- to eight-year olds as they interacted with computer software at different levels of developmental appropriateness. Facial expressions and other affective behaviors were analyzed as a function of age, presence of a peer, and appropriateness of software. Found that responses were mediated more by age, gender, and social condition…

Examined the relationship between childhood loneliness and insecure-ambivalent attachment in infancy. As predicted, the most loneliness in early childhood was reported by children classified insecure-ambivalent in infancy. Possible explanations center on the contribution of attachment to peer relationships, internal working models, and child…

Examined the impact of various factors on perceived emotional strain of adult son and daughter caregivers of frail elderly parents. Daughters experienced higher levels of emotional strain than did sons. Daughters' emotional strain predicted by interference with work and quality of relationship with parent. Sons' stressors also discussed. (RJM)

Homesickness is a normal response of campers to the stress of being separated from their families. Suggestions for interventions include preparing children and parents for the camp experience, educating staff concerning child development and homesickness, developing a plan for the child who has adjustment problems, and following-up with campers at…

The Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire is introduced as a measure of emotional expressiveness. Four studies involving 499 mothers and 362 fathers provided evidence of good convergent, discriminant, and construct validity for the instrument and a preliminary short form. Factor analyses support a two-factor solution across the studies.…

Three models of achievement motivation in the classroom are contrasted. Results with 155 high school students suggest that the model of C. S. Dweck and E. S. Elliott offers a better explanation of the relationships among achievement motivation, attributions, emotional reactions, expectancies, and performance than do the other models. (SLD)

This study of an adult with severe mental retardation and severe physical impairments found that the subject learned the cause-and-effect relationship between her voice commands and resultant action controlling environmental devices, differentiated various vocalizations for different environmental actions, and experienced positive affect when she…

Analysis of taped utterances of New Zealand sixth graders show how children perceive and respond to subtle cultural and gender biases in curriculum and teachers' presentation. Children construct their own knowledge as they attempt to make sense of classroom culture that may undermine their gender and racial identity. (SK)

This study evaluated the relationship of race/ethnicity (Latina, African American, or white) to severity of symptoms in sexually abused girls. A racially mixed sample of 134 girls was evaluated in depression, anxiety, and self-worth. Race/ethnicity alone did not predict outcome, but the interaction of race/ethnicity with the type of abuse was…

Examined the relationship between depression rates, IQ, knowledge of the finality of death, exposure to suicidal behavior and knowledge of suicide methods. Found that the effect of these factors differed between suicidal and nonsuicidal psychiatrically hospitalized children and developmentally delayed adolescents. Also found that the factors had…

Four sources of efficacy (achievement, modeling, verbal encouragement, and emotional response) with regard to high school math, locus of control, and math self-efficacy were assessed for 97 male and 66 female Japanese undergraduates. Men reported significantly higher math self-efficacy. Of the four sources, only verbal persuasion did not make a…

A two-year study of preschoolers attempted to identify emotions and prosocial behaviors that reliably predict teachers' ratings of young preschoolers' affective and behavioral social-emotional competence. Results showed that observed emotion, especially anger and sadness, often predicted teacher ratings of social-emotional competence in…

Presents results of a study of adolescents' responses to being touched. Breaks downs findings by status and sex of toucher, age and sex of subject, and type of touch and part of body being touched. Concludes that effective use of touch depends on conforming to expectations in terms of how, where, and by whom child is touched. (DK)

Explores the notion of imaginative development. Defines imagination through a review of literature of music, religion, and aesthetics. Suggests that imagination precedes creativity and involves perception, intuition, thinking, and feeling. Describes a developmental sequence based on research. Proposes ways to cultivate imagination through music.…

The conceptualization and measurement of student anger is discussed, and results from a study with 248 elementary school students are presented to demonstrate that specific ways of controlling and expressing anger can differentially affect school results. The predictive power of measures of anger and product terms are considered. (SLD)