Draws attention to the potentially harmful effects of evaluating children's friendships on what are often negative outcomes, rather than on the efforts that children make to effectively negotiate their friendships. Describes a study of children's friendships in a fifth-grade, culturally diverse class in a large urban elementary school, revealing…

Describes the activities of KIDLINK, an international electronic conferencing system that was developed to establish communication between children 10 to 15 years old around the world using the Internet and other computer networks. A list of local KIDLINK contacts in 29 countries is included. (LRW)

Systematically explored how three different initial training contexts affect children's and adults' interpretation of novel action verbs. Subjects included 54 3-yearolds, 60 10-year olds, and 60 college-age adults. Findings suggest a hierarchy of verb learning strategies, especially among the youngest children. (DR)

Studied effects of expert knowledge and metacognitive knowledge on strategy acquisition. Boys who were poor readers and baseball experts were trained in reading strategy using baseball or nonbaseball stories. Found that boys trained using baseball stories demonstrated greater strategy use; boys with higher metacognition demonstrated better…

The Growing Up FAST program involves working with adolescents and their parents and includes rites of passage, multicultural issues, and a solution-focused perspective. Discusses the program's development and theoretical background, as well as its specific goals, current valuative efforts, and implementation strategies. (RJM)

Explores the type and seriousness of concerns reported by Turkish adolescents (n=957) and compares these concerns with self-reported psychological distress. Concerns were grouped into five clusters: (1) personal future; (2) interpersonal relations; (3) local-universal issues; (4) social identity; and (5) use of drugs. Cultural differences were…

Discusses a model of television interpretation processes regarding the influences of alcohol advertising and describes a study that tested the model with preadolescent at-risk students. Highlights include perceptions of alcohol use at home and on television; social norms; perceived realism of commercials; and intent to drink. (41 references) (LRW)

Examined students' self-descriptions of situations, individuals, and incidents that evoked feelings of guilt to determine developmental and gender differences in guilt. Content analysis revealed changes in percentage of students at three grade levels who spontaneously mentioned a situation as guilt producing. Striking and distinctive patterns in…

Dutch replication of Bybee, Robinson and Turow's 1982 study of parental influence on television viewing by children between 3 and 18 years old found 3 distinct parental models: restrictive, evaluative, and unfocused guidance. Parental attitudes toward television and its effects on children were found to be important determinants in the type of…

Investigated effects of wellness promotion guidance activities among fifth grade children (n=62). The results revealed enhanced self-esteem and higher knowledge of wellness information among children who participated in the wellness promotion activities, as compared to a control group of nonparticipants. (Author/NB)

Mothers from low-income, single-parent families and their 10- to 12-year-old children were interviewed to assess their beliefs. Findings indicated that children with employed mothers perceived more cohesion in their families, had greater self-esteem, and were more accurate in predicting maternal beliefs than children with unemployed mothers. (LB)

Describes a curriculum for children between 7 and 13 years of age in residential care. The curriculum instructs the children in basic life skills and offers them a head start in developing self-sufficiency and fostering self-esteem. (HTH)

Through participation in community service programs, adolescents assume meaningful roles and respond to real needs of their society as well as to their own need to be needed. Presents arguments for expanding opportunities for young adolescents to contribute actively to the community, including incorporation of community service in the curriculum.…

Over time, mother-child relationships in families with remarried mothers grew increasingly similar to those in families whose parents had never divorced. Relationships in single-mother families remained different from those in the other two types of families. Stepfathers were less likely to be authoritative than were nondivorced fathers. (BC)

In families whose parents had never divorced, families with a single mother, and families whose mother had remarried, there were (1) some differences for child gender and family type in children's behavior toward siblings; (2) few effects of gender composition of sibling dyads; and (3) a decline in the level of sibling interaction over time. (BC)