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)

Two studies investigated emotional-display-rule knowledge and its associations with family expressiveness and peer competence. Findings indicated that third graders combined expression regulation with prosocial reasoning, norm-maintenance, and self-protective motives more frequently than kindergartners. Negative expressiveness was related…

Presents a lesson plan that uses experiences and examples from World War II to examine some universal human emotions such as hope and fear. Students use oral histories, film clips, newspaper accounts, literature, and other sources as evidence of the emotional reactions to events preceding and during World War II. (MJP)

Examined individual differences in young children's understanding of emotion and potential correlates in the domain of family experiences. Found that individual differences in children's understanding of negative emotions were related to specific aspects of family experiences. Findings suggest complex influences of family functioning on children's…

Investigated linkages between aspects of emotional competence and preschoolers' social skills with peers, as well as parental emotion socialization practices as predictors of social skill. Found that emotional competence variables were meaningfully related to the peer variables and that, for non-constructive anger reactions, maternal reports of…

Examined development of concern and externalizing problems in children at three behavior problem levels. Found no group differences in concern at 4-5 years. Concern in children with clinical behavior problems decreased by 6-7 years. Greater concern at 4-5 or at 6-7 years predicted decreased stability and severity of externalizing problems by 6-7…

Two experiments assessed recognition of emotion among physically abused and neglected preschoolers. Results showed that neglected children had more difficulty discriminating emotional expressions that control or abused children. Abused children displayed response bias for angry facial expressions. Control children viewed discrete emotions as…

Study investigates relationships among stressful circumstances, cognitive control, and distress among Korean immigrants in the U.S. It was hypothesized that cognitive control mediated the effect of exposure to stressful circumstances on distress. Results provide strong support for cognitive control in mediating the relationship between stressful…