Four studies report on the performance of fifth-grade child dyads and adult dyads on three problem-solving tasks, extending previous research on the structural properties of the communications and on factors influencing the accuracy of the communications. Aspects of performance investigated are: (1) relative participation of dyad members in the conversations, (2) mechanisms of the regulation and integration of verbal interaction, i.e., repetition and interruption, and (3) features of encoding style. The influence of subject characteristics, which include sex and race among the adult dyads and SES, sex and race among the child dyads, on these aspects of communication behavior were also examined. The results across the studies may be summarized as follows. The distribution of TVO between members of the adult dyads and the patterning of the verbal gestures of repetitions and interruptions support the view that mutually accepted rules of conduct underlie participant interaction in problem-solving communication. The behavior of the child dyads reflects partial acquisition of these rules, and child dyad performance is similar across SES, race and sex subgroups. No consistent SES, race or sex differences were found in encoding style. Thus, observed SES differences in communication accuracy among the child dyads could not be directly attributed to characteristics of encoding style. (Author)