Employed a trial-by-trial analysis of spelling-strategy use to examine whether the overlapping-waves model could account for strategy choices in spelling for children tested in first and second grade. Found that the model was useful for understanding the development of spelling, despite the fact that explicit use of backup strategies had a minimal…

Two studies explored bilingual language-development outcomes of low-income, Spanish-speaking, Mexican-American children who did or did not attend a bilingual preschool. Found that children who attended bilingual preschools, compared to those remaining at home, showed significant and parallel gains in Spanish-language development and in…

Compared 3- and 5-year olds' recall of a pediatric examination in verbal versus enactment interviews. Found that children in the enactment condition provided more spontaneous, elaborate reports than did children in verbal interview. Enactment produced increased errors by 3-year olds one week after examination, by both age groups after six weeks.…

Compared performance of preschool children, chimpanzees, and orangutans on nonverbal task of false-belief understanding and tested children's performance on a verbal version of the same task. Found that children's performance on verbal and nonverbal tasks were highly correlated, and no chimp or orangutan succeeded in the nonverbal false-belief…

Interviewed 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, and 10-year olds, and adults regarding their knowledge about primary-consciousness, reflective-consciousness, and control activities. Found that the recognition that people do not engage in conscious mental activities when unconscious is still developing during the late middle-childhood years. (Author/KB)

Compared the "on-line" (real time, ongoing internal representation) understanding of ongoing social events of boys with and without attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Found that younger children and those with ADHD showed less integrated on-line representations, accounting for poor recall and reasoning. (Author/KB)

Examined relationship of regulatory control to preschoolers' peer interactions. Found that children high in effortful control were relatively unlikely to experience high levels of negative emotional arousal in response to peer interactions, but this relationship held only for moderate to high intense interactions. Socially competent responding was…

Analyzed individual developmental trajectories of disruptive behavior problems (DBP) between 3.5 and 6.0 years for children of adolescent mothers. Found that DBP decreased with age. Boys and children of more depressed/anxious mothers exhibited higher levels of DBP. Maternal negative control was associated with level of DBP and change rate, and…

Examined third and sixth graders' depression, anxiety, and perceived academic competence every six months for three years. Found that compared to teachers' ratings, boys overestimated and girls underestimated competence. Gender differences emerged in fourth/fifth grade, increasing through eighth grade. Controlling for depression and anxiety…

Examined relationship between temporal contingency of maternal behavior and interactional quality. Found that although prompt responding was typical, the existence of individual differences indicated that this tendency was expressed in different communicative channels. The relationship between contingency and ratings of interactional quality was…

Two studies examined preschool teacher and child interactions regarding personal, moral, and socioconventional issues in the classroom and the development of personal concepts. Findings suggested that in both judgments and social interactions, teachers and children identified a personal domain in which children can and should make choices about…

Examined elementary students' evaluations of decision-making procedures in different social contexts. Found that consensus was preferred in peer and family contexts and authority-based procedures were preferred for school curricular decisions. Older children were more likely than younger to consider how children's limited knowledge and competence…

This longitudinal study examined relations between self-reported parental reactions to children's negative emotions (PNRs) and children's socially appropriate/problem behavior and negative emotionality. Evidence was consistent with the conclusion that relationship between children's externalizing, but not internalizing, emotion and parental…

Used time-lapse video to record sleep/wake states of preterm infants for three 24-hour periods at 33 and 35 weeks conceptional age. Found that very-low-birthweight preterm infants showed marked stability and developmental change in the organization of sleep/wake states from a very early age, and their states were related to demographic variables…

Examined the effect of maternal soothing to infant inoculation as well as everyday distress on infant cortisol and behavioral responses to stress in two samples of infants between 2 and 6 months of age. Found no evidence that maternal soothing reduced cortisol or behavioral-stress responses, despite evidence for cross-time stability and…