Examined consistency in behavioral state organization for 30 fetuses and neonates. Assessed heart rate pattern and presence or absence of eye and gross body movements during sleep, finding quiet sleep (QS), active sleep (AS), and indeterminate states in nearly identical proportions. Duration of enclosed QS epochs provided only stable measure of…

Examined attachment classification of children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) and isolated cleft palate (ICP) and comparison group at 12 months of age; found no significant differences. Findings suggest that infants with clefts, despite special needs and caregiving requirements, seem not to have elevated risk for insecure attachments at the end…

Studied whether disturbances in mothers' metabolism (N=139) during pregnancy may exert long-range effects on neurobehavioral development of singleton progeny. Examined detailed pregnancy and perinatal records of mothers who experienced diabetes in pregnancy and intelligence tests of their offspring, administered at ages 7 to 11 years. All…

Two studies showed preschoolers have little knowledge and awareness of inner speech. Study 1 showed that, compared to 6- to 7-year olds and adults, 4-year olds usually did not infer that persons silently engaged in verbal mental activities were saying things to themselves. Study 2 demonstrated that 4- and 5-year olds are much poorer than adults at…

Two studies of toddlers and children with autism, mentally handicapped children, and normal toddlers examined whether autistic toddlers used Speaker's Direction of Gaze (SDG) strategy or less powerful Listener's Direction of Gaze (LDG) strategy to learn a word for a novel object. Results suggest autistic toddlers are insensitive to speaker's gaze…

A parent-report questionnaire, the Child Routines Inventory (CRI), was administered to 1,492 parents with children between 8 and 72 months of age. Results indicated that frequency of compulsive-like behaviors is more common among 2-, 3- and 4-year olds than among children younger than 1 year or over 4 years of age. Findings are relevant to a…

Two studies tested whether 12- and 24-month olds' self-knowledge differed from their knowledge of others (mother or inanimate object), or whether toddlers' knowledge of persons (self and mother) differed from knowledge of objects. Results showed that 12-month olds were more sensitive than older toddlers to perceptual features of objects. Data were…

Studied developmental changes in the experience of solitude between late childhood and early adolescence. Fifth through ninth graders (N=483) provided experience-sampling reports on their companionship and subjective states at random times over a week. Found that in early adolescence solitude comes to have a more constructive role in daily life as…

Measured mother-child shared cooperation and positive affect, at 26-41 months and at 43-56 months, in multiple contexts of daily interactions. In dyads high on mutually responsive orientation, mothers resorted to less power, and children were more internalized regarding material values and rules. Mothers high on empathic perspective-taking were…

Examined whether established associations between perceptions of parental differential treatment (PDT) and sibling relationship quality are moderated by children's perceptions and attributions of parental behavior in 61 children (11-13 years) and their siblings. Children did not perceive PDT in two-thirds of instances reported; 75% who…

Interviewed 51 children ages 4 and 5, to obtain narrative representations of mothers--generating Positive, Negative, and Disciplinary representation composites. Found that children who had more Positive and Disciplinary representations and fewer Negative representations had fewer behavior problems and less psychological distress. Older children…

Notes that 4-month olds who show a low threshold to become distressed and motorically aroused to unfamiliar stimuli are more likely than others to become fearful and subdued during early childhood, while infants who show a high arousal threshold are more likely to become bold and sociable. Considers implications for psychopathology and relation…

Suggests that, with the waning influence of Piaget and shortcomings of information-processing perspectives of cognitive growth, cognitive developmentalists lack a metatheory to guide their research. Posits developmental biology as metatheory for cognitive development. Introduces basic principles of evolutionary psychology, and examples of…

Provides background information and a practical guide for including demographic information in developmental research. Describes historic demographic trends reflecting ways family and economic environments have been and continue to be transformed; presents demographic statistics to provide basis for comparison of research populations; and offers…

Used heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) assessed at 33 to 35 weeks gestational age to predict developmental outcome at 3 years for very low birth weight infants. Found that RSA measures predicted developmental outcome beyond effects of birth weight, medical risk, and socioeconomic status. For infants < 1,000 grams, RSA maturation…