Investigated associations between expressive language and symbolic play in deaf children with deaf parents or with hearing parents, and hearing children with hearing parents. Defined three language level groups. Hearing status was associated with duration of symbolic play. Higher language levels were associated with more canonically sequenced and…

Examined changes in cortisol and behavioral responses in 83 infants. Found that salivary cortisol responses before and after inoculation were high at 2 months, decreased between 2 and 4 months, remained stable, then declined again between 6 and 15 months. Found some evidence that emergence of circadian rhythm in cortisol might be related to early…

In three studies of infants' ability to perceive partially occluded objects with specific appearances, a screen alternately uncovered and covered either a connected or interrupted rectangle. Pattern of infants' looking times suggests that they perceive the unity of the partially occluded object by 6.5 months but did not perceive the form of the…

Investigated infants' reactions to the face-to-face/still-face paradigm. Infants reacted to the still-face with negative affect, a drop in vagal tone, and an increase in heart rate. By contrast, they reacted to the reunion episode with a mixed pattern of positive and negative affect. (HTH)

Compared expressions of attachment relationships in preterm and full-term infants and their mothers at home at 8 and 12 months of age and in the Strange Situation at 18 months. Found 84% concordance in the distinctions between secure and nonsecure classifications of the mother-infant relationship made at home at 12 months and in the Strange…

Examined expressions of negative emotion among 37 toddlers and strategies used to reduce or change these expressions. Six strategies were identified and evaluated. Findings suggest that active engagement was most commonly used and most negatively associated with child distress. Use of strategies varied by context. (HTH)

Examined how preschoolers coped with anger toward well-liked and not-well-liked peers. Found no differences in the intensity of anger provocations by well-liked and not-well-liked provocateurs, but responses to provocations by well-liked peers were more controlled than responses provoked by peers who were not well liked. (HTH)

Examined factors that may influence control or expression of children's emotions. Regardless of emotion type, first, third, and fifth graders reported controlling expression significantly more when with peers than with a parent or when they were alone. Age and sex were also factors. Children's primary reason for controlling expression was…

Study of third- through sixth-grade children's prosocial behavior based on peer nominations found that children with prosocial reputations tended to be high in constructive social skills and attentional regulation, and low in negative emotionality. The relations of children's negative emotionality to prosocial reputation were moderated by level of…

Social information-processing patterns in 9- through 12-year olds at least partially supported 3 hypotheses: only reactive-aggressive children would demonstrate hostile biases in their attributions of intentions in provocation situations; only proactive-aggressive children would evaluate aggression in positive ways; and proactive-aggressive…

Evaluated whether children view relationally manipulative behaviors as "aggressive." In study one, relational aggression was the most frequently cited angry behavior for girls' interactions; physical aggression was most frequently cited for boys. In study two, relational aggression and verbal insults were the most frequently cited harmful…

Examined whether aggressive boys, relative to nonaggressive boys, demonstrate hostile biases or general deficits in social perception. Found that aggressive boys demonstrated hostile biases, but not general deficits, in intention-cue detection relative to average-status boys. Aggressive groups proposed aggressive responses much more frequently…

Examined whether aggressive boys' hostile attribution bias extends to processing incoming information. Subjects were asked to segment videotaped actions based on information conditions about the two boys playing in the film. Aggressiveness predicted change in segmentation after the critical event only in the neutral prior-information condition,…

Three studies examined the hypothesis that aggressive-rejected children are unaware of their social status because they are self-protective when processing negative peer feedback. Found that aggressive rejected boys could accurately assess others' social status, but aggressive rejected boys and girls were more unrealistic in assessing their own…

Examined construct validity of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance and its appropriateness for urban children. Data collected from a sample of 476 African American children of low-income families in a large metropolitan Head Start program failed to produce psychologically meaningful constructs or support for…