Examined strategies used by infants when listener feedback indicated that their requests were not understood. Concluded that children in the early stages of language development have acquired at least rudimentary knowledge of appropriate conversational behavior. (Author/DB)

Examined various ways Black, low-income preschool children transform reality into fantasy during free play. Approximately one-half of the girls' and one-third of the boys' utterances represented fantasy transformations, the most frequent of which were animation, reification, and situational attribution. Found significant effects related to sex of…

Significant correlations were obtained between Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory scores and two clusters of items from the Bayley Scales of Infant Development: goal directedness and language use. HOME assessments were made when children were 6 and 12 months old; the Bayley was administered at 12 months.…

Examined the relationship among four measures of third- grade children's social competence (behavioral, sociometric, teacher completed, and child self-report) and their relationship to Metropolitan Achievement Test grade- equivalent scores. Among the results it was found that children with high academic achievement scores were liked by and…

Factor analysis of 25 rating scales from Bayley's infant behavior record were performed for a sample of about 300-400 infant twins tested one or more times between 3 and 24 months of age. The analyses provided five major and two minor factors that were considerably consistent at all ages. (Author/DB)

The influence of maternal stimulation on infant exploratory behavior was examined in both a cross-sectional/ correlational study and an experimental study, in order to overcome the limitations on making causal claims that attend most research into maternal influence on infant development. (Author/DB)

The reactions of 24 eight-month-old infants and their mothers were observed when approached in a standard laboratory situation by female strangers whose approach was either fast or slow. Mothers were significantly more "wary" than infants, particularly as the proximity of the stranger increased. (Author/RH)

To assess the effects of the onset of mothers' inaccessibility to their infants, infant-mother pairs were observed in the Ainsworth strange situation at both 12 and 18 months and were classified as secure, anxious-avoidant, or anxious-resistant. Children of mothers who had returned to work/school before their child was 12-months-old were more…

Investigates the way that mothers and their preschool children divided up strategic responsibilities for carrying out a problem-solving task which involved making a puzzle in accordance with a model. Among the results, findings suggest that adults' communicative moves were fulfilling different functions for children at different ages. (Author/RH)

Measures of limit setting and control in a toy cleanup situation were developed as part of a longitudinal study of lower-SES mothers and children through the first five years of life. Several findings suggest a distinction between mothers' seductive behavior and warmth or affection. Developmental implications are discussed. (Author/RH)

Observers recorded the sex-typed activities of 49 children during free-play sessions in nursery school and kindergarten. Reinforcing and punishing responses of peers and teachers were also recorded. Among the results, children reinforced one another primarily for gender-appropriate activities. Most reinforcements and punishments were received from…

Mothers', fathers', and peers' differential reward and punishment of 3- and 5-year-old children's sex-typed behaviors were examined using a laboratory analog of a natural play context. Implications for social learning and reciprocal-role development are explored and a social network perspective on children's social development is discussed.…