Determined whether 72 first, third, and fifth graders would construe the fairness of societal practices as dependent on the implicit contract or definition of a situation. Children judged the fairness and effectiveness of practices differently for different situations. (RJC)

Compares the development of working memory in normally achieving children and learning disabled children. Results show a growth of working memory as a function of age. Deficits in working memory for subtypes of learning disabled children are discussed. (RJC)

Investigated changes in perceptions of the student/teacher relationship and the value of mathematics on the part of 2,501 students making the transition to junior high school. The value of math increased for students who moved from less supportive to more supportive teachers. (RJC)

Analyzed genetic and environmental contributions to intellectual change in 258 adopted and 93 biological children of 3-14 years. The effect of genes and family environment was significant at the time of the first measurement, but only genes made an additional contribution between the first and the second. (RJC)

Investigated sex differences in the motor activity level of 83 children of 5-8 years. Relative maturity was negatively related to activity level. Girls were less motorically active and more mature than boys. (RJC)

Provides an introduction to loglinear analysis of cross-classification tables, including tables with nominal and ordinal variables. Compares the chi-square test of independence with the loglinear model of independence. Reviews the advantages and overall strategy of loglinear modeling. Each model discussed is applied to data from the developmental…

Concerns the development of children's understanding of representational change and its relation to other cognitive developments. Two experiments involve day care children, aged three, four, and five years. Results suggest that children begin to consider alternative representations of the same object at about age four. (Author/RWB)

Two experiments investigate children's knowledge about attentional capacity limits. Preschool children aged three and four years are asked to choose whether they will listen to pairs of stories simultaneously or one at a time. Results demonstrate a preference for listening to one at a time. (Author/RWB)

Examines the development of metaphor by using structure-mapping theory to make distinctions among kinds of metaphors. Proposes that children can understand metaphors based on shared object attributes before those based on shared relational structure. Results indicate a developmental shift toward focus on relational structure in metaphor…

Two experiments test hypothesis that development of children's comprehension monitoring skills in the referential communication paradigm is based in part on ability to differentiate the literal sentence meaning of speaker's direction from the meaning or intention that speaker wished to convey. (Author/RWB)

Three groups of elementary school students, matched on reading ability and with similar cognitive profiles, were administered tasks assessing their inventory of reading skills. Results support a developmental lag model of reading problems of nondyslexic children. (Author/RWB)

Examines the dynamics involved when preschoolers aged five years attempt to build replicas of Lego models, either by working alone or with another. Results show that collaboration was more conducive to learning than was independent work and that children were able to generalize their skills. (Author/RWB)

Examines developmental changes in the resolution of conflicting goals involved in self-evaluation among children entering second, fourth, and sixth grades who represent high, medium, and low ability levels in arithmetic. Results are discussed in terms of strategies for balancing self-assessment with self-enhancement needs. (Author/RWB)

Examines relations among early social and familial experience, social problem-solving skills, and social competence in the classroom, in sample of 46 children, aged four and five years, from economically distressed backgrounds. Finds family experience predictive of both social competence and problem solving. (Author/RWB)

Examines child's representation of self in connection with child-mother attachment in a sample of 52 white, middle-class children aged six years. Results indicate that significant, albeit modest, connections between attachment and the self were established; further, specific patterns of self-perceptions were related to particular patterns of…