Based on data collected prenatally and during infants' first 2 years of life, this study attempted to discriminate among three major attachment classifications and to account for qualitative changes in attachment relationships. Data included maternal and infant characteristics, mother-infant interactions, life-stress events, and family living…

Maternal behaviors within mother-infant games were examined to determine the amount, type, and functional value of maternal helping behaviors. A total of 17 mother-infant pairs were videotaped on monthly visits while playing five separate games. The study employed a skill-centered analysis to examine maternal scaffolding. (Author/RH)

Investigates the influence of chronological age, mental age, and handicapping condition on mothers' interactions with their handicapped young children. A total of 111 handicapped children ranging in age from 3 to 36 months and their mothers participated. Infants' general functioning and handicapping conditions were related to maternal…

Multiple measures of social and cognitive functioning were obtained to investigate whether abused and neglected children demonstrate serious psychological disturbances following instances of child maltreatment. Participants were 42 preschool children who had a previous history of physical abuse, serious neglect, or no maltreatment. (Author/RH)

Examines (1) the relationship between children's scores on the Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME) Inventory and their achievement test scores, and (2) the relationship between children's intervening home environments and their school achievement. Data were gathered from 37 normal first-grade children and their families.…

Tests causal models of verbal and performance IQ in 69 Mexican-American children of low socioeconomic status. Years of mother's education were correlated with IQ at 3 years and at 6 to 8 years, but traditional/nontraditional attitudes showed conflicting correlations over time. The adequacy of standarized IQ tests for this population is questioned.…

Two experiments involving a total of 177 infants 8 to 11 months of age found that subjects used a global processing strategy like adults' in discriminating transformations of a six-tone melody. Subjects needed melodic contour and frequency range to judge new sequences, but, in easy tasks, they also used absolute frequency. (CB)

To document movement patterns and to examine developmental interrelationships, the ontogeny of rooting, lip, lateral tongue, mouth opening, biting, and Babkin reflexes and the development of emerging chewing behaviors were observed in two normal infants over a period from 1 week to 35 weeks of age. (Author/RH)

Quantitatively describes the gait development of a group of African children to determine how pattern changes would relate to growth and maturation. A total of 65 children from the Gusii tribe of southwestern Kenya, ranging in age from 13 to 69 months, were selected for study. (Author/RH)

A 32-item test battery was administered to 154 male and female elementary school students to describe the static balance ability of 6- to 9-year-old children. Body position, visual use, and one-footed static base of support were found to affect subjects' balance performance. (Author/RH)

Examines differences in habituation in a visual attention task as a function of chronological age, mental age, and handicapping condition. Subjects were 102 children who ranged in age from 3 to 36 months and who were classified as Down Syndrome, cerebral palsied, developmentally delayed, or multiply handicapped. (Author/RH)

Investigates developmental changes in adopted and nonadopted children's knowledge of adoption. A total of 200 children ranging in age from 4 to 13 years participated. Results indicated clear developmental trends in children's knowledge of the nature of the adoptive family relationship, as well as in their understanding of the motivational basis…

While controlling for overall intellectual level, this study assessed the interpersonal problem-solving skills of 150 families via written tests and behavioral performances. Interrelationships between written and behavioral interpersonal cognitive problem-solving skills were examined, as were the relationships of each problem-solving measure to…

Abilities of 2-, 5-, and 7-year-old children to interpret, judge acceptability of, and produce class extensions were assessed. It was concluded that increasing ability to deal appropriately with class extensions is primarily due to general advances in language acquisition rather than to any development unique to the class-extension word-formation…

Infants 6 1/2 months of age were first trained to discriminate a very salient speech contrast and subsequently were tested for their recognition of the contrast when it was embedded within redundant or mixed "context" syllables. Also assessed was the effect on recognition of positioning the target syllable differently within a trisyllabic string.…