Two studies explored the possibility that a set of behaviors that could be characterized as helping would be exhibited by young children. (Author/RH)

A self-administered rating scale containing 24 items thought to reflect the major components of Type A behavior was developed to assess Type A behavior in children. The scale was judged to be reliable after tests were conducted among 160 public school fifth and sixth graders and yielded the following factors: "eagergy" (eagerness-energy),…

The effects of father absence on educational achievement and intellectual development of 6- to 11-year-old children were investigated by employing a nationally representative sample of 5,493 father-present and 616 father-absent children from the Health Examination Survey of the National Center for Health Statistics. (Author/RH)

Forty-three infants and mothers were observed in the Strange Situation when infants were 12.5 and 19.5 months old. Following each assessment, mothers completed a questionnaire concerning changes in family and care-giving circumstances. Results indicate that security of attachment reflects the current status of infant-mother interaction and that…

Two studies were conducted to identify and develop a measure of dimensions of temperament which are continuous in the behavioral repertoire from early childhood to young adulthood. Identified factors were labeled as follows: activity level, attention span/distractibility, adaptability/approach-withdrawal, rhythmicity, and reactivity. (Author/RH)

Temperament ratings of infants, toddlers, and preschool children were made by their parents and their all-day nursery school teachers to determine whether low parent-observer reliabilities previously reported may relate to differential experiences with children. Despite the teachers' extensive contact with these children, convergence coefficients…

Examines mother characteristics, child behavior, and mother's temperament ratings when their babies were 4 months old. The social status, anxiety level, and mental health status of the mother were all related to temperament ratings on the Carey Infant Temperament Questionnaire. Results suggest that individual differences in mothers may be the…

In order to test later cognitive status from infant behavioral performance, 76 preterm infants were assessed with respect to differences in sustained attention when they were eight months old. The measure of sustained attention proved to contribute significantly to the prediction of later status on the Bayley Mental Scale and on the Gessell…

Investigates the predictability of cognitive differences at 12 months from infant and maternal behaviors at 4 months. Overall, the results show that some individual differences in cognition may be predictable across the first year of life. (Author/RH)

Two experiments investigated infants' perception of silence in the speech contrast between the words "slit" and "split." Experiment I was designed to determine whether infants could discriminate a speech contrast cued primarily by silence duration. Experiment II studied whether infants can discriminate brief durations of silence. (Author/RH)

Investigates the development of map-reading skills in kindergartners and second graders. The maps were read either inside or outside the space shown on the map and they were either aligned with the space or rotated 90 or 180 degrees. (Author/RH)

Investigates development of mathematical concepts among West African children from an agricultural tribe (Baoule) and a merchant society (Dioula). Baoule and Dioula children at three age levels participated: Preschoolers, 5-6 years; 7- to 8-year-olds with one year of school; and schooled and unschooled 9- to 10-year-olds. Experimental tasks…

Investigates the hypothesis that strategy development might occur within or beyond the period of formal operations, but that this development might be discernible only beyond the second order of analogical relations. Adolescent strategy development in the solution of third-order analogies resembled in pattern the preadolescent development found in…

The development of concepts of both the mind and brain is examined in subjects from preschool age through adulthood. While young children begin with undifferentiated conceptions of the mind and brain, in subsequent developments these concepts are differentiated along ontological and functional lines. (Author/RH)

Experiment I establishes that the ability to remember the slope of a line develops between three and four years of age. In Experiment II, 15 children with a mean age of four years and six months who had discriminated both slope and left-right problems under successive presentation were tested on these same discriminations under simultaneous…