Examined three and four year olds' judgments about transgressions. Children judged moral transgressions to be more serious, punishable, and wrong than conventional transgressions; hypothetical transgressions to be more wrong independent of rules than actual transgressions; and hypothetical moral transgressions to be more independent of rules than…

Results of 2 studies suggested that 11- and 12-year-old children's appraisals of marital conflict are influenced by the content, intensity, and cause of the conflict; and that the meaning of marital conflict to children is an important determinant of its impact on them. (MDM)

Correlated teens' strategies for regulating their attachment to their mothers as measured by the Adult Attachment Interview, and emotion regulation during teen-mother problem solving. Teens with secure strategies engaged in problem-solving discussions characterized by less dysfunctional anger and less avoidance of problem solving than other teens.…

Examined the effects of change in parental work status on 883 early adolescents' school adjustment. Based on parental work status, families were characterized as deprived, declining, recovery, and stable. Teacher reports indicated that adolescents in deprived and declining families were less competent than adolescents in recovery and stable…

Assessed parent-child interaction in 2-parent families with 12- and 18-month-old infants through questionnaires, interviews, family observations, and the Ainsworth Strange Situation procedure. Found no effect of family stress and marital adjustment on infants' attachment classification. Parents of 12 month olds reported greater marital adjustment…

Asked 9, 11, and 13 year olds and college students about risk factors for AIDS, colds, and cancer. Found that knowledge of risk factors became more accurate with age; knowledge of risk factors was largely independent of knowledge of nonrisk factors; and knowledge about 1 disease was largely independent of knowledge about another. (MDM)

Assessed 25-month-old girls' and boys' immediate and delayed recall of sequences depicting female-stereotyped, male-stereotyped, and gender-neutral activities. Girls showed equivalent recall of all sequence types. Boys showed better recall of male- than female-stereotyped sequences, and equivalent recall of male-stereotyped and gender-neutral…

Two studies examined four- and five-month-old infants' behaviors of leaning forward toward, and reaching for, an object placed within or beyond their reach. Infants who did not lean forward showed a decline in reaching behavior when the object was placed beyond their reach. (MDM)

Two experiments tested 10-month-old infants' categorization abilities. Infants were presented with a sequence of stimuli depicting members of a given category. Stimuli representing nonmembers of the category were inserted into the sequence. Infants appeared to disregard the nonmembers in the sequence. (MDM)

Provides an evolutionary account of the human affectional system. Warmth is conceptualized as a reward system which evolved to facilitate cohesive family relationships and paternal investment in children. Warmth must be distinguished from security of attachment. Relationships based on warmth can coexist with relationships based on exploitation.…

Autonomic responses of 5- to 10-year-old children were measured while the children watched a videotape in which a doctor and child expressed negative, neutral, or positive affect. For 5- and 6-year-old children, autonomic responses were greatest while watching, and errors in subsequent memory tasks greatest after watching, the negative affect…

Reviews research regarding the sexual identity, personal development, and social relationships of children of gay and lesbian parents. To date, there is no evidence that the development of children of gay and lesbian parents is compromised relative to the development of children of heterosexual parents. (BC)

Presents theoretical perspectives on children's health attitudes. Considers the influence of socialization agents, including families, schools, peers, and the media, on children's acquisition of health attitudes and behaviors. Examines implications of research for social policy, research, and modeling of child health attitudes and behavior. (BC)

Four experiments determined that kindergartners' and second graders' inductions are sensitive to the similarity between premise and conclusion categories. Second graders' inductions are sensitive to the similarity of a premise category to a higher order category that includes the premise and conclusion categories. (BC)

Eighteen-month-old children performed sorting tasks and their parents completed checklists of words used by the children. Children who performed exhaustive grouping, or grouping of objects of different kinds in different locations, were reported as using more words than children who did not perform exhaustive grouping. (BC)