Infants of depressed mothers who were visited at home outperformed infants of depressed mothers who received no intervention services by an average of 10 points on the Bayley Mental Scale and were twice as likely to be classified as securely attached. Unserved, high-risk infants showed a high rate of insecure-disorganized attachments. (RH)

Children with mothers who were instructed to interact in a minimal manner with their children displayed distress sooner and played less with their age-mates than did children with mothers who interacted in a minimal manner but were not instructed to do so. Participants were 36 female and 36 male toddlers of 15-18 months of age and their mothers.…

Results suggest that the most adaptive course of action for children may be to be responsive to environmental demands and interpersonal constraints. In the study, the patterns of compliance of 31 children of 18 months, 32 children of 24 months, and 36 children of 30 months, and their mothers and fathers were observed in five situations. (RH)

Focused on (1) the effect of mother-child interaction during a problem-solving task on subsequent, independent child performance; and (2) the variability in the division of task responsibilities and maternal regulation of the child as a function of task difficulty, child age, and task component. Participants were 60 three to five year olds and…

Children of mothers who were more assertive in their disciplinary styles tended to be less accepted by peers and to expect successful outcomes for unfriendly assertive methods for resolving peer conflict. Children who expected unfriendly assertive strategies to lead to self-oriented gains were less accepted by peers. (RH)

Examined parents' emotional responses to aggression and social withdrawal in early childhood, beliefs about the causes of problematic social behaviors, and strategies for responding to aggression and withdrawal. Considered variation in parental beliefs as a function of child sex and differences between mothers and fathers. (RH)

Insecurely attached boys were less liked by peers and teachers; were perceived as more aggressive by classmates; and were rated by teachers as less competent and as having more behavior problems than were secure boys. No such association emerged for girls. Participants were 89 children assessed before and after they entered first grade and their…

Results add to a growing literature that demonstrates the influence of economic change on the quality of parent-child relationships. Research, which used data from a 2-year, 4-wave panel study, was conducted in 12 working- and middle-class communities where auto and auto-related manufacturing were the main industries. (RH)

Results indicate that socially maladjusted girls with histories of delinquency involving aggressive, disruptive, and antisocial behavior resulting in placement in institutional custody can, through training in social perspective-taking, increase their understanding of others in interpersonal situations. Subjects were 16 girls of 10-16 years of…

Results indicate that children who witness teachers' appraisal actions interpret some of them differently at different ages. Participants were 136 first through sixth graders who were assessed on measures of perceptions of target children and perceptions of teacher's opinions of target children. (RH)

A total of 80 Israeli 5, 7, and 10 year olds working in either a match-the-standard or a competitive condition copied a drawing and then evaluated their copies. Competing 5 year olds overestimated the quality of their copies. With age, self-assessments became less positive and better correlated with adult judgments. (RH)

Children's use of the terms "lie" and "truth" was examined. Participants were 150 subjects in five groups: nursery schoolers, preschoolers, first graders, fifth graders, and adults. Results support the development of definitional prototypes for the concepts of lie and truth. (RH)

In two classes of 8 year olds and 2 classes of 11 year olds, each child ranked all members of his or her class in terms of degree to which classmate was strong and liked. Subjects consistently overestimated their place in the hierarchy in relation to peers' perceptions. Bias in perceptions of strength extended to peer group. (RH)

Results of five studies suggest that the availability of an object concept in sentences that preceded an unexpected story outcome was a critical determinant of the occurrence of an object inference. The thematic prominence of the object influences the use of the object in an inference. (RH)

Fourth and sixth graders evaluated three types of problematic texts, suggested changes that would make the texts easier to understand, and judged whether four types of revisions improved the comprehensibility of problematic stories. Older children detected more text problems than younger children. Older and younger children did not differ in…