Examined relationships between maternal depression and children's self-concept, self-control, and peer relationships. Found that multiple risk factors, such as the father's mental state and parents' marital status, rather than maternal depression alone, explained much of the variability in children's social and emotional competence. (MDM)

Two studies comparing urban and kibbutz children found that the acquisition of normative understandings was associated with a shift from mastery to ability explanations in urban, but not kibbutz, children. Cooperative learning settings helped maintain interest in using peers to promote mastery, even after the acquisition of the normative…

Two studies examining four and five year olds' preferences for dyadic and group interaction found that females enjoyed dyadic interaction more than did males and that males enjoyed group interaction more than did females. (MDM)

Found that learning-disabled (LD) children used more task-relevant private speech than normally achieving classmates during academic seatwork, an effect that was especially pronounced for those LD children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Implications for intervention and future research methodology are discussed. (MDM)

Examined the relationship between maternal and infant measures of interaction, maternal psychosocial problems, infant cognitive development, and infant attachment security at 18 months of age and child behavior problems at age 5. Disorganized-disorientated attachment status and maternal psychosocial problems were the strongest predictors of…

Compared the relationship between psychosocial environmental factors and toddlers' adaptive behavior in Egypt. Consistent with studies done in Western cultures, it was found that caregiver vocal stimulation was positively related to indices of toddler behavioral competence, whereas nonverbal response to vocalization and physical contact…

Mothers of secure one year olds were more sensitively responsive to their infants at one and four months and less rejecting at one and nine months than mothers of insecure infants. Mothers of insecure-resistant one year olds were less sensitively responsive to their infants at one month than were mothers of secure and insecure-avoidant infants.…

Twice during the neonatal period, the behavioral organization of 42 newborns was assessed by the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), and the newborns' cortisol response to the NBAS procedure was determined. Newborns with low orientation showed a higher increase in cortisol during the NABS than newborns with high orientation. (MDM)

Advances in the neurosciences, biomechanics, and behavior sciences, along with attempts to integrate theories and findings across these disciplines, have led to a renewed interest in the study of motor development. Considers the contributions that have led to the reinvigoration of this field of study and its new interdisciplinary outlook. (MDM)

In the 1930s, Bernstein pointed out that more than one motor signal can trigger the same physical movement and that identical motor signals can lead to different movements, a dilemma that continues to puzzle scientists. Based on results from computer simulations, posits that these motor signals can be grouped into categories that correspond to…

By applying the principles and methods of mechanics to the musculoskeletal system, new insights can be discovered about control of human limb dynamics in both adults and infants. Reviews previous research on how infants gain control of their limbs and learn to reach in the first year of life. (MDM)

Emphasizes the role that motor development may play in determining developmental sequences in other domains, such as haptic or tactile perception and depth perception. Maintains that there is a high degree of fit between the developmental sequence in which certain perceptual sensitivities unfold and the ages at which the corresponding motor…

Thirty infants were studied monthly between one and four months to determine how long cyclical motor activity (CM) persists beyond neonatal period. Although rate and irregularity of CM during active sleep and waking states did not change across these four months, there was a pronounced drop in the strength of CM in the waking state from two months…

When tendon jerk reflexes were tested in seven newborns from one- to three-days old, stretch reflex responses in all major muscle groups of the lower limb were elicited. This "irradiation of reflexes" is a normal phenomenon in newborns, with the pathway becoming suppressed during normal maturation. In individuals with cerebral palsy, however, the…

The organization and structuring of spontaneous arm movements of eight neonates were studied quantitatively, with each movement divided into an acceleration phase and a deceleration phase. Found that the movements of the two arms were coupled in all three dimensions of space and had a tendency to follow the body's longitudinal axis. (MDM)