This paper reports on three studies of shy behavior in Mainland Chinese children. In Study 1 (N = 107, M age = 10.05), a Chinese Shyness Scale (CSS) was developed based on Chinese teachers' open-ended descriptions of children's shy behavior. In Study 2 (N = 388, M age = 10.80) and Study 3 (N = 198, M age = 10.20), the construct validity of the two…

Converging evidence indicates that maltreated foster children have more behavior problems and poorer peer relations than nonmaltreated, biologically reared youths. However, it is unclear whether deficits in peer relations operate independently or as a result of increased behavior problems and whether outcomes for foster children differ by sex. To…

Evaluated applicability of family stress model of economic hardship for understanding economic influences on child development among African American families with a 10- or 11-year-old child. Found that economic hardship positively related to economic pressure in families, and to emotional distress of caregivers, which in turn damaged the…

Investigated the effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact on self-regulatory processes of premature infants. Found that infants treated with prolonged skin-to-skin contact showed improvements in state distribution, sleep-wake cyclicity, emotionality thresholds, arousal modulation, mother-infant shared attention, and infant sustained…

The relationship between higher order reasoning and sex bias was investigated among children 7, 9 and 11 years old. Children read arguments enhancing their own or other gender, then rated argument intelligence, judged other children based on observations, and justified their arguments. Findings showed that own-gender reasoning biases declined with…

Examined relation of emotional regulation strategies to angry affect during a frustration task in a sample of low-income boys. Found that shifting attention away from sources of frustration and seeking information about situation constraints were associated with decreased anger, and secure attachment and positive maternal control correlated with…

Investigated the relationship between sex hormones and spatial performance among adolescents treated with sex steroids for delayed puberty. Found that spatial performance varied according to gender but did not vary with levels of actively circulating sex steroids. Reviewed physiological mechanisms, developmental periods, and past empirical work…

Three studies examined the age at which children start to use external symbols to aid their memory and how external symbol use affects both memory performance and information allocation strategies. Findings with children in grades 1, 3, 5, and 7 suggest that in mid-childhood, children begin to distribute information actively between internal and…

Examined the role of coping strategies as moderators of the effects of peer victimization on children's adjustment among 9- and 10-year-olds. Found that strategies such as problem solving that were beneficial for non-victimized children exacerbated difficulties for victimized children. Social support seeking buffered victimized girls but not boys.…

Investigated the relationship between Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire scores and kinesthetic acuity--the sense of body position and movement--among 10- and 14-year-olds. Found that in the older group, those with high levels of visual movement imagery performed better on measures of kinesthetic acuity; no such effect was found for…

Investigated development of face-to-face communication in infants between 1 and 14 weeks old and their mothers. Found a curvilinear development of early face-to-face communication, with increases occurring between weeks 4 and 9. When placed on a sofa, infants' face-to-face communication was longer than when they were held. Girls spent a longer…

Compared boys' and girls' use of interference competition during game play when resources were scarce or plentiful, among children from kindergarten or fourth grade. Found that fourth-grade girls used less interference competition when resources were plentiful, while their male peers and kindergartners of both sexes used interference competition…

Two studies examined whether effects of attention to rewards during a delay of gratification task in waiting situations affects preschoolers' ability to delay gratification in working situations. Findings show that when work provides distraction, attention on rewards reduces delay time whether working or waiting; when work is not engaging,…

Two studies examined children's perceptions of popular and unpopular peers. Findings indicated that fourth- through eighth-graders viewed "liked others" as prosocial and "disliked others" as antisocial, but associated perceived popularity with both prosocial and antisocial behavior. Children described popular peers as attractive and having…

Examined 4-year-olds for effects on IQ of prenatal cocaine exposure, exposure to other substances, risk factors, and neonatal medical problems. Found that maternal verbal IQ and low environmental risk predicted child IQ. Cocaine exposure negatively predicted children's overall IQ and verbal reasoning scores for boys only. Maternal harsh…