This study examined the effects of the Second Step social-emotional learning program and addressed the relations between social cognitions and prosocial and antisocial behavior. Children (N = 1,253) in intervention and control groups were assessed by teacher ratings, self report, and observation in two conflict situations. Intervention children…

Examined relations between alternative representations of poverty cofactors and promotion processes, and problem behaviors of 6- and 7-year-olds from disadvantaged families. Found that single-index risk representations and promotion variables predicted aggression but not anxiety/depression. An additive model of individual risk indicators performed…

Explored use of punitive force by adults with low perceived power in teaching interactions. Found that those women with low perceived power were more likely than the others to use high levels of punitive force and show elevated levels of autonomic arousal when given ambiguous control, and more likely to attribute intentionality to children whose…

Two studies examined the relationship between maternal sensitivity and infant security of attachment in home and hospital contexts. Results are discussed in terms of links between methodology and effect sizes, the generality of links between maternal care and child security, need for research on caregiving in ordinary and emergency situations, and…

This study explored how ethnicity influenced sexual identity development in 139 sexual-minority males. Findings demonstrated that participants, regardless of ethnicity, experienced most identity milestones at developmentally appropriate ages, had moderately low internalized homophobia, and became romantically and sexually involved with other males…

Examined relations between nonmaternal child care and maternal sensitivity and child positive engagement ratings during mother-child interaction; infants were between 6 and 36 months old. Found that more child care hours predicted less maternal sensitivity and less positive child engagement. Child care effect sizes were similar to those for…

Four studies replicated Lillard's paradigm for studying preschoolers' understanding of pretense. Results indicated that decreasing contradictory information increased the incidence of correct judgments, suggesting an implicitly representational understanding of pretense. Findings challenge Lillard's conceptual analysis of pretense and suggest that…

Six experiments examined young children's understanding that very recent past events determine the present. Found that 4-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, could locate a puppet they had observed being hidden either through a videotape or using a verbal analog of the task. When children observed 2 events in which they participated, only 5-year-olds…

Two studies explored tendency of adults and first-, second-, and fourth-graders to explain properties of living/nonliving natural kinds in teleological terms. Findings indicated that children were more likely than adults to broadly explain properties in teleological terms. The kinds of functions they endorsed varied with age. Experimental…

Examined connections between parents' work pressure and adolescent adjustment in 190 dual-earner families. Found that effects of work pressure on adolescent well-being were mediated by parental role overload and parent-adolescent conflict. Fathers' work pressure predicted both parents' feelings of role overload. Mothers' work pressure predicted…

Examined effect of suggestive questions on 3- to 5-year-olds' and 6- to 8-year-olds' recall of the final occurrence of repeated event. Found that relative to reports of children experiencing single occurrence, reports about fixed items of repeated events were less contaminated by false suggestions. Children's age and delay of interview were…

Three experiments tested a model identifying object labels as discrete attributes of the object in which the relative weight of the label decreases with children's age. Results indicated that labels contribute to similarity judgment in a quantifiable manner, labels' weight decreased with age, and effects of labels were likely to stem from the…

Assessed children's recall of injury and hospital treatment 2 years after injury. Found that children recalled injury details better than treatment. Amount recalled decreased only for hospital treatment details; accuracy decreased for both injury and treatment. An extra interview 1 year after injury helped only younger children recall hospital…

This study used delayed nonmatching to sample (DNMS) to test the recognition memory function dependent on the medial temporal lobe. Results from three conditions of DNMS tests with 9- and 12-month-olds suggest that the critical late-maturing competence accounting for DNMS success is the ability to understand that the stimulus is a symbol or marker…

Evaluated relative importance of relational and individual factors in accounting for aggression in third-grade boys' laboratory play groups. Found that relationship effects accounted for as much variance in total aggression and proactive aggression as actor or target effects. Mutually aggressive dyads displayed double the total aggression as…