Information on children's academic achievement and social adjustment was gathered from multiple sources over two years, beginning in grades four and six. Found that children's academic achievement predicted their social competence and peer acceptance; and children's social competence, aggression, leadership, and peer acceptance contributed to…

Kindergarten through college students heard stories or observed peer interactions in which the protagonist or the peer expressed or did not express emotion when encountering events that caused (relevant-inhibitory) or did not cause (irrelevant) inhibition of an emotion. Kindergartners judged that relevant-inhibitory causes decreased peers'…

Tabulated the frequencies of dyadic and group interactions in single-sex playgroups of 4- and 6-year-olds. Found that boys and girls at both ages engaged in similar frequencies but in different patterns of dyadic interactions. Only 6-year-old boys interacted in groups. (BC)

Examined data on cognitive ability of mono- and dizygotic twins who ranked in the bottom 10th percentile of cognitive ability at 14, 20, 24, and 36 months. Statistical analyses suggested that there is a genetic etiology in low cognitive ability groups and that the stability of low cognitive ability over time is due primarily to genetic factors.…

Used computer-administered tests to measure the reaction time to nonverbal stimuli of 4- through 6-year-olds and adults. Found age-related increases in processing speed that could not be attributed to increased accuracy and error rate monitoring. Used these results to evaluate R. Kail's (1991) model of processing speed, which adequately accounted…

Two- to 4-year-olds were presented with pictures of a target item (for example, carrot), a thematic alternative (rabbit), and an taxonomic alternative (tomato). The target was identified and children were asked to choose one of the alternatives. Children revealed no preference for either alternative. (BC)

Four studies examined developmental differences in the representation of basic-subordinate inclusion relationships in three-, five-, and seven-year olds and undergraduates. Found that even three-year olds showed rudimentary knowledge of the asymmetry of inclusion. There was a marked developmental gap between producing subordinate category names…

Studied 2-year olds' understanding of pretense expressions of independent agency in scenarios in which a doll acted as the agent of a series of pretend events. Found no gender differences in the doll's imaginary intentions, but older toddlers performed reliably better than younger. Episodes requiring enacting conclusions to events that began with…

Two experiments used phoneme counting tasks to investigate the foundations of phonemic awareness. Found that first graders and college students had some ability to distinguish between monophthongs (as in "he") and diphthongs (as in "how"), and they tended to count fewer "sounds" for syllables ending with the more vowel-like consonant /r/ than for…

Compared performance of infants with autism, developmental delays, or normal development on a prospective screening instrument for autism. Found that 20-month-olds with autism lacked social gaze in empathy and joint attention tasks. Infants with autism or developmental delays demonstrated functional play. Few produced spontaneous pretend play.…

Four experiments assessed infants' ability to solve isomorphic problems and explored the nature of early representations. Found that 13-month-olds transferred a modeled strategy across isomorphic problems, whereas 10-month-olds transferred only after multiple source problems or high perceptual similarity between problems. Comprehension of the…

Three experiments compared infants' reactions to videos of normally responsive women varying in eye contact. Found that, relative to frontal faces, three-month olds smiled less at images averting head and eye (H&I), head alone (H), and closing eyes (ECL) but not at averting eyes (E). Five-month-olds smiled less at H&I, E, and ECL but not at H.…

Two experiments tested a self-regulation model of risk-taking among third through eighth graders in which inappropriate risk taking is associated with overconfidence, succumbing to dysregulating influences, and insensitivity to outcomes. Found that ability beliefs, preference for thrill seeking, peer nomination, competitiveness, and interest…

Examined the psychometric properties of a social competence scale for school-age children. Factor analyses identified two moderately correlated competence aspects, Prosocial Orientation and Social Initiative. Scale showed reliability across one year, and concurrent and predictive validity in interrater agreement; also corresponded with observed…

Short-term longitudinal study compared influence of 6th, 8th, and 10th graders' closest friends (CF) and friendship groups (FG) on cigarette and alcohol use. Results showed that CF influenced initiation of cigarette and alcohol use. Only FG use predicted transition into current cigarette use. Only CF use predicted transition into current alcohol…