A series of experiments indicated that by 1 year of age, infants' perceptual categories correspond to linguistically significant categories. Developmental change between 6 and 12 months shows that perceptual abilities of the 1-year-old are not arbitrary, do not reflect all the discriminatory capabilities of the infant, and are similar to phonemic…

When 16 parents' and 13 nonparents' conversations with children were examined for evidence of adults' differential responses to children's syntactic, phonological, and semantic errors, results indicated that adults tended to respond differentially to children's language mistakes, with parents showing greater sensitivity than non-parents. (RH)

Expressive-language-delayed (ELD) families were substantially similar to families with normal younger children and different from families with normal older children in their pragmatic interactions. Mothers' mean length of utterance did not differ among the groups. Pragmatic language interactions in the ELD families were determined largely by…

Relations between parental value concordance and parents' interactive emphases were more readily apparent for parents of boys than for parents of girls. For boys, converging parental value systems were associated with a maternal interactive style. Father-daughter dyads were particularly different from the other three types of parent-child dyads.…

In both insider and outsider families, members seem to have a stake in presenting their family in a good light. Ratings of a trained observer were more highly correlated with ratings by the outsider family, even though comparisons of means showed the observer's ratings to be similar in magnitude to those of the insider family. (RH)

This study on commonly experienced stress-provoking circumstances in adolescence found that accumulation of negatively rated circumstances was associated with illness symptoms and depressed mood. Prospective analyses showed that positively rated circumstances moderated the impact of negative circumstances on both illness symptoms and depressed…

Analysis of data in the ADSEX (Adolescent Sexuality) Dataset showed that younger siblings have consistently higher levels of sexual activity at a given age than do older siblings. The effect does not interact with the race or sex-match of siblings. A sibling influence interpretation is considered to be the most plausible explanation of the…

This study, which brought together various perspectives on separation and individuation processes during late adolescence and young adulthood, found significant associations with sex, age, and marital status for the factors of connectedness, competence, and emotional autonomy. Cluster analyses identified several empirically distinct and…

Results indicated significant genetic influence on eight Family Environment Scales that had been altered to obtain retrospective perceptions of family environment in childhood. The combined twin and adoption design was used with four groups of twins whose average age was 59 years. (RH)

Examines the contiguity of siblings within family structure--a concept reflecting how much of the family environment siblings share with one another--in relation to within family IQ scores. Results fail to demonstrate family structure effects. (HOD)

Used the Sibling Inventory of Differential Experience with 396 adolescent and young adult children to determine the extent to which genetic differences between siblings or sibling differences in family constellation variables were responsible for differential experiences. (HOD)

Examines the social behavior of 34 preschool children, observed both at home and in preschool, to determine patterning interactions among siblings and consistency in children's interactions with siblings and peers. Concludes that children's behavior at home is most affected by relative age of their siblings. (HOD)

Fifty-two adolescent mothers were observed at home interacting with their six-month-old infants and male partners and questioned independently about their dyadic relationships, social support networks, and life stresses. Showed mothers interacted much more actively with the infants than did fathers. (HOD)

Investigates the impact of early maternal employment--direct (mother-child) and indirect (father-child) effects--in families with firstborn 20-month-olds. Shows maternal employment is not related to toddler outcomes (security of attachment or problem-solving behavior). (HOD)

Examines the reciprocal relationship between the home environment and the development of 148 slow learning adolescents over a three-year period, assessing such factors as child-rearing attitudes, educationally relevant stimuli and opportunities, and psychosocial climate and environmental press of the home. (HOD)