The potential importance of depending on others during adolescence to establish independence in young adulthood was examined across adolescence to emerging adulthood. Participants included 184 teens (46% male; 42% non-White), their mothers, best friends, and romantic partners, assessed at ages 13-14, 18, 21-22, and 25. Path analyses showed that…

Fifth- and eleventh-grade males and females who knew each other ( knowers'') judged classmates' photographs on physical attractiveness, perceived attitude similarity, and interpersonal attraction. Nonknowers'' (male and female classmates in different schools in the same grades) judged the same photographs on physical attractiveness. (Editor)

Two studies investigated the influence of a child's physical attractiveness and sex as potential elicitors of differential adult punitiveness. Assessed were the reactions of 40 women and 44 men. Results reveal differences in men's and women's reactions and suggest differences in their orientation towards children's task behavior. (Author/SDH)

Studies of the susceptibility of observations of adult-child interactions to bias because of the physical attractiveness of target persons indicated that when making global ratings observers were significantly and favorably biased toward attractive women. No bias was obtained when observers used a molecular coding strategy. (RH)

Tests the applicability of the physical attractiveness stereotype to perceptions of the elderly. In the first study, college-age and elderly observers rated the attractiveness of faces of elderly people. In the second study, subjects rated faces at three levels of attractiveness on personality, success in life experiences, and occupational…

Life history theory provided a framework for examining the relations among child sexual abuse (CSA), childhood adversity, and patterns of reproductive development and behavior. A community survey that assessed CSA, life history variables (e.g., age of menarche), and social and family background was administered to 623 women (mean age=26.9 years).…

This study indicates that more socially desirable characteristics are attributed to physically attractive than unattractive middle-aged persons. It is suggested that this difference in social desirability is greater for female than male stimuli and that elderly persons stereotype middle-aged persons more favorably than young adults do. (JMB)

Concepts of human differences were studied among 5th and 11th graders in the United States, Japan, and China. Relative to their peers, more American students noted differences in appearance/attractiveness and material resources; more Japanese noted various physical features, and more Chinese noted specific behaviors. With increasing age, Americans…

Examined the relationship between infant attractiveness and maternal behavior by observing mothers feeding and playing with their firstborn infants immediately after giving birth and when the infants were three months of age. Found that mothers of more attractive infants were more affectionate and playful compared with mothers of less attractive…

Two studies, one with two- to three-month-olds and one with six- to eight-month-olds, examined infant preferences for attractive faces. A visual preference technique was used. Infants were shown slides of faces of adult women previously rated for attractiveness. When shown pairs of attractive and unattractive faces, older and younger infants…

Examined effects of three different aspects of heterosocial activity--mixed-sex activities, dating, and physical involvement with boys--on the diet patterns of adolescent girls. Found interaction between dating and menarcheal status in the prediction of dieting and disordered eating, with dating more strongly linked to dieting and disordered…

College students rated the faces of individuals of various ages as baby faces or mature faces and rated the individuals' likely personality traits. Results indicated that babyfaced individuals were perceived to have more childlike traits than mature-faced individuals. (BC)

Four studies assessed a cognitive explanation for development of infants' preference for attractive faces: cognitive averaging and preferences for mathematically averaged faces, or prototypes. Findings indicated that adults and 6-month olds prefer prototypical, mathematically averaged faces and that 6-month olds can abstract the central tendency…