Comparison of family functioning in 103 neglectful and 102 nonneglectful low-income families found that neglectful mothers reported their families as having more family conflict and less expression of feelings, but not less cohesiveness. Observational measures indicated neglectful families were less organized, more chaotic, and less verbally…

This study investigated the physiological responses of 13 mothers with and 17 mothers without a childhood history of physical abuse to videotape presentations of an infant smiling or crying. Mothers who had been abused showed increased skin conductance while viewing the smiling infant, whereas mothers without a history of abuse showed increased…

The present research examined the developing awareness in children that one's emotional state need not correspond to how one appears expressively to others. Descriptive data were collected on children's own views about emotion management in interpersonal conflict scenarios and in general hypothetical situations. All of the child variables provide…

Several self-report studies of mood and activity have produced evidence of culturally biased theories which people share about the relationship between affect and behavior. In these studies, biased reporting may have been increased by taking mood and activity ratings concurrently rather than employing lagged independent ratings. To identify…

Recent studies have indicated that bulimia, characterized by binge eating followed by depressed mood and purging, is increasing. To investigate the behavioral and emotional antecedents and consequences of binge eating in women, 22 female college students (14 diagnosed bulimics, 8 binge eaters) completed self-monitoring forms for four binges.…

The predictive relation between neonatal behavior and temperament at 24 months was examined for 67 infants selected from the full socioeconomic status (SES) distribution. Initial ratings were made when the infants were one to four days old. Irritable neonates were rated as more upset, less attentive to stimuli, and less responsive to the staff at…

Results showed that infants can differentiate dynamic, multimodal expressions as early as five months of age; can distinguish dynamically distinct expressions before similarly animated expressions; and seem to rely more on the voice than the face in making these discriminations. (RH)

Investigates relations among young preschoolers' social cognitive abilities, expression of emotions, and prosocial responses to others' emotions. Results suggested that subjects' social cognitive acuity and differential responding to emotion have heretofore been underrated. (Author/DR)

Measures humor appreciation (including mirth, subjective ratings, and response sets), comprehension, and production in children between the ages of 10 and 14. Relates humor to several areas of competence manifested at school. (HOD)

Investigates a proposed four-stage developmental sequence that describes how children explain changes in sad and angry feelings and how their ability to understand is related to their theories of how feelings change. (HOD)

A content analysis was performed on 57 selected children's books to identify the kinds of information presented about death. Among the factors analyzed were the place of death, who died, cause of death, feelings expressed by the dying person, the nature of the funeral, and questions asked by the child characters. (A selected bibliography of…

Reviews a study's findings on children's (N=267) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward animals and natural habitats. Research results indicate that existence of three stages in the development of children's perceptions of animals. Major differences in age, sex, ethnicity and urban/rural residence were also noted. (ML)

Proposes a cognitive-neoassociationistic model to account for the effects of negative affect on the development of angry feelings and the display of emotional aggression. Summarizes psychological studies that indicate that attention to one's negative feelings can lead to a regulation of the overt effects of the negative affect. (FMW)

Focuses on: (1) principles that underlie regulation of distress and negative emotions among infants and young children; and (2) developmental trends that occur during the first years of life. Discusses the role of caregivers. Offers ideas that lend themselves to hypothesis testing and empirical validation. (RH)

Comparison of the ability of 74 children with and 19 children without learning disabilities (LD) at three age levels to identify expressions of emotions through facial, posture, and gesture cues found that LD children identified fewer emotions but did show some age progression. Some emotions were more readily identified than others. Most gender…