Compared behavior of 52 Costa Rican 12- to 23-month-olds with iron-deficiency anemia to that of 139 infants with better iron status. Found that iron-deficient infants maintained closer contact with caregivers; showed less pleasure and playfulness; were more wary, hesitant, and easily tired; made fewer attempts at test items; and attended less to…

Visual and auditory processing of complex sentences was examined among 8- through 11-year-olds. Findings suggested a U-shaped learning pattern for on-line processing of restrictive relative clauses. Off-line accuracy scores showed different patterns for good and poor comprehenders. Incorrect local attachment strategy use was related to sentence…

Examined relation of different types of negative emotion and regulation and control to 55- to 97-month-olds' internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Found that children with externalizing problems, compared to children with internalizing problems and nondisordered children, were more prone to anger, impulsivity, and low regulation.…

Examined relationship of security of attachment to development of fear, anger, and joy over child's first 3 years. Found that attachment groups differed in trajectories of emotional development, with differences apparent at 14 months. Resistant children were most fearful and least joyful. Over the second and third years, secure children became…

This study sought to unpack how immigration is associated with youths' educational choices during the transition to college and adulthood. Surveys and school records were collected on 789 youth (ages 1825) with Asian Pacific, Latino, African/Afro-Caribbean, and European backgrounds. The results indicated generational differences in educational…

Cognitive outcomes at age 11 of 131 Romanian adoptees from institutions were compared with 50 U.K. adopted children. Key findings were of both continuity and change: (1) marked adverse effects persisted at age 11 for many of the children who were over 6 months on arrival; (2) there was some catch-up between ages 6 and 11 for the bottom 15%; (3)…

Harter's Perceived Competence Scale for Children was administered to 714 Taiwanese fifth graders; results were compared with those from American samples. Cultural differences were found. Results among Chinese replicate the measures' factorial validity and, across the two groups, indicate a high correlation between perceived cognitive competence…

Evaluated differences among neglectful, behavior-problem, and normal mothers in their reports of child behavior problems and observed verbal behavior with children in situations requiring differing degrees of maternal control. Relative to normal mothers, behavior-problem mothers were most negative and were as controlling as neglectful mothers…

Studied early family experiences of boys who later emerged as both aggressive and bullied during middle childhood. Found that aggressive victims had experienced more punitive, hostile, and abusive family treatment than others. Nonvictimized aggressors had greater exposure to adult aggression, but not victimization, than the normative group,…

Compared 100 three-year-olds with speech delay of unknown origin and 539 same-age peers with respect to 6 speech disorder variables; also examined abnormal hearing in a subset of 279 children. Found significant odds ratios only for low maternal education, male sex, and positive family history; a child with all 3 factors was 7.71 times as likely to…

This longitudinal study tested the contribution of age and marital status at first birth to depressive symptomatology in early adulthood. Findings indicated that unmarried teenage childbearers displayed higher levels of depressive symptoms than women who first gave birth as married adults. The psychological health of married teenage mothers in…

Surveyed fourth-, seventh-, and tenth-graders in Japan and the United States regarding evaluations of peer group exclusion of atypical peers. Found that with increasing age, children demonstrated sensitivity to context (reason the peer was different) and believed that the excluded child should not change to be accepted. Girls were less willing to…

This study examined cultural differences and similarities in socialization during free play and a waiting task among Japanese mothers and their preschoolers temporarily residing in the United States and U.S. mothers and their preschoolers. Findings suggest an emphasis on autonomy among U.S. dyads and an emphasis on relatedness among Japanese…

Twenty children were observed at age four during free play at good and poor quality day care centers and again at age eight in triadic play sessions. Significant continuity was found between the four-year-olds' behavior in the day care centers and the children's functioning at eight years. (RJC)

Significantly more negative functioning was observed during marital and parent-child interactions for parents of mentally retarded school-aged children than for parents of typically developing children. For both groups, marital quality, the parenting partnership, and child behavior accounted for up to 53 percent of the variance in parenting…