Examines the role of increasing use and heavy first-time use of alcohol and cigarettes in multisubstance abuse patterns for 4,192 secondary school students surveyed 3 times over a 4-year period. A history of licit substance use with increasing use levels is likely to precede use of other substances. (SLD)

Notes the omission of a historical perspective in the research papers in this special issue on prosocial and aggressive play. Maintains that the past several hundred years can be characterized as a time of domesticating children's play, and that more research on rough-and-tumble play is needed. (LB)

A commentary on the articles in this special issue addresses the themes of the origins and consequences of children's adversarial social roles and behaviors; children's peer relationships as a context for social learning and development; and linkages between the family and peer systems. (LB)

Draws on self-categorization theory (use of social characteristics to define psychological groups and promote positive self-identity) to explore the effects of demographic diversity on an individual's psychological and behavior attachment to an organization. Membership in a majority-dominated social group may both satisfy the minority member's…

To compare the effectiveness of parents and teachers as instructors of a personal safety program, 61 low-income preschoolers participated in either a home-based, school-based, or control program. No significant differences were found between groups taught by teachers or parents. Both groups demonstrated greater knowledge of sexual abuse and…

Twenty-five university students with learning disabilities were interviewed relating to specific work habits necessary for successful functioning in an undergraduate program. Only 4 of 10 work habits were reported as acquired by 70% or more of the students. There was no correlation between overall self-rating and cumulative grade point average.…

This article discusses use of child interview data to decide whether or not a child has been sexually abused. It examines the role of child interview findings from a historical perspective, discusses the challenge of researching criteria indicative of a true allegation, reviews existing studies of child interview data, draws conclusions, and…

This essay introduces a series of studies developing a statistical theory of elementary learning processes. An attempt is made to derive relations among commonly used measures of behavior and quantitative expressions describing simple learning phenomena. Laws of the theory state probability relations between momentary changes in behavioral and…

Describes the Jefferson Institute on the Foundations of Ethics in Western Society, a program of the Fairfax County (Virginia) high schools to provide teachers with a surer grasp of ethics to help them foster a school climate in which students consider issues of "right behavior." (SLD)

This commentary focuses on the application of D. Rogosa and G. Ghandour's work to observational research on classroom processes. Rogosa and Ghandour have shown that the short length of an observation is typically the dominant source of error. Investigators should conduct observations for as long as possible. (SLD)

This literature review addresses studies of speech, language, and communication skills evidenced by children diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effects. Concomitant physical, behavioral, intellectual, and learning patterns are reviewed, and symptoms presented by alcohol-exposed children are compared to those seen in other…

Describes a nontraditional technique for identifying gifted African American children. Defining giftedness from an African culture-centered perspective is discussed. The Gifted Children Locator for Parents and a version for teachers are presented as behavioral-observational interview rating scales. Studies with 64 and 284 children support validity…

This study examined whether teacher-implemented classroom measurement procedures of short duration are as reliable as methods used in research studies to determine behavior state (e.g., awake active, awake inactive, asleep, drowsed) of six students with profound mental disabilities. Results indicated that more frequent but briefer measurements…

How to get young people to find status and prestige within a law-abiding society presents the most promising, although most difficult, solution to crime. It continues to be the most ignored and underfunded dimension within the political-legal-therapeutic process that attempts to prevent and control delinquent and criminal behavior. (SLD)

An analysis of the responses of 1,614 adult subjects from 10 cultures show that the Leung-Bond procedure provides ways of extracting both strong and weak etics relevant to individualism and weak etics relevant to collectivism. The most complete picture is obtained when both etics and emics are examined. (SLD)