National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and census data are used to examine the effect of both individual- and contextual-level determinants on Latinas' transition to first marriage (n = 745). Hypotheses derived from 4 leading theories of marriage timing are evaluated. Discrete-time event-history models that control for clustering within Labor…

Examined stability and change from middle childhood to middle adolescence in participants' perceptions of their friendship-making ability and their friends' deviant behavior. Although perceptions were not highly stable over 5 years, participants perceived their friendship-making ability as greater during childhood than during adolescence;…

Previous research has shown community violence to be detrimental to adolescent well-being, yet relatively little is known about how adolescents respond to violence in their community. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examines the interactive associations among exposure to street violence, adolescent…

A study examined the development of reading, written expression and listening comprehension over 3 years. The participants were 77 students in Brisbane, Australia, who were identified by school staff as having a learning difficulty at the end of grade one and who were matched with the same number of normally achieving children attending the same…

Several environmental constructs which influence identity are measured by the Erwin Identity Scale (EIS) and delineated. The EIS is an objectively scored instrument designed to measure the student development concept of identity based on the conceptualizations of Chickering and Erikson. Three sub-scales (confidence, sexual identity, and…

We use a genetically sensitive design to examine the relationship between language and nonverbal ability at 4 and a half and reading skills at 7 years of age in a sample of more than 1,000 children participating in the Twins Early Development Study. We find that nonphonological as well as phonological measures of early language make significant…

This report examines variations in school and classroom attributes that were associated with improved student achievement outcomes. Of particular interest were those attributes of Chapter 1 and regular school programs that contributed to improved outcomes for educationally at-risk students. A secondary focus was to measure the relationships…

Data from two surveys of Nigerian youth, conducted in 1965 and 1979, indicate a convergence in the social forces that predispose attendance in the new (Western) and old (Islamic) educational systems. Hypotheses are offered to explain the apparent structural accommodation of the two systems. (Author/BJV)

Examines the relationship between play and environmental and biological factors and individual differences. Explores correlates of morbidity, nutrition, and caregiving environments on toddlers' play sophistication in Egypt. Suggests that variability in children's object versus social play may be a function of the goodness of fit between child and…

The primary purpose of this study was to identify student characteristics that reliably predict responsiveness and nonresponsiveness to generally effective early literacy interventions. Participants were 104 children, including 7 with special needs and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), who were tested in kindergarten and first grade.…

This study examined whether teacher candidates' anxiety about teaching in accord with teacher development theory decreased through teacher preparation and the fifth year of teaching and whether changes in anxiety related to academic ability and personal attributes. Participants were 117 teacher candidates who completed approximately 5 years of…

A cognitive developmental theory of reading was proposed and tested in a longitudinal study that (1) compared the development of conceptual reasoning (Piaget's "operativity") and oral language (vocabulary and grammar closure) of 148 Australian children during the first 5 years of school and (2) traced the relationship of these variables to reading…

One important line of inquiry in educational psychology involves the study of change of individuals' cognitive-motivational processes. The conjunctive use of longitudinal data with latent growth curve modeling procedures has, for example, allowed researchers to identify initial levels and to trace trajectories of theoretical variables such as…

Over the past 15 years a body of research has investigated organizational transitions in adolescent development. Researchers studying school transitions exclusively ask whether significant transition affects students' social and psychological development. To test the presence of transition effects, researchers have typically observed mean…

Examined over 200 perinatal variables relating to mothers and to children's neurological, cognitive, and motor functions at 15 months and 4 and 7 years. Factor analysis identified latent variables that characterized covariations among perinatal variables. There were many correlations to children's outcomes, particularly for variables relating to…