Existing data sets can be an efficient, powerful, and readily available resource for addressing questions about developmental science. Many of the available databases contain hundreds of variables of interest to developmental psychologists, track participants longitudinally, and have representative samples. In this article, the authors discuss the…

Strategies for understanding the effect of negative life events on the psychosocial development of youth have focused on the aggregate association between risk factors and poor developmental outcomes. However, there is a strand of research in developmental psychology that has pushed for understanding the contextual nature of negative life events;…

We discuss an emerging program of research on a particular aspect of mathematics learning, students' learning through their own mathematical activity as they engage in particular mathematical tasks. Prior research in mathematics education has characterized learning trajectories of students by specifying a series of conceptual steps through which…

The National Early Literacy Panel (2008) report identified early predictors of reading achievement as good targets for instruction, and many of those skills are related to decoding. In this article, the authors suggest that the developmental trajectories of rapidly developing skills pose problems for traditional statistical analyses. Rapidly…

Developmental science rests on describing, explaining, and optimizing intraindividual changes and, hence, empirically requires longitudinal research. Problems of missing data arise in most longitudinal studies, thus creating challenges for interpreting the substance and structure of intraindividual change. Using a sample of reports of longitudinal…

This paper suggests that, at present, a science of natural developmental processes does not exist because few studies are concerned with development as it transpires in naturalistic environments and because truly developmental data are not collected or analyzed. (Author/JMB)

Individuals with Down syndrome are predisposed to show a specific behavioural phenotype, or a pattern of strengths and challenges in functioning across different domains of development. It is argued that a developmental approach to researching the Down syndrome behavioural phenotype, including an examination of the dynamic process of the unfolding…

School and hospital records were used to examine childhood social competence, adult premorbid competence, and psychiatric outcome in adult schizoaffective, paranoid, and undifferentiated schizophrenics. A significant difference existed in childhood interpersonal competence and adult social competence among the subtypes. Results reflect…

Criticizes studies of egocentric development in children using cutaneous perception procedures. Also questions study contribution to the understanding of the development of decentering. (Author/SDH)

The purpose of this research was to expand the criteria for the efficacy of the three short forms of the Standford-Binet Intelligence Scale to a consideration of individual differences in intelligence classification. (Author/RK)

Research supported by the Committee on Scholarly Activities of the University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio. (DS)

Argues that a better understanding of developmental processes is provided by three types of operant research -- laboratory behavioral descriptions, descriptions of naturalistic behavior-environment interdependencies, and predictive naturalistic studies. The usefulness of these processes are examined in light of the goals of life span developmental…

The effectiveness of the elementary level guidance program, Developing Understanding of Self and Others (DUSO), is assessed. Intended for use by counselors of children ages 5-8, the DUSO program is designed to help children understand social-emotional behavior through listening, inquiry, discussion, and role play. The DUSO Affectivity Device,…

Discusses procedures and considerations involved with secondary analyses of longitudinal databases. Procedures involve (1) formulating questions; (2) creating a feasibility matrix; (3) reformulating questions; (4) creating derived variables; (5) performing data reduction; (6) analyzing data; and (7) interpreting results. Problems associated with…

Suggests that testing developmental ordering hypotheses is difficult because rare use of ratio scales prevents direct comparison of measures. Demonstrates that the observed data pattern is constrained by the underlying relationship--although observed data pattern may not reflect the exact relationship, it limits possible relationships. Shows the…