Examined were relations between concentrations and variability of hormones (testosterone, estradiol, follicle stimulating hormone, and leutenizing hormone) and mood intensity, mood variability (within and across days), energy, and restlessness in early adolescent girls. The study also considered the issue of whether hormones have effects on mood…

This document describes a sexuality education program for preadolescent boys. It recommends that the teacher begin by finding out if the audience is captive or merely encouraged to attend. It is further suggested that groups be limited to 10 to 12 boys in the age range of 8 to 13. Advertising the classes, using food enticements for those…

An investigation of the reliability and validity of the Health-Related Physical Fitness Test found the instrument to be highly reliable for the 11- through 14-year-olds who served as subjects. (Author/CB)

Reviews epidemiological studies of adolescent cocaine use. Attributes increased cocaine use among adolescents to lower prices and availability of crack. Identifies risk factors for initial cocaine use as male gender, use of marijuana, lack of social connections to family and school, peer influences, and psychopathology. Suggests targeting…

The authors review some of the recent adolescent literature. They present a list of adolescent books that practitioners may want to recommend for leisure reading. (CH)

Data indicate that for girls, affective dispositional factors (empathy, depressive affectivity, aggression, and self-concept) are intimately linked to cognitive development and academic achievement. (PCB)

Administered questionnaires to 272 preadolescents to assess their degree of parent-peer compliance. Results revealed that, on most items, youths were clearly parent compliant. There was, however, a significant age trend in the direction of peer compliance, with males demonstrating the greatest degree of change. (Author/NRB)

The amount of variation associated with the assessment of skinfolds of preadolescents was investigated because skinfold assessment is a component of the Health Related Physical Fitness Test. Results suggest skinfold measurements vary relatively little due to testers, instruments, or repeated trials. (Author/MT)

Blood pressure readings were obtained for 1,680 low-income Mexican-American children aged 10 to 14 to determine distributions among the ethnic group. Results are discussed. (Author/MT)

Compares second-, fifth- and eighth-graders' reasoning about their relative ability and that of another child (who applied more or less effort) with their reasoning about the relative ability of two others (who differed in effort). Responses to specific questions may be more sensitive to situationally induced motivational influences than responses…

A total of 50 children between 6 and 13 years of age were tested for a predicted, eight-step sequence of family role concepts. Dolls representing typical roles were used as props, and each child was asked questions concerning role explanations and increasingly abstract family definitions. The sequence was found to be scalable and age-related.…

The Coalition on Smoking OR Health was established to coordinate education programs to discourage young people from smoking. Projects that could be undertaken by parent associations are suggested. (MT)

Assigned aggressive boys (N=76) to one of four cells consisting of anger coping, goal setting, anger coping plus goal setting, and a no treatment cell. Results of follow-up testing showed that the boys who had been in the anger-coping groups had reduced their disruptive and aggressive behavior in the classroom and at home. (LLL)

Three eperiments assessed the effects on strategy transfer of supplements to keyword method instruction; supplements included more comprehensive instructions concerning strategy application, additional practice with strategy during instruction, and combined directions and practice. Generally, results indicated that more explicit instructions are…

Addressed the need to provide normative and psychometric data for the FIRO-BC questionnaire. Reported are the means, standard deviations, test-retest reliability coefficients, and interscale correlation coefficients. Data are reported separately for boys and girls (N=282). In addition, techniques of FIRO-BC data analyses are reviewed and…