Measured cognitive processing time, imagery skill, and spatial memory span of 128 children and adults, ages 8 to 20 years. Found that performance on spatial memory span tasks was largely predicted by imagery skill, which in turn was strongly linked to processing time; age was much less of a predictor in both cases. (EAJ)

Examined relations of effortful control and ego control to children's resiliency, social status, and social competence concurrently (Time 3) and over time. Found that at Time 3, resiliency mediated the unique relations of effortful and reactive control to social status, and effortful control directly predicted socially appropriate behavior.…

Assessed coping with homesickness, perceived control over homesickness, and adjustment among 8- to 10-year-olds spending two weeks at a summer camp. Found that children's most frequent and effective method of coping was engaging in distracting physical activity; coping by adjusting oneself to conditions increased through adolescence; and the most…

Argues for focusing on parental psychological control of children in socialization studies. Describes three studies that tested the measurement of psychological control and its associations with adolescent behavior problems; results showed that parental psychological control is consistently predictive of youth internalized problems (depression)…

Early adolescents experience rapid physical and mental growth, are searching for identity, and are expected to develop social skills. Junior high teachers can use cooperative learning and peer teaching techniques to aid the emotional development of these students. (SK)

Prospective assessment of alcohol and drug abuse among middle school students involved students in 13 schools, with 7,562 students in grades six, seven, and eight completing baseline questionnaires. Data from the three grades revealed dramatic increases in the level of initiation of alcohol and drug abuse and negative consequences through the…

Explores the effects of live television coverage of the space shuttle Challenger disaster on school children. Finds that children tended to react according to gender stereotypes of impersonal regret versus personal involvement and respond with either a cognitive orientation or a social and emotional orientation. (MS)

Examined the level of depressive symptomatology in 100 learning-disabled and normal fourth through sixth grade students, using the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and behavior ratings by classroom teachers. Significant positive correlations were found between learning-disabled students and CDI scores and between CDI scores and teacher…

Examines the relation between children's mastery motivation, self-assessment of performance, and task-related, help-seeking behavior during task performance. (PCB)

Sixth and seventh graders (N=239) responded to questionnaires examining sleep behavior and test anxiety on day of major examination in school and day with no major examination. Subjects also completed vigilance task on both days. Partial sleep loss did not adversely influence subjects' performance on task or examination; test anxiety was…

Attempts to demonstrate that specifically language-impaired (SLI) children can be viewed as normal learners faced with systematically altered input. By assuming SLI children are limited in their ability to perceive and hypothesize grammatical morphemes that are low in phonetic substance, many features of SLI children's language can be explained by…

Investigated interpersonal understanding in friendship reasoning of 97 children at ages 9, 12, and 15 years. Results support theories of the cumulative nature of the development of friendship reasoning. (RJC)

Examines peer group perceptions of 312 students in grades 5-12. Early and middle adolescents placed more value on being in a popular group; perceived more conformity, antagonism, and leadership in their groups; and reported more antagonistic interactions with those outside their groups than did preadolescents and late adolescents. (RJC)

Tested 2 models of the effect of social cognition on the link between child adjustment and the 2 family risk factors of maltreatment and parental psychopathology. In 83 subjects of 7-14 years, maltreatment predicted aggression and peer rejection, but parental psychopathology did not. Adjustment of subjects with a disturbed parent depended on…

Used longitudinal data to estimate reciprocal relationship between parental support and fifth- through eighth-grade childrens' (N=338) self- esteem. Found parents' supportive behavior affected childrens' self-esteem but childrens' self-esteem also affected how much support from parents children reported. Found parents had greater effect on girls'…