This article introduces major contributions of educational psychologist, Lev S. Vygotsky, through examination of his dialectical methodological approach. Topics discussed include semiotic mediation, social sources of development, verbal thinking, concept formation, spontaneous and scientific concepts, the zone of proximal development, and higher…

Examined the developmental courses of temperamental constructs using structural equation model fitting with children from 3 to 48 months of age. Found that across all measurement occasions, models that fit best were those that allowed for stability in temperament to be at least partially mediated through intermediate forms of the trait. (JPB)

Provides a review of the literature on children's developmental conceptions and reactions to death. Suggestions are made as to provide appropriate intervention strategies that can be used by psychologists, such as individual counseling, play therapy, bibliotherapy, family counseling, and group counseling. (Contains 105 references.) (GCP)

Fit 2-B FATHERS is a parenting-skills education program for incarcerated adult males. The goals of this program are for participants to have reduced recidivism rates and a reduced risk of their children acquiring criminal records. These goals are accomplished by helping participants become physically, practically, and socially fit for the demands…

Discusses problems with computer use by young children, including activation of neural pathways that hinder learning and a drop in emotional competence. Argues that instead of television and computer time, children need open-ended play time, concrete materials such as board games and building toys, and interaction with caring adults. (JPB)

Addresses the concept of "play as a child's work," from the viewpoints of Montessori, Freud, and Piaget. Contends that children's play: (1) like adult play, may be individual or social; (2) has immediate value for the child as a way of expressing feelings; and (3) is a healthy counterpoise to work. (SD)

The introduction to this special issue on nature-nurture interactions notes that the following articles represent five biologically oriented research approaches which each provide a tutorial on the investigator's major research tool, a summary of current research understandings regarding language and learning differences, and a discussion of…

This study explored the relationship between sentence disruptions and the length and complexity of sentences spoken by 26 typical children developing grammar. For most children, disrupted sentences tended to be longer and more complex than fluent sentences and the magnitude of the differences in length and complexity was positively correlated with…

This article considers the problem of power and sample size calculations for normal outcomes within the framework of multivariate linear models. The emphasis is placed on the practical situation that not only the values of response variables for each subject are just available after the observations are made, but also the levels of explanatory…

This paper presents a unitary approach to emotion and emotion regulation, building on the excellent points in the lead article by Cole, Martin, and Dennis (this issue), as well as the fine commentaries that follow it. It begins by stressing how, in the real world, the processes underlying emotion and emotion regulation appear to be largely one and…

Eight- to 12-month-olds might make A-not-B errors, knowing the object is in B but searching at A because of ancillary (attention, inhibitory, or motor memory) deficits, or they might genuinely believe the object is in A (conceptual deficit). This study examined how diligently infants searched for a hidden object they never found. An object was…

This descriptive qualitative study offers insight into how mothers decide to delay kindergarten entry. Analyses of interviews reveal that the fifteen mothers in this study could be classified into two groups. One group based the decision on variables associated with their children, usually something problematic. Mothers in the second based the…

Connecting the debates in social theory with examples from recent advertising that draw on meanings and images of children, this chapter shows how some recent representations of childhood that engage explicitly with new information technologies are forms of economically invested socialization, precisely through their subscription to changing…

An analysis was carried out on the body of literature exploring African-American mother-son relationship. The analysis suggested that African-American mothers play an important role in the healthy development of manhood and masculinity and challenged notions about considering mothering as a gender or biological assignment rather than as an act…

Programs for teenage mothers provided through school districts or community agencies often have their own curricular agenda for teaching teenage mothers about the proper care of and nutrition for infants and the typical stages of child development, but not all programs are successful in supporting the development of positive early relationships…