Approaches divorce from a combined family systems, individual life cycle and stage theory of development perspective. Recommends that therapy encompass interventions that are likely to be the most effective in the various stages rather than be a rigid adherence to one dogma. Several illustrative case vignettes are presented. (JAC)

The theory of developmental sequences is extended by introducing the concepts of prerequisite and precursor. It is argued that (1) attention to prerequisites and precursors is necessary for answering questions of sequence existence, membership, and order and that (2) because these concepts are theory dependent, appropriate developmental research…

It is suggested that four developmental terms (period, phase, stage, level) can be distinguished as different combinations of four criterial elements, and they should be differentiated according to whether or not they refer to (1) a part of a progression, (2) a recurrent state or event, (3) quantitative change, and (4) qualitative change.…

Major psychological theories of morality and motivation make the assumption that an inverse relationship exists between guilt and satisfaction. To the extent that feelings of guilt are linked to a particular motivational or moral stance, it is assumed that feelings of satisfaction are unlikely also be linked to that stance. Empirical findings in…

California has one of the latest kindergarten entry cutoff dates in the nation, December 2, which effectively allows children as young as four years, nine months to enter kindergarten. Proponents of moving the cutoff date to earlier in the year contend that children who enter kindergarten before age five are not developmentally mature enough yet…

Previous studies have suggested that typically developing 6-month-old infants are able to discriminate between small and large numerosities. However, discrimination between small numerosities in young infants is only possible when variables continuous with number (e.g. area or circumference) are confounded. In contrast, large number discrimination…

Object recognition research is typically conducted using 2D stimuli in lieu of 3D objects. This study investigated the amount and complexity of knowledge gained from 2D stimuli in adult chimpanzees ("Pan troglodytes") and young children (aged 3 and 4 years) using a titrated series of cross-dimensional search tasks. Results indicate that 3-year-old…

The present study examined the developmental origin of "blue lies", a pervasive form of lying in the adult world that is told purportedly to benefit a collective. Seven, 9-, and 11-year-old Chinese children were surreptitiously placed in a real-life situation where they decided whether to lie to conceal their group's cheating behavior. Children…

The McGurk effect paradigm was used to examine the developmental onset of inter-language differences between Japanese and English in auditory-visual speech perception. Participants were asked to identify syllables in audiovisual (with congruent or discrepant auditory and visual components), audio-only, and video-only presentations at various…

Three-, 5-, and 7-year-olds and adults (N = 64) listened to stories depicting 2 protagonists of different ages (infant and child or child and grownup) that encounter an entity that looks like a real (e.g., a snake) or an imaginary (e.g., a ghost) fear-inducing creature. Participants predicted and explained each protagonist's intensity of fear.…

Parental questionnaires are inexpensive alternatives to standardized testing for outcome measurement. The Parent Report of Children's Abilities has previously been revised (PARCA-R) and validated for use with very-preterm infants at 2 years of age. This study revalidated the PARCA-R for assessing cognition in a larger and more inclusive sample of…

The connection between pubertal stage and the development and depressive symptoms among females is investigated. Findings reveal that advancing pubertal stage presents greater risks for the beginning and persistence of depressive symptoms among females. The impacts of social adversity on the persistence of symptoms for female depression.

The revised Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-R) is the third stage of development of a widely used multiscale personality inventory that began with the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) and then the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). The author describes the third stage of the psychobiological theory of temperament and…

Teleo-functional explanations account for objects in terms of purpose, helping us understand objects such as pencils (for writing) and body parts such as ears (for hearing). Western-educated adults restrict teleo-functional attributions to artifact, biological, and behavioral phenomena, considering such explanations less appropriate for nonliving…

Background: Few family-based healthy lifestyle programs for Latinos have been conducted, especially family programs targeting mother-daughter dyads. Purpose: To assess the acceptability and feasibility of the Behavior Opportunities Uniting Nutrition Counseling and Exercise (BOUNCE) program designed for Latino mother-daughter pairs. Methods: 92…