Cross-sectional studies suggest that assets are associated with youth abstinence, but whether these relationships are constant across developmental age groups has not been shown. Data for this study were obtained from two independent datasets collected across a 2-year period using in-person, in-home interviews of youth (52% female; 44% Caucasian,…

In 4 studies, the authors examined how intuitions about the relative difficulties of the sciences develop. In Study 1, familiar everyday phenomena in physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, and economics were pretested in adults, so as to be equally difficult to explain. When participants in kindergarten, Grades 2, 4, 6, and 8, and college were…

In addition to his pioneering studies on prenatal development of social responses in the mallard, Gilbert Gottlieb made important theoretical contributions to the study of the evolution of behavior. This tribute to Gottlieb presents his early view that prenatal behavioral development is the product of evolution and his revision of this view in his…

Emerging adulthood is a period in which profound role changes take place across a number of life domains including finance, romance, and residence. On the basis of dynamic systems theory, change in one domain should be related to change in another domain, because the concept of development according to this approach is a relational one. To…

Children's thinking is highly variable at every level of analysis, from neural and associative levels to the level of strategies, theories, and other aspects of high-level cognition. This variability exists within people as well as between them; individual children often rely on different strategies or representations on closely related problems…

Neuroconstructivism is a theoretical framework focusing on the construction of representations in the developing brain. Cognitive development is explained as emerging from the experience-dependent development of neural structures supporting mental representations. Neural development occurs in the context of multiple interacting constraints acting…

Research has established that academic intrinsic motivation, enjoyment of school learning without receipt of external rewards, significantly declines across childhood through adolescence. Math intrinsic motivation evidences the most severe decline compared with other subject areas. This study addresses this developmental decline in math intrinsic…

Current literature about how children grieve and various implications for counseling are discussed. In reviewing the literature available concerning how children grieve, it is evident that the articles cover three distinct areas important for consideration. These include information that addresses children's developmental understanding of death…

The article refutes the assumption that levels of developmental spelling in children indicate that formal instruction in spelling must not be practiced at certain of these levels. Further indications of the weaknesses of using developmental stages in spelling as a guide for instruction in this subject are described. (Author/CL)

Two experiments examined changes in the search of infants aged six, seven, and eight months. Experiment 1 found that the majority of infants displayed transitional search before intentional search. Experiment 2 showed that the infants' awareness of a hidden object develops gradually. (Author/RH)

Suggests that if adolescence is viewed more broadly as a period of growing into maturity, a brief examination of life-span development reveals that adolescences also occur in other life periods. These periods present challenges of personal adjustment and are necessary transitions toward self-actualization. (JAC)

Achenbach and Edelbrock Child Behavior Checklist factor scores were compared with ego stage through correlational and multiple regression analyses. Findings indicated significant negative correlations with the externalizing and internalizing factors and with a variety of behavioral subscales. A significant relationship was found between the total…

Discusses the themes and issues related to continuing education for young adults and the implications for future programing and practice. (JOW)

A review of the literature on the application of Piagetian theory to the understanding of mental retardation suggests that functioning of mentally retarded children parallels the developmental sequence proposed for the nonretarded child. The behavior of retarded individuals can be interpreted as typical of selected Piagetian stages. (Author/CL)

It is argued that it would be more fruitful for Kohlberg and others to avoid applying his developmentalist position to such problems as utilitarian/formalist supremacy or the search for a 'best' morality. Instead, emphasis could be placed on explicating the fundamental requirements of a nonrelativistic, nonegotistic morality. (Author/SJL)