Three experiments investigated effects of complexity on 2- to 6-year-olds' understanding of a beam balance. Found that 2- to 4-year-olds succeeded on problems that entailed binary relations, but 5- and 6-year-olds also succeeded on problems that entailed ternary relations. Ternary relations tasks from other domains (transitivity and class…

The paper discusses problems with traditional definitions of dyslexia and reviews research that suggests a more comprehensive definition, viewing dyslexia as a developmental language disorder that involves a deficit in phonological processing. The disorder is seen as manifesting itself in various phonological difficulties as well as in a specific…

Children of 15-33 months of age were presented with tasks measuring 2 facets of self: as the object of knowledge and as the subject of experience. Relations between tasks are discussed in terms of changes from the processing of immediate and visible features to the processing of more enduring and nonvisible features of the self during the toddler…

Examined whether underprepared students participating in self-awareness course during their first quarter of college would show significant growth along developmental tasks as measured by Student Developmental Task Inventory. Findings from 83 underprepared first-year students enrolled in developmental education program suggest that participation…

Describes a workshop on human development for home companions of older adults that includes sessions on identity, intimacy, generativity, integrity, trust, and communication. (SK)

Assigned 103 elementary students of separated/divorced parents to support group, support and skill building group; support, skill building, transfer, and parent training procedures; or no-treatment control. Children (n=26) from intact homes served as controls. Two skill-building conditions yielded durable improvements in adjustive behaviors in…

Generic teleological mechanisms (GTMs) are a class of strategic concepts especially useful in adaptive design. GTMs are abstract functional and causal patterns that lead to adaptation strategies for innovative design. Adopts a task-directed approach to learning, and describes a model-based method for learning GTMs from design methods. (Author/DKM)

This "classic" article (1972) in the field of deaf studies includes some interpretive notes for current readers. The article examines the effect of deafness on basic developmental tasks at each of the eight developmental stages of Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development and explains the more successful passage through these…

Examines the relationship between Chickering's vectors and the development of moral reasoning in college students. Results indicate that the developmental tasks of Academic Autonomy, Mature Interpersonal Relationships, and Purpose are closely related to the development of moral maturity, and that identity and moral development are parallel…

This study examined the metacognitive developmental patterns of Hong Kong school students. Students rated their own metacognitive competencies by responding to an inventory of six motivational- and cognitive-metacognitive subscales. Results showed that students' metacognitive competencies decreased with age--from primary 4 (age 9) to secondary 5…

The purpose of this study was to investigate young athletes' imagery use from a developmental perspective. The participants were 110 male and female athletes competing in both team and individual sports. They represented four different age cohorts (i.e., 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14 years). Sixteen focus groups, two for each age category and…

Identity is a major developmental task for adolescents, and the development of ethnic identity is a unique and significant developmental task for many adolescents. This article reviews theoretical and empirical literature that informs our understanding of the development of a positive ethnic identity, and the consequences for adolescent mental…

This study tested associations between problems in parent-youth relationships and problems with alcohol use among college students (N = 1592) using structural equation modeling. Hypotheses were that relationships between both substance-specific parenting factors (parental drinking) and non-substance-specific parenting factors (parental intrusive…

Young adults read not only to experience real-life problems, but also to "escape" from those problems. The two most popular types of novels available to teens are the contemporary realistic problem novel and the formula romance novel. A study examined the incidence of specific adolescent developmental tasks (adolescent problems/concerns)…

Adulthood for females is a complex maturational process, rooted in the mother-daughter relationship. To investigate the dynamics of the mother-daughter relationship and its influence on maturing, 20 women, ranging in age from 30 to 75, were interviewed for 6 to 8 hours over a 1-month period. The subjects were chosen for their self-reflective…