Demonstrated sex differences in physical characteristics are used to know the performance differences between first-placed males and females from latest world championships in swimming and running. The performance comparisons (PCs) reveal smaller differences between males and females in running sprint events than longer distance running and the…

Although many observers assume that balancing the often-competing demands of work and family has become increasingly difficult in recent decades, little research has explicitly examined this proposition. This study examines this question by drawing on data from the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey and the 1997 National Study of the Changing…

This study examined the use of verbalisms by 62 children aged 7-14 who were totally blind from birth and 64 sighted children. It found that a child's degree of sight and gender did not affect the frequency with which verbalisms were used; only age had a significant positive effect. The study shows that language is a flexible structure that is used…

This study assesses a new measure of early childhood classroom practice in 127 kindergarten- and first-grade classrooms. The measure was designed to be appropriate for classrooms serving children from the age of 4-7 years. It assesses the nature and quality of instruction as well as the social climate and management of the classroom. Two separate…

This study examines burnout and related issues among 265 university faculty members. The study estimates the percentage of incidence of highest levels of burnout is at half the rate of the general workforce. Female faculty members have significantly higher mean scores on emotional exhaustion than males, while male faculty have higher scores on…

The gender role hypothesis posits that performance on a cognitive ability test is influenced by whether the test instructions frame the test as measuring a skill that is consistent or inconsistent with the test taker's gender role beliefs. The Bem sex role inventory was used to measure the gender role of female college students, and the group…

In Studies 1 and 2, the authors evaluated deliberate practice theory through analyses of the relationship between practice and performance for 2 populations of athletes: triathletes and swimmers, respectively. In Study 3, the authors obtained evaluations of practice from athletes' diaries. Across athletes, length of time involved in fitness…

The relationship between childhood diagnosis, personality psychopathology and suicidal behavior in young adulthood was explored in a sample of 327 suicide ideators, single attempters, and multiple attempters. Of the total sample, 174 received at least one childhood diagnosis; the 153 without a diagnosis provided a comparison group. Results suggest…

The analysis presented here focuses on the relationship between femininity, transition and consumer culture. It explores the relationship between gender and consumer culture in the context of a discussion of the transition from childhood to teenage status for a group of young girls, and seeks to make a critical contribution to contemporary debates…

This study focused on the strategies adolescents endorsed for situations in which friends were experimenting with alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Four hypothetical vignettes (concerning a friend smoking, using drugs, getting drunk at a party, or deciding whether to attend a party with alcohol and drugs) were presented to 2697 5th-12th graders.…

This study examined the perceptions of competence of 43 children with visual impairments who were attending a summer sports camp. It found there were meaningful differences in the perceived competence of the girls, but not the boys, after they attended the camp, and no differences in the perceptions of competence with age.

The study of children?s peer relationships has been well represented within the pages of Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. Particularly over the last decade, the pace of publishing studies on peer relationships has increased. Despite this upswing in interest in peer relationships, significant gaps remain. In this article, we focus on a particularly…

The purpose of this study was to revise and develop a coping checklist for sport. A higher order factor (engagement and disengagement coping) was identified to examine coping in sport situations. A revised 50-item Ways of Coping Checklist (WCC) was administered to 106 female athletes immediately after they had participated in a sport competition.…

Most research on differential item functioning (DIF) focuses on methods for detection rather than on understanding why DIF might occur. This study was designed to investigate whether two alternative approaches to parsing items based on structural characteristics related to particular cognitive strategies could be used to help explain gender DIF.…

Relations of overt and relational aggression with perceived popularity among children and early adolescents were examined in 2 studies (Ns = 607 and 1,049). Among older youths, positive concurrent relations found between overt aggression and perceived popularity became nonsignificant when relational aggression was controlled, whereas positive…