In a study about the comprehension of anaphoric relationships in text, three anaphoric ties in forward (antecedent-anaphor) and backward (anaphor-antecedent) position were examined with attention to developmental trends. A four-school sample was used, three in the United States and one in New Zealand. A test of comprehension of anaphoric relationships in forward and backward position, constructed for use in the study, consisted of four short stories, each between 100 and 150 words in length. The entire test included 24 anaphoric structures, four of each type (pronoun-referent, lexical, substitution/ellipsis) in forward position and four of each type in backward position. Results of the present study indicate that, although there are some differences in the patterns of anaphoric comprehension among the four samples, it is possible to identify trends that hold across the total group. In general, there is a consistent pattern of growth in comprehension from one age level to the next with the proportion correct for the entire group ranging from .28 at age 7 to .43 at age 8; .51 at age 9, .58 at age 10, .59 at age 11, and .56 at age 12. Examination of performance on anaphoric types and directions indicates that substitution/ellipsis structures were most difficult for all age groups and that referent structures were easiest for all except the 7-year-olds who found lexical structures easiest to comprehend. Results also indicate that all age groups except 7-year-olds found forward structures easier to comprehend than backward structures. (NKA)