Showing papers in "Child Development in 1986"

Joint Attention and Early Language.

Abstract: This paper reports 2 studies that explore the role of joint attentional processes in the child's acquisition of language. In the first study, 24 children were videotaped at 15 and 21 months of age in naturalistic interaction with their mothers. Episodes of joint attentional focus between mother and child--for example, joint play with an object--were identified. Inside, as opposed to outside, these episodes both mothers and children produced more utterances, mothers used shorter sentences and more comments, and dyads engaged in longer conversations. Inside joint episodes maternal references to objects that were already the child's focus of attention were positively correlated with the child's vocabulary at 21 months, while object references that attempted to redirect the child's attention were negatively correlated. No measures from outside these episodes related to child language. In an experimental study, an adult attempted to teach novel words to 10 17-month-old children. Words referring to objects on which the child's attention was already focused were learned better than words presented in an attempt to redirect the child's attentional focus.

The vicissitudes of autonomy in early adolescence.

Abstract: A sample of 865 10-16-year-olds from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds completed a questionnaire battery concerning 3 aspects of autonomy: emotional autonomy in relationship with parents, resistance to peer pressure, and the subjective sense of self-reliance. The observed patterns of relations among the measures cast doubt on the notion that autonomy is a unidimensional trait manifested similarly across a variety of situations. For most boys and girls, the transition from childhood into adolescence is marked more by a trading of dependency on parents for dependency on peers, rather than straightforward and unidimensional growth in autonomy. Moreover, contrary to long-standing notions about the greater salience of autonomy to adolescent males than to females, girls score higher than boys on all 3 measures of autonomy at all age levels.

Social support, infant temperament, and parenting self-efficacy: a mediational model of postpartum depression.

Abstract: A model of maternal postpartum depression was tested in which difficult infant temperament was construed as a stressor and supportive interpersonal relationships were construed as a protective resource. It was hypothesized that both infant temperamental difficulty and level of social support would affect maternal depression through the cognitive mediation of perceived self-efficacy in the parenting role. Participants were 55 married women who were assessed during pregnancy and again 3 months postpartum. Infant temperament was assessed through observation, maternal crying records, and the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire. Results of a path analysis indicated that infant temperamental difficulty was strongly related to the mothers' level of postpartum depression, both directly and through the mediation of parenting self-efficacy. Consistent with predictions, social support appeared to exert its protective function against depression primarily through the mediation of self-efficacy. Both practical implications for identifying women at risk for postpartum depression and theoretical implications for understanding the mechanisms through which stressful events and social support affect adjustment are discussed.

Social Cognition, Prosocial Behavior and Emotion in Preschoolers: Contextual Validation.

Abstract: DENHAM, SUSANNE A. Social Cognition, Prosocial Behavior, and Emotion in Preschoolers: Contextual Validation. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 194-201. Relations among young preschoolers' social cognitive abilities, expression of emotions, and prosocial responses to others' emotions were investigated. 3 types of measures were employed with 27 2and 3-year-olds: structured social cognitive, structured assessment of response to emotion, and observational coding of response to emotion displays. Results suggested that subjects' social cognitive acuity and differential responding to emotion have heretofore been underrated. Moreover, affective knowledge was significantly related to prosocial behavior in semistructured situations. Prevalent affect was related to expression of prosocial behavior (e.g., frequent expressions of anger were associated with low levels of affective knowledge and prosocial behavior). Thus this investigation benefited from broader conceptual definitions and contextualized measures.

Ignorance versus false belief: a developmental lag in attribution of epistemic states

Abstract: HOGREFE, G.-JUERGEN; WIMMER, HEINZ; and PERNER, JOSEF. Ignorance versus False Belief: A Developmental Lag in Attribution of Epistemic States. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 567-582. 3-6-year-old children were either put into real-life situations or were read stories in which another person or story character was excluded from certain information. Their competence in attributing absence of knowledge (ignorance) was compared to their competence in attributing a false belief to the other. A marked difference between attributions was found. In a transitional stage at 3-4 years children were able to attribute ignorance but failed to attribute the resulting false belief. The same developmental gap for children about 2 years older was found between the attribution of secondorder ignorance and second-order false belief. Results are interpreted to show that children at a transitional stage find it difficult to represent the incompatible propositions describing the true state of affairs and the state of affairs falsely believed to be true by the other. Such a complexity is not involved in the understanding of ignorance where it has just to be represented that the other does not share the representation of the true state of affairs.

Automaticity, retrieval processes, and reading: a longitudinal study in average and impaired readers.

Abstract: In this longitudinal investigation, the development of word-retrieval speed and its relationship to reading was studied in 72 average and 11 severely impaired readers in the kindergarten to grade 2 period (5-8 years). Subjects received a battery of 3 reading measures and 4 continuous naming tests with varied stimulus requirements. Results indicated that the relationship of retrieval speed to reading is a function of development and the correspondence between higher- and lower-level processes in the specific retrieval and reading measures. As automaticity in retrieval developed in average readers, naming-speed/reading relationships moved from strong, general predictions to highly differentiated ones. The strongest correlations were between naming speed for graphological stimuli and lower-level reading tasks. Impaired readers performed slower than average readers on all naming measures across all years, particularly on graphological symbols. 3 dyslexic subgroups emerged: the largest was globally impaired across all naming rate and reading tasks; 2 smaller subgroups had early specific, retrieval-rate deficits and dissociated reading deficits.

Cognitive social learning mediators of aggression

Abstract: This research explored links between aggression in elementary school children and 2 classes of social cognitions that might influence children's decisions about whether to behave aggressively. Aggressive and nonaggressive children (mean age 11.3 years) responded to 2 questionnaires. One questionnaire measured children's perceptions of their abilities to perform aggression and related behaviors (perceptions of self-efficacy), and the other measured children's beliefs about the reinforcing and punishing consequences of aggression (response-outcome expectancies). Compared to nonaggressive children, aggressive subjects reported that it is easier to perform aggression and more difficult to inhibit aggressive impulses. Aggressive children also were more confident that aggression would produce tangible rewards and would reduce aversive treatment by others. There were negligible sex differences in perceived self-efficacy for aggression but large sex differences in anticipated social and personal consequences for aggression, with girls expecting aggression to cause more suffering in the victim and to be punished more severely by the peer group and by the self. It was concluded that children's knowledge of their capabilities and children's knowledge of the consequences of their actions are factors that need to be taken into account by cognitive models of aggression.

Continuity in Mental Development from Infancy.

Abstract: In this essay we document moderate continuity in mental development beginning in infancy and extending into childhood. Psychological opinion in the past has tended to favor discontinuity theories of cognitive development from infancy. In recent years, however, the foundations on which discontinuity positions were originally established have themselves come under question and new findings grounded in new assessment procedures have appeared, necessitating revision of opinion on this significant psychological and developmental issue. Our essay has several aims. We first review briefly the bases for contemporary discontinuity theories of mental development. Second, we present current findings that support the alternative proposition of continuity: Recent research demonstrates that infants who more efficiently encode visual stimuli or more efficiently recollect visual or auditory stimuli tend to perform more proficiently on traditional psychometric assessments of intelligence and language during childhood. Third, we scrutinize the assessment methods from which these continuity results derive. Fourth, we offer several models that help to explain the continuity findings. Fifth, we discuss critically the origins and the maintenance of continuity in mental development as it is coming to be conceptualized currently. Finally, we reflect on implications of continuity for the future of infant assessments specifically and for theories of early mental development generally.

Long-Term Prediction of Achievement and Attitudes in Mathematics and Reading.

Abstract: The purpose of the longitudinal study was to investigate the prediction of children's academic achievement on the basis of cognitive tasks given prior to kindergarten, and academic attitudes on the basis of teachers' and mothers' ratings of the children's general cognitive abilities and actual achievement. Subjects were tested initially before entering kindergarten; from 105 to 154 of the 255 kindergarten children were followed through grades 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10. A subset of cognitive tasks maintained a high relation to high school achievement scores, especially in reading. Tenth-grade self-concept of ability, expectancy for success, value of success, and perception of task difficulty showed effects of sex and academic content area, with boys generally being more favorable toward math and girls more favorable toward reading. Children's attitudes were related both to mothers' earlier ratings of their children's cognitive abilities and actual achievement scores; this was especially the case for girls. There was a negative relation between mothers' ratings and girls' attitudes toward mathematics. Sex differences in all measures throughout the 11-year period are reviewed.

Children's spontaneous control of facial expression.

Abstract: COLE, PAMELA M. Children's Spontaneous Control of Facial Expression. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 1309-1321. Spontaneous expressive control of negative emotion was examined in 2 studies of children aged 3-9 using an experimental "disappointing" situation. In Study 1, facial expressions, verbalizations, and spontaneous references to emotional expression control were examined in terms of the child's age and sex and the experimental manipulation (neutral, positive, and "disappointing" mood segments). Results suggested that children attempted to control the display of negative emotion with positive displays and that females did so more than males. No effect of age on expressive behavior was found. Age differences were found for children's spontaneous reference to expressive control, with such references increasing with age. To further examine the possibility that preschoolers engaged in expressive control, Study 2 examined the expressive behavior of 20 preschool girls in the disappointing situation in 2 conditions, alone or with the examiner present. These data indicated that females, aged 3-4, inhibited negative displays when in the presence of the examiner.

Learning to Talk about Emotions: A Functionalist Perspective.

Abstract: BRETHERTON, INGE; FRITZ, JANET; ZAHN-WAXLER, CAROLYN; and RIDGEWAY, DOREEN. Learning to Talk about Emotions: A Functionalist Perspective. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 529-548. Although the recent focus on functionalist theories of emotions has led to an upsurge of interest in many aspects of emotional development, not enough attention has been paid to young children's developing ability to talk about emotions. In this paper we attempt to place what is presently known about this topic into a framework that emphasizes the intrapsychic and interpersonal functions of emotion. We also consider suggestive evidence concerning the importance of the ability to talk about emotions in the conduct of interpersonal interaction. The paper concludes with some ideas on future directions for research, placing particular emphasis on a functionalist approach to the analysis of emotion-denoting terms.

Factors in the Growth of Linguistic Awareness.

Abstract: Deux experiences etudient le role des deux composantes de la capacite metalinguistique ― analyse du savoir linguistique et controle du traitement linguistique ― dans la structure et la resolution d'une tâche metalinguistique en fonction de l'âge et du bilinguisme chez des enfants de 5 a 9 ans

Early understanding of mental entities: a reexamination of childhood realism.

Abstract: Real physical objects (e.g., a chair) can be distinguished from mental entities (e.g., a thought about a chair) on the basis of a number of criteria. 3 of these are behavioral-sensory evidence--whether the entity can be seen, touched, and physically acted upon; public existence--whether other persons experience the entity; and consistent existence--whether the entity consistently exists over time. Two studies tested 3-5-year-old children's ability to distinguish real versus mental entities on the basis of these criteria and to categorize such entities suitably. Even 3-year-olds were able to judge real and mental entities appropriately on the basis of the 3 criteria, to sort such entities as explicitly real and not-real, and to provide cogent explanations of their choices as well. A further distinction between real and mental entities is that mental entities can be about physically impossible, nonexistent things (e.g., a dog that flies). A third study demonstrated that 3-5-year-olds also appreciated this distinction. Taken together, these results contradict a common characterization of the young child as unaware of the fundamental ontological distinction between the internal mental world and objective reality. The implications of these findings are discussed for 3 other bodies of research: Piaget's characterization of young children as realists, Keil's theory of ontological development, and recent research on children's understanding of the mind.

The personality of children prior to divorce: a prospective study.

Abstract: In a longitudinal study, the personalities of children from intact families at ages 3, 4, and 7 were reliably assessed by independent sets of raters using Q-items reflecting important psychological characteristics of children. A number of these families subsequently experienced divorce. The behavior of boys was found, as early as 11 years prior to parental separation or formal dissolution of marriage, to be consistently affected by what can be presumed to be predivorce familial stress. The behavior of boys from subsequently divorcing families was characterized by undercontrol of impulse, aggression, and excessive energy prior to parental divorce. The behavior of girls from subsequently divorcing families was found to be notably less affected by the stresses in families prior to parental divorce. The prospective relations afforded by the longitudinal analyses suggest that the behavior of conflicting, inaccessible parents during the preseparation period may have serious consequences for personality development, especially for boys. Hence, some characteristics of children commonly seen to be a consequence of divorce may be present prior to marital dissolution.

Social cognition in parents: inferential and affective reactions to children of three age levels.

Abstract: The present research proposes and tests an attributional model of parent cognition. Derived from correspondent inference theory, the model emphasizes that parents assess children's behavior primarily by determining whether that behavior reflects children's intentions and dispositions or, instead, constraints on children's control of behavior from situational pressures or developmental limitations in knowledge and ability. In 2 studies, support was obtained for 4 predictions. First, findings show that parents' assessments of children's behavior are closely tied to the developmental level of the child. As children developed, parents thought children's behavior was increasingly caused by personality dispositions and was increasingly intentional, under the child's control, and, for misconduct, understood to be wrong. Second, parents' affective reactions to misconduct were related to their assessments of its cause and, third, became increasingly negative as children developed. Positive affect, in contrast, was unrelated to attributions for children's positive behavior. Fourth, parents' assessments of children's behavior were affected by the behavior's desirability. Parents thought children's altruism was more intentional, dispositional, and under the child's control than children's misconduct. Implications for how parents assess and react to children's behavior are discussed.

Children's Understanding of the Distinction between Real and Apparent Emotion.

Abstract: 2 experiments examined children's understanding of the distinction between real and apparent emotion In Experiment 1, 6- and 10-year-old children listened to stories in which it would be appropriate for the story protagonist to feel either a positive or negative emotion but to hide that emotion Subjects were asked to say both how the protagonist would look and how the protagonist would really feel, and to justify their claims The results indicated that 6- and 10-year-olds alike could distinguish quite accurately between real and apparent emotion, although 10-year-olds were somewhat better at justifying this distinction In Experiment 2, a slightly modified procedure was used to test 4- and 6-year-olds Again, 6-year-olds demonstrated their grasp of the difference between real and apparent emotion, and even 4-year-olds showed a limited grasp of the distinction The findings are discussed in relation to recent research concerning children's concept of mind, their grasp of the appearance-reality distinction, their ability to produce complex, embedded justifications, and their ideas about emotion

Inferring Properties from Categories versus Inferring Categories from Properties: The Case of Gender.

Abstract: GELMAN, SUSAN A.; COLLMAN, PAMELA; and MACCOBY, ELEANOR E. Inferring Properties from Categories versus Inferring Categories from Properties: The Case of Gender. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 396-404. The present study tested a distinction between inferring new categories on the basis of property information (predicted to be difficult) and inferring new properties on the basis of category information (predicted to be easier). One group of preschoolers learned new properties for specific boys and girls and was asked to say which property a new child would have, given a gender label that conflicted with the child's appearance. Other children saw the identical stimuli but were to classify them as "boy" or "girl" when given a sex-linked property that conflicted with appearance. All children were also tested on gender constancy. As predicted, children performed poorly on gender constancy and the classification task but accurately inferred many sex-linked properties on the basis of category membership, ignoring conflicting perceptual information. Control conditions support the claim that these effects are not due to differential memory demands in the different conditions. Future research should distinguish between using a category as the basis for making property inferences and the developmentally later skill of classifying an object by using property information. Preschoolers can ignore conflicting perceptual information much more easily on the former than on the latter task.

Developmental change in infants' perception of correlations among attributes.

Abstract: The perception of relational information such as the correlation or co-occurrence among features should play a central role in abilities ranging from the perception and recognition of a simple pattern or object to the formation of a category. 4 experiments were conducted to examine developmental change in 4-, 7-, and 10-month-old infants' perception of correlations among attributes. The results suggested a developmental progression in infants' processing of simple correlational information, ranging from the processing of independent featural information only at 4 months, the perception of relations among features of a single pattern at 7 months, to the abstraction of invariant relations from a category at 10 months.

Inhibited and uninhibited children: A follow-up study.

Abstract: REZNICK, J. STEVEN; KAGAN, JEROME; SNIDMAN, NANCY; GERSTEN, MICHELLE; BAAK, KATHERINE; and ROSENBERG, ALLISON. Inhibited and Uninhibited Children: A Follow-up Study. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 660-680. A group of 46 children classified at 21 months as either behaviorally inhibited or uninhibited, and 18 children who were classified as falling at neither extreme, were observed at 5 /2years of age in contexts designed to evaluate behavior in social situations and heart rate, heart rate variability, and pupillary dilation to cognitive tasks. Additionally, 43 of the 46 inhibited or uninhibited children had been evaluated in similar contexts when they were 4 years of age. At age 51/, the formerly inhibited children, compared with the uninhibited ones, were more inhibited with peers in both laboratory and school, as well as with an adult examiner in a testing situation, and more cautious in a situation of mild risk. As at the earlier ages, more inhibited children had a relatively high and stable heart rate. The inhibited children also had tonically larger pupillary dilations to cognitive stress, were either impulsive or reflective on a test with response uncertainty, and their mothers described them as shy with unfamiliar peers. It was suggested that one or more of the stress circuits that link the hypothalamus to the pituitary, reticular activating system, and sympathetic chain are at a higher level of excitability among inhibited than among uninhibited children.

Interpretations of Peer Behavior: Affective Bias in Childhood and Adolescence.

Abstract: HYMEL, SHELLEY. Interpretations of Peer Behavior: Affective Bias in Childhood and Adolescence. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 431-445. Based on constructive theories of interpersonal attraction, 2 studies were conducted examining the hypothesis that biases in peer interpretations of social behavior may contribute to the stability of social acceptance and rejection in children. Variations in children's explanations of the behavior of known peers were examined as a function of the valence of the behavior performed (positive, negative) and prior affect toward the actor (liked, disliked) as well as the age and social status of the perceiver. Popular and unpopular secondand fifth-grade children (approximately 7 and 10 years old) (Study 1) or tenth-grade (approximately 15 years) (Study 2) children responded to 4 hypothetical situations in which liked or disliked peers performed behaviors that had either positive or negative outcomes for the subject. Results indicated that children's explanations of peer behavior varied significantly as a function of both affect toward the actor and valence of behavior, although age and status differences were generally nonsignificant. More specifically, positive behaviors were attributed to more stable causes when performed by liked peers than by disliked peers. In contrast, negative behaviors were attributed to more stable causes when performed by disliked peers than by liked peers. In addition, greater responsibility or blame for negative behavior was attributed to disliked peers than to liked peers. Results are discussed in terms of implications for research on children's peer relations.

Components of attention during infants' manipulative exploration.

Abstract: The purpose of the project was to investigate attention in infants as they manipulate objects. It was hypothesized that examining, in contrast to other activity, reflects focused attention and active intake of information. The first study with 7- and 12-month-olds supported the hypothesis; examining declined with increasing familiarity, while other behaviors, such as mouthing and banging, did not, and examining occurred before other behaviors temporally. The latency to examine declined significantly with age. The second and third studies investigated the effects of age and familiarity on both latency to and duration of examining. Latency again decreased with age but did not change with increasing familiarity. In contrast, duration of examining did not vary systematically with age but declined sharply with familiarity. In a fourth study, latency to examine and duration of examining were related to different measures of attention at 3 1/2 years. The combination of results suggests that the latency and duration measures reflect different aspects of attention--a short-term reaction to object novelty and a more sustained response to the object and its characteristics.

Family and child care influences on toddler's compliance.

Abstract: HOWES, CAROLLEE, and OLENICK, MICHAEL. Family and Child Care Influences on Toddler's Compliance. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 202-216. Influences and interrelations of family dynamics and of varying quality of child-care on the child's capacity for compliance and self-regulation were examined. 3 family types, all with toddler-age children, were compared: families using high-quality day-care centers, families using low-quality day-care centers, and families not using day-care centers. 89 families were interviewed and observed at home and in a laboratory, and the children were observed in their day-care centers. Families that placed their children in low-quality day-care centers had more complex lives, and at home they were less involved and invested in their children's compliance than were parents who either placed their children in a high-quality day-care center or did not use day-care. Children in high-quality day-care centers were more compliant in day-care and had teachers who were more involved and invested in child compliance than children in low-quality day-care centers. In the laboratory, children who attend high-quality day-care centers were the most likely to self-regulate. Parents with children in high-quality day-care centers were the most invested in child compliance in the laboratory. The stability of children's compliance in the 3 settings increased with age. Multiple regression techniques were used to examine relationships between child care, family, and child and parent behaviors. Different patterns appeared for boys and girls, suggesting that boys may be more sensitive than girls to the effects of day-care quality.

Maternal behavior and attachment in low-birth-weight twins and singletons.

Abstract: Early mother-infant interaction and later security of attachment were assessed for 17 pairs of twins, 5 singleton survivors of twin pairs, and 20 singletons, all low-birth-weight preterm infants. Mother and infant behavior during home observations at 6 weeks and 3, 6, and 9 months was rated on scales developed by Ainsworth and Egeland and Brunquell. A, B, and C patterns of behavior in the Strange Situation conformed to the frequencies predicted from prior full-term samples and were not affected by twinship. However, the proportion of B1 and B4 dyads in the B group significantly exceeded that predicted from normative data. Mothers in B2 and B3 dyads were rated more sensitive and responsive than all others at all 4 observations. Contrary to our expectations that mothers in A and C dyads would receive the lowest ratings, this occurred only at 6 weeks. At later observations mothers in B1 and B4 dyads consistently received the lowest ratings. The discussion focuses on possible reasons for this unexpected finding.

Emotion socialization and expressive development in preterm and full-term infants.

Abstract: The expressive behaviors of full-term and preterm infants and their mothers were examined during face-to-face interaction when the infants were approximately 2 1/2, 5, and 7 1/2 months old. Videotapes of the sessions were coded on a second-to-second basis using Izard's discrete emotion coding system. Overall, infants showed a linear increase in positive effect, especially interest and joy, and a corresponding decrease in negative affect, especially pain and knit brow, with age; decrease in negative affect was accounted for largely by the preterm infants. In terms of maternal responses, there was an increase in contingent responding to infant interest expressions and a decrease in contingent responding to infant pain expressions over time, especially in the case of the preterm infant. The data set as a whole was examined further to establish the directionality of influence between mothers and infants in change patterns over time. There was evidence of learning effects in infants as a function of maternal modeling and contingency patterns. Anomalies in maternal responses to preterm infant affect expressions were observed. Mothers of these infants displayed significantly less matching or imitation of their infant's facial expressions, showed random rather than contingent responsiveness to sadness, and a significant ignoring response to infant anger. These differences were attributed to differences in gazing patterns and negative emotion expression in preterm infants. The results are discussed within a framework of emotion socialization that recognizes bidirectionality of influence in the emotional patterns of mothers and infants.

Sources of age differences in speed of processing.

Abstract: 3 experiments were conducted to study developmental change in the speed of cognitive processes In Experiment 1, subjects ranging in age from 8 to 21 years were tested on a mental rotation task in which they judged whether pairs of letters presented at different orientations were identical or mirror images, and on a name retrieval task in which they judged if pairs of pictures were identical physically or had the same name Increases with age in the speed of mental rotation and speed of name retrieval were both well described by exponential functions, and the rate of developmental change was comparable for the 2 tasks Experiment 2 confirmed that age changes in rate of mental rotation are well described by an exponential function Experiment 3 demonstrated, on a mental rotation task, a perfect correlation across conditions between children's mean response times and adults' mean response times for corresponding conditions These results are interpreted as indicating that age differences in speed of processing are due, at least in part, to a central limiting mechanism that increases with age

Treadmill-elicited stepping in seven-month-old infants

Abstract: When infants begin to walk independently, their step patterns, while not fully mature, are different in kinematic details from those of newborn stepping and supine kicking. 6 7-month-old infants, who performed little or no stepping movements, were supported over a small, motorized treadmill. All showed immediate alternating stepping. These movements were more similar to adult-like steps than newborn steps. The implications of eliciting a more mature pattern by the treadmill are discussed. Although infants normally perform few steps at this age, the underlying mechanism has not "disappeared."

Sibling and Peer Interaction: A Final Follow-up and a Comparison

Abstract: ABRAMOVITCH, RONA; CORTER, CARL; PEPLER, DEBRA J.; and STANHOPE, LINDA. Sibling and Peer Interaction: A Final Follow-up and a Comparison. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 217-229. In a second follow-up study of sibling interaction, 24 pairs of same-sex siblings and 24 pairs of mixed-sex siblings were observed in their homes 18 months after the first follow-up and 3 years after the initial observations. The younger siblings were approximately 5 years old, and the age interval between siblings was either large (2.5-4 years) or small (1-2 years). The patterning of interaction was similar to that observed earlier. Birth order was important. There was no effect of age interval between siblings and few effects of sex of child or sex composition of the dyad. Sibling observations were supplemented by naturalistic observations of dyadic peer interaction for 19 of the same-sex dyads. There was no consistent pattern of correlations between interactions with siblings and with peers. Interaction in almost all dyads was characterized by reciprocity. The results are discussed in terms of the nature and importance of early sibling relationships.

Neonatal pain cries: effect of circumcision on acoustic features and perceived urgency.

Abstract: The relation between neonatal cry features elicited by painful circumcision procedures and the perceived urgency of those cries was investigated. Vocalizations were recorded during circumcision of 30 normal newborn males, analyzed by spectrographic methods and validated with computer techniques. The most invasive procedures elicited significantly longer crying bouts; shorter quiet intervals; shorter, more frequent vocalizations; higher peak fundamental frequencies; fewer harmonics; and greater variability of the fundamental. Cries elicited by the most intrusive procedures were judged by adult listeners to be the most urgent, and cries from similarly invasive procedures were judged to be of the same degree of urgency. Cries appeared to be judged along 3 dimensions described by harmonic, temporal, and pitch characteristics. Subjective judgments and objective quantitative data converge to demonstrate that infants' cries are perceived as varying and, objectively, do systematically vary with respect to the intensity of painful stimuli.

Consistency and Change in Mothers' Behavior toward Young Siblings.

Abstract: Siblings differ markedly in behavioral development, and it has been suggested that differential maternal treatment may contribute significantly to these differences. The question of how consistently mothers treat their different children was examined in a study of 45 sibling pairs from the Colorado Adoption Project, in which each child at 24 months of age was videotaped at home with the mother. The results showed mothers to be consistent in affection and verbal responsiveness but to differ in their controlling behavior toward the 2 siblings. Comparison of the same mother's behavior to the 2 siblings at 12 months and at 24 months showed little stability in maternal behavior to the same child over this age period.

Children's Conceptions of Adult and Peer Authority.

Abstract: LAUPA, MARTA, and TURIEL, ELLIOT. Children's Conceptions of Adult and Peer Authority. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 405-412. This study examines children's concepts of authority with regard to the age of persons giving commands, their position in a social context, and the type of command given. The study was conducted at a school with a program that places children in positions of authority. Subjects (24 female, 24 male) from the first, third, and fifth grades were interviewed to assess their evaluations of peer and adult authority commands and rationale for obedience. Subjects also made choices between different individuals who gave opposing commands; age (peer/adult) and social position (with or without an official school authority position) were varied. Subjects at all ages accepted the legitimacy of both peer and adult authorities and were able to conceptualize the social organizational role of authority. However, the boundaries of authority justification did not extend to commands that failed to prevent harm. In addition, children gave priority to adult authority over peer authority and to peer authority over adult nonauthority. The findings indicate that children do not have a unitary orientation toward authority and that they take into consideration the age and social position of authority as well as the type of command given.