Self-reported depressive symptoms in first-grade children: developmentally transient phenomena?

The question of whether self-reported depressive symptoms in young children represent more than transient developmental phenomena was examined in an epidemiologically defined sample of 1,313 first graders. Children's reports of depressive symptoms were relatively stable over a 4-month interval. The level of stability was particularly impressive for children initially in the highest quartile of depression, of all whom remained in the highest quartile at retest, 4 months later. In addition, depressive symptoms were significantly related to the negotiation of a number of salient developmental tasks at entrance to first grade, including academic achievement, peer relations, and attention/concentration in the classroom. Moreover, the relationships between depressive symptoms and the various indices of social and academic functioning remained stable over the 4-month test-retest interval.

Cognitive components of naming in children: effects of referential uncertainty and stimulus realism

The ease of picture naming in children was assessed as a function of two stimulus characteristics: (a) the number of available correct names for a picture (referential uncertainty) and (b) the degree to which a picture realistically represents the depicted object (stimulus realism). Two experiments employing different methods demonstrated that: (a) children named low uncertainty objects (those with a single dominant name, e.g., key, elephant) faster than high uncertainty objects (those with multiple possible correct names, e.g., lamp/light, stove/oven) and (b) this uncertainty effect arose at a stage of naming subsequent to object identification. Possible underlying mechanisms for the uncertainty effect include passive diffusion of activation over multiple object-name pathways or active inhibition among competing candidate names. Stimulus realism (colored photographs vs uncolored line drawings) did not consistently influence naming performance. Implications for understanding children's naming behavior are discussed.

Emotional responsivity to others: behavioral correlates and socialization antecedents

We have proposed that how children deal with emotional arousal in social situations affects the quality of their social interactions. More specifically, we have argued that children who can regulate negative emotions so that they are not overly aroused interact in more adaptive ways. Based on these assumptions, we have started to examine the relations of parental characteristics and practices to children's emotional responding and social behavior. Initial research findings provide partial support for the conclusion that parental encouragement of children's expression of their own sadness, distress, and sympathy, as well as parental practices that teach children ways to deal with negative emotion-eliciting situations and their own negative emotions, are associated with sympathetic emotional responding and with adaptive social behavior. These findings suggest that further examination of the ways in which children learn to manage their emotions in social interactions will serve to augment our understanding of the socialization of social competence.

Sex differences in elaborative strategies: a developmental analysis

The present study examined sex differences in the use of elaboration in paired associate learning in adolescence and young adulthood. In Experiment 1, 48 eighth grade and 48 tenth grade students were asked to recall 24 word pairs, half of which were high frequency pairs, and half low frequency pairs. After recall, students reported the type of strategy used for each word pair (reading the pairs carefully, rehearsing the words, using imagery or constructing a verbal connection). Females used elaborative strategies more often, were more likely to recall elaborated pairs, and recalled more word pairs than males at both ages. These effects were observed in both high and low frequency word pairs. There was also a main effect of frequency, with elaboration more common with high frequency word pairs. In Experiment 2, college students performed the same paired-associates learning task, but with the added instruction to describe their elaborations in a sentence. At this age, there was a sex by materials interaction, with sex differences in strategy use only present with low frequency word pairs. These findings indicate that sex differences diminish under more favorable task conditions that encourage strategy use (high frequency word pairs) as males and females become more proficient strategy users, but remain under less favorable circumstances. An examination of the types of elaborations generated by college students indicated although males and females produced similar types of elaborations to the word pairs, sex differences in the recallability of low frequency words appeared with less interactive and more idiosyncratic elaborations.

Loss & change: new directions in death education for adolescents

The subject of this paper is Loss & change, a preventive health education school based program. The program has been developed, in conjunction with teachers, by a team of health workers from an Australian community health agency. This program is generalist in nature. It explores the losses adolescents experience within the context of healthy adolescent development. Based on a primary prevention model, it has a strong focus on life, and, as such, is a death education program which is different from those which focus on suicide prevention or bereavement support. The paper serves as an interim report on a program which is still developing, and which may provide some insight into a promising means of support for adolescent development.

Teachers' implicit "theories" of children's intelligence

Information about teachers' implicit notions of children's intelligence was obtained by having 50 student-teachers and 79 teachers with 1 to 4 years of experience rate 150 descriptors on applicability to an hypothetical child described as above average, average, or below average in intellectual functioning. Each teacher-subject was classified by dogmatism score and by years of teaching experience. A factor analysis disclosed that Academic Skills and Interpersonal Competencies summarize the implicit notions. Analysis of variance showed that all levels of hypothesized intelligence only affected teachers' expectations of academic skills and that the effect of intelligence was dependent upon the teachers' dogmatism. There were no clear-cut findings associated with years of experience. Results supported previous observations that people have implicit "theories" of intelligence; however, the specific composition of their ideas varies according to the context within which the rater and the person observed are placed.

The many faces of human ageing: toward a psychological culture of old age

In an effort to distil major findings about the nature of human ageing, seven propositions are presented as a guiding frame of reference. This propositional framework is then used to specify some conditions for a positive culture of old age and to advance one possible model of good psychological ageing. This model focuses on the dynamic interplay between three processes: selection, optimization, and compensation. The model is universal in its basic features, but at the same time emphasizes individual variations in phenotypic manifestation.