Ladd,
G. W. (2004). Commentaries in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: An Introduction to the July 2004 and
October 2004 Issues. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50, 203-205.
Abstract:
This occasion in the journal's history provides a vantage point
from which to appraise the scientific endeavors that have generated
the contents of the Quarterly and its sister publications over
the last half-century. To capitalize on this opportunity, two
issues of this year's Quarterly (i.e., July and October 2004)
contain commentaries written by senior investigators whose research
programs and accomplishments span many years within this epoch.
Included in the content of these commentaries are historical analyses
of pivotal accomplishments within various subdisciplines, appraisals
of the contemporary status of specific areas of investigation,
and visions of the future of scientific inquiry in the human developmental
sciences.
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Berndt,
T. J. (2004). Children's Friendships: Shifts Over a Half-Century
in Perspectives on Their Development and Their Effects. Merrill-Palmer
Quarterly, 50, 206-22.
Abstract:
Provocative ideas about the nature, development, and effects of
children's friendships were included in the lectures of Harry
Stack Sullivan, which were edited and published in the 1950s.
Sullivan emphasized the love, intimacy, and collaboration found
in the close friendships that children form around 8 to 10 years
of age. Later research has shown that close friendships have both
a positive dimension, with features such as intimacy, and a negative
dimension, with features such as rivalry. However, close friendships
do not emerge suddenly at 8 to 10 years of age. Rather, the closeness
of children's friendships increases gradually during middle childhood
and adolescence. Recent studies suggest that having close, high-quality
friendships increases children's success in the peer social world.
Having high-quality friendships could magnify the positive or
negative influence of friends with positive or negative characteristics,
but this hypothesis needs to be evaluated more thoroughly in the
future.
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Dunn,
J. (2004). Understanding Children's Family Worlds: Family Transitions
and Children's Outcome. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50, 224-23.
Abstract:
Increasing numbers of children experience parental separation
and formation of stepfamilies. Research into the impact of these
family transitions on children's adjustment by family sociologists
and psychologists has greatly increased; changes in research perspectives
over the last two decades are discussed, including a focus on
individual differences in children's responses and the risk and
protective factors implicated, on parent-child relationships as
mediators of adjustment, on the significance of within-family
differences and of biological relatedness (not solely family type),
and on intergenerational patterns of associations. The importance
of taking account of children's perspectives on family change,
and of including investigation of children's relationships and
experiences beyond the immediate household, to clarify the significance
of children's relations with their nonresident parents and grandparents
is increasingly recognized. Controversial issues are noted, and
the lessons learned for research design, if we are to understand
better the implications of these family changes, which are of
major social and developmental significance, are summarized.
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Eisenberg,
N., Champion, C., & Ma, Y. (2004). Emotion-Related Regulation:
An Emerging Construct. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50, 236-259.
Abstract:
Emotion-related regulation is a topic of considerable current
interest; however, this was not always true. We briefly discuss
the history of interest in the topic and then the current state
of the field, including definitions of the construct. In addition,
we summarize some of the important issues for future attention,
including definitional issues, topics that merit attention, and
methodological and design issues. This field of inquiry is flourishing,
but it is one that is rapidly expanding and improving in the quality
of the research.
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Fabes,
R. A., Martin, C. L., & Hanish, L. D. (2004). The Next 50
Years: Considering Gender as a Context for Understanding Young
Children's Peer Relationships. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50, 260-273.
Abstract:
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
overlooked and significant area of peer relationships, namely,
the role of sex-segregated peer interactions and how these relate
to development in early childhood. We review why this topic is
important for researchers to consider and highlight promising
directions for research that we hope will appear in future volumes
of Merrill-Palmer Quarterly.
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Flavell,
J. H. (2004). Theory-of-Mind Development: Retrospect and Prospect.
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50, 274-290.
Abstract:
This review begins with a brief history from Piagetian perspective-taking
development, through metacognitive development, and into the past
and present field of theory-of-mind development. This field has
included research on what infants and children know about a variety
of mental states, on possible causes and consequences of mentalistic
knowledge, and on similarities and differences in this knowledge
across individuals, cultures, and primate species. The article
concludes with some speculations about the future of the field.
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Kagan,
J. (2004). The Limitations of Concepts in Developmental Psychology.
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50, 291-298.
Abstract:
Many concepts in developmental psychology are inferred or confirmed
from very particular experimental or naturalistic observations
but investigators often generalize their validity to a broad domain
of situations. This permissiveness is affecting progress. This
paper provides examples of this error and criticizes the tendency
to award essences to predicates representing psychological processes.
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Kochanska,
G. & Aksan, N. (2004). Conscience in Childhood: Past, Present,
and Future. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50, 299-310.
Abstract:
We ask three questions: What are the components of young children's
conscience? How are they organized? How does early conscience
develop? We discuss the changing perspectives on each of those
questions. We describe the shift from a focus on a single component
of conscience (moral emotions, conduct, cognition) to a growing
emphasis on their integration; from a view of conscience as loosely
organized to a view of a coherent system of causally related components;
from a focus on older children and adolescents to young toddlers
and preschoolers; and from a top-down view of parental discipline
immediately following child misbehavior to a focus on mutual processes
between the parent and the child that occur in multiple socialization
contexts and are shaped by the history of the parent-child relationship
and the child's individuality. We conclude by outlining new directions
for research on early conscience.
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Lochman,
J. E. (2004). Contextual Factors in Risk and Prevention Research.
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50, 311-325.
Abstract:
This paper reviews how cascading levels of contextual influences,
starting with family factors and extending to neighborhood and
school factors, can affect children's behavioral and emotional
development. The ability of contextual factors to trigger or to
attenuate children's underlying temperament and biological risk
factors is emphasized. Recognition of the powerful effects of
an array of contextual factors on children's development has clear
implications for preventive interventions as well. Intervention
research can explore the effects of multicomponent interventions
directed at children's family and peer contextual influences,
can examine how contextual factors predict children's responsivity
to interventions, and can examine how contextual factors have
effects on how, and how well, interventions are delivered in the
real worlds of schools and community agencies.
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McCall,
R. B., Groark, C. J., &Nelkin, R. P. (2004). Integrating Developmental
Scholarship and Society: From Dissemination and Accountability
to Evidence-Based Programming and Policies. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly,
50, 326-340.
Abstract:
Increasingly, practitioners and policy makers are demanding research
evidence as a basis for funding programs and policies. The application
of research to society has undergone several transitions, from
a scholarly emphasis on the experimental method to an attempt
to disseminate research and contribute to social policy. Policy
makers have emphasized accountability and now evidence-based practices.
Although developmental scholars should be pleased that policy
makers want evidence, scholars need to examine the assumptions
of evidence-based programming and continue to refine how evidence
should be used to decide which services to fund. In addition,
we propose a more collaborative strategy to promote evidence-based
policies in general.
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Plomin,
R. (2004). Genetics and Developmental Psychology. Merrill-Palmer
Quarterly, 50, 341-352.
Abstract:
One of the major changes in developmental psychology during the
past 50 years has been the acceptance of the important role of
nature (genetics) as well as nurture (environment). Past research
consisting of twin and adoption studies has shown that genetic
influence is substantial for most domains of developmental psychology.
Present research has moved beyond documenting the importance of
genetics to investigate the mechanisms by which genetic influences
affect behavioral development. The future of genetic research
in developmental psychology lies in DNA: Identifying the specific
genes responsible for the widespread influence of genetics and
using these genes to investigate developmental pathways between
genes and behavior.
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Siegler,
R. S. (2004). Learning About Learning. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly,
50, 353-368.
Abstract:
The field of children's learning was thriving when the Merrill-Palmer
Quarterly was launched; the field later went into eclipse and
now is in the midst of a resurgence. This commentary examines
reasons for these trends, and describes the emerging field of
children's learning. In particular, the new field is seen as differing
from the old in its emphases on variability, choice, and change
as central aspects of children's functioning and in its reliance
on high-density sampling of learning, of the type provided by
microgenetic methods. Examples of learning in content areas ranging
from motor development to problem solving to attention, and with
age groups ranging from infants to adults, are used to illustrate
the insights that this new field is yielding.
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Sternberg,
R. J. & Grigorenko, E. (2004). Why We Need to Explore Development
in Its Cultural Context. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50, 369-386.
Abstract:
Cultural context should be taken into account in our research
so that we characterize how people behave in their everyday lives,
not just a sterile laboratory environment. Much developmental
research treats children as though they group in a sociocultural
vacuum. Such research misses important points about development.
The article illustrates the importance of cultural context by
giving examples from implicit-theoretical and explicit-theoretical
lines of research.
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Vandell,
D. (2004). Early Child Care: The Known and the Unknown. Merrill-Palmer
Quarterly, 50, 387-414
Abstract:
Child care research during the last 20 years has made considerable
progress in addressing questions about (a) the effects of child
care quality, (b) the effects of amount and timing of early child
care, and (c) the effects of different types of care such as centers,
child care homes, and relative care. This commentary summarizes
the converging research evidence with respect to each of these
questions and then outlines some future directions for child care
research.
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