The purpose of this research was to determine parents and teenagers slang awareness and when this awareness begins to appear in the vocabulary of the younger generation. Two studies were construed to measure the intended purpose of t his research. Study A was conducted to determine if semantic influence and concept attainment of slang definitions would be greater for teenagers than that for adults. The instrument was an open ended word list consisting of 25 slang terms. Criterion for the selection of words was assessed by determining if each word used could be found in three of the five sources. They not only need to be present, but also have the same or related definition. It was thought that these words would be the ones generally accepted as having a universal meaning. These words were also characterized by having: Dictionary definition--The definition found in any abridged dictionary. Traditional slang definition--The general slang usage as indicated by the dictionary. Drug slang definition--The definition used in the drug culture. Study B was conducted to evaluate the terms used to determine at v1hat grade level these terms appear in the vocabulary of the younger generation. The sane word list used in Study A was used in Study B, only instead of writing a definition, subjects were asked to write next to each word, the first drug word that came to their mind in association to the stimulus word, and if they couldn't think of a drug word, then any word. The findings of Study A indicate that an interaction barrier of slang understanding does exist between parents and teenagers. A t-test was computed on the dictionary definitions of parents and teenagers, as was on each of the traditional slang and drug slang definitions. There was no significant differences in the understanding of dictionary meanings; however, both the traditional and drug slang were significant at beyond the .01 level. From the results of Study B, one can with some certainty depict the period that one begins understanding slang terminology , Though some Elementary subjects have a slang knowledge, the results suggest that from the Junior High on through College there is a steady increase of one's understanding of slang terms.

The purpose was to discover whether the preschool child who has toileted with boys and girls in an open situation for at least four weeks would recognize the genital differences between a male and a female doll and use this knowledge to select the type of clothes appropriate for these dolls. Hypotheses were: (1) The preschool child who has toileted in an open situation with both sexes for at least four weeks can identify male and female dolls on the basis of genital structure. (2) The preschool child can select appropriate clothes for male and female dolls on the basis of genital structure as the dominant cue as to sexuality . Twenty children ages three to five were selected because they had toileted in an open situation for at least four weeks with boys and girls, because they attended the same classroom, and were familiar with the experimenter . Preceding the actual collection of data a pilot study was conducted on a similar but separate classroom of children to test the proposed research design. The subjects were informed, as a group, of the general content and procedure of the experimental situation to follow. The subjects went first behind the screen with the experimenter to arrange six blocks in any design they wished. They went again behind the screen in the doll house where they sat facing the genitals of a male and a female doll. After powdering the dolls' genitals, they selected clothes for them from two sets of male slacks and two dresses. The subject was then asked the reason for his choice. Four of the 20 subjects, two boys and two girls, were able to identify the sex of the dolls on the basis of genital structure. All four were from homes with opposite-sex siblings. Three of the four expressing a recognition were four years old . Conclusions: (l) Preschool children appear generally to be unable to identify sexuality on the basis of genital structure . (2) Age is a significant factor influencing the child's discrimination of sexual differences. (3) The opportunity for observation and discovery of differences between the sexes through the presence of opposite-sex siblings in the home appears to be influential on the child's development of sexual awareness.

Pretest data from a two-year project entitled "An Early Intervention Program for Parents of Young Children at-Risk" were collected and analyzed, in a sample of 2,191 low-income parents, for Head Start participation and baseline information. Respondents participating in the sample were from the states of California, Delaware, Nevada, South Carolina, and Utah. For their participation in the study, respondents received a free subscription to age-paced newsletters, which contained information about appropriate growth expectancies, nutrition, and guidance for their child of 36 months or younger. Newsletters were mailed monthly to parents who had children 12 months and younger and every other month to parents with children older than 12 months. Knowledge of infant/toddler development among Head Start and non-Head Start parents was measured by i-test comparisons. Univariate analysis of demographic influences on developmental knowledge was computed by a oneway ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficients. Demographic variables measured were state of residence, race, educational level, marital status, employment status, attitude, income level, number of children, supplemental programs, and age of parent. Findings revealed that Head start parents did not have a significantly greater knowledge of infant/toddler development than non-Head start parents who had more than one child. Developmental knowledge scores were higher for Head start parents than non-Head start first-time parents. All participating Head start parents had at least two children, one in the Head start program and one other child 25 months or younger. There were differences in developmental knowledge scores by state of residence, race, educational level, marital status, and employment status. Demographic variables found to have a positive correlation with developmental knowledge scores were attitude, income level, number of children, and age of parents. There was a negative correlation with the effect of supplemental programs. Programs tested for this effect were AFDC, Food stamps, Medicaid, WIC, Social Security, and Head Start. A greater proportion of Head Start parents participated in these income-assistance programs, which may have influenced their scores for child development knowledge .

A university sample of238 undergraduate and graduate students between the ages of 19 and 58 completed the Student Stress Measure. Specifically, upper-division undergraduate students and clinical/nonclinical graduate students in social science programs (FHD, Social Work, Sociology, Psychology) were measured for stress level differences due to their particular academic requirements. Results indicate that, overall, graduate students are more stressed than undergraduate students. Of the graduate students, Sociology students were most stressed in terms of Lifestyle stress scores. The comparison of clinical and non-clinical graduate students shows that there is no difference in stress levels. The Psychology and MFT graduate student comparison indicates that Psychology students are more stressed than MFT students on the Lifestyle Scale only. Fourteen program requirements are related positively to stress levels. The Academic Stressors Scale was the only stress measure that yielded statistical significance for gender, employment status, and marital status. Age correlated negatively with the Events Scale. Confounding factors, such as sample size, are addressed. Suggestions for future research are provided.

McCarthy's Draw-A- Child test was administered to 20 lower class and 20 middle class four-year-old children matched for age and sex. The purpose of the test was to find if socioeconomic class and sex differences effected the child's ability to draw a same sex figure. Analysis of results supported the theory that girls do better than boys. Analysis of socioeconomic differences suggests that lower-class children do not have the ability to draw as well as middle class children but the difference is not significant at the .O5 level. It was concluded that the McCarthy Draw-A-Child test measures the general drawing abilities which are influenced by life experiences.

Previous studies have indicated the importance of teacher attitudes on the development of creativity in children. There were several purposes for this investigation. The major purpose was to develop an instrument to measure teacher attitudes toward creativity in children. The second step was the utilization of the instrument to determine if teachers trained in child development are more positive in their attitudes toward creativity than teachers with little or no background in child development. The third purpose of this investigation was to determine the relations hip between the teachers' attitudes toward creativity and religion, age, and social class . The creative attitude mstrument was developed by the investigator using the method employed by Shoben in devising the University of Southern California Parent Attitude Survey. The instrument, composed of 83 items, was then administered by mail to day care owners and operators, who were licensed by the state of Utah during the summer of 1967, and to all college nursery school teachers employed during the school year of 1967-68 in the state of Utah. The teachers were asked torespond to each item, indicating whether they Strongly Agreed, Agreed, Disagreed, or Strongly Disagreed with the statement. The answers we re rated one to four, with four being the most positive of the responses. The results indicated that there was no significant relationship between a teacher's attitude toward creativity and her age or social class. The results also ind1cated there was no significant difference between the attitudes toward creativity of day care and co llege nursery school teachers. Although there was not a statistically significant difference between the attitudes of the college nursery school teachers and the day care teachers toward creativity on this instrument, the nursery school teachers gave more favorable responses to 13 of the 16 discriminating items found on the instrument.

During 1995, over 20,000 adolescents completed the in-home interview for The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). One question asked females if they had ever been forced to have sexual intercourse (FSI). In addition, they were asked about other sexual behavior, their psychological well-being, and behavior problems. The present study examines the associations between FSI and 26 outcome variables, comparing adolescent females who reported FSI with females who reported voluntary intercourse, and with females who reported no intercourse. In addition, the large Add Health sample allowed comparisons between five race/ethnicity groups and four adolescent groups broken down by age. Psychological and emotional correlates of sexual abuse have been widely documented, but until now, studies of sexual abuse had largely consisted of small samples of mostly White females with limited generalizability. The Add Health sample was large enough to go beyond psychopathology to include risky sexual behavior, and behavior problems. The Add Health sample is representative of the overall population of adolescents in the United States during the mid 1990s. Results showed that females forced to have intercourse have earlier and more frequent risky sexual behavior, more severe symptoms of psychopathology, and were much more likely to report behavior problems such as smoking, drinking, and drug use (a finding that has been largely unreported) than were females who reported no intercourse. Drug use was the variable on which females who reported forced intercourse and those who reported no intercourse differed most. Females who reported FSI were five times more likely to have reported illicit drug use than were females who reported no intercourse. Asian and White females who reported forced intercourse had the greatest vulnerability for negative outcomes, while African American females who reported forced intercourse had the greatest resilience against negative outcomes. Among female adolescents who reported forced intercourse, the youngest (ages 12, 13, and 14 years) were the most vulnerable to experience severe psychopathology and to report cigarette smoking and drinking alcohol.

The Metropolitan Readiness Test, 1964 edition, Form A, was administered to forty children who were enrolled in kindergarten classes in Logan, Utah, during the school year 1967-1968. Twenty of these children (nursery attenders) had attended the Utah State University Child Development Laboratory for at least two, but not more than three quarters with at l east half of this nursery experience being during the year preceding kindergarten. The other 20 children (non-attenders) had not experienced any type of pre-school or day care program prior to kindergarten. The two groups were matched by pairs on age, sex, kindergarten teacher and socio-economic level of the father. The sample of 40 included 12 pairs of boys and eight pairs of girls. The primary null hypothesis was rejected because the nursery attenders did significantly better (to the .05 level) on the Metropolitan Readiness Test than the non-attenders. In analyzing this result, sex was found to be an important variable. The boy nursery school attenders did significantly better (to the .01 level) than the boy nonattenders on the Metropolitan Readiness Test. There was no significant difference between the scores of the girl nursery attenders and the girl non-attenders although the nursery attenders tended to score higher on the Metropolitan Readiness Test. However, the secondary null hypothesis was held tenable. The variables of mother's education, mother working ouside of home, number of chi ldren in family and birth order position were not found to be significantly related to readiness.

The purpose of this study was to examine a sample of LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) adolescents from 9th - 12th grade to analyze how they spend their time on a given Sunday. The intent of the paper was to determine if adolescent time use was influenced by such independent variable as gender, age, living arrangements, work, school, perceptions of their family, and what time of the day the youth attend Sunday meetings on a specific Sunday. A questionnaire was given to 272 students who attend released school time seminary at a particular high school in Utah. Each student in the sample provided information relative to themselves and their family. They also provided information as to what they mostly did during 15 minute increments for a 24 hour period starting at midnight Saturday night and going through midnight on Sunday night. They were given 28 different items of time use common to adolescents and then were asked to determine what they did most during each 15 minute increment on the Sunday being examined. Simultaneously another similar study was being performed by another graduate student, at an alternative high school in the same area as this study, and the same questions concerning time usage were asked. Some of the most striking differences in time usage were that the alternative high school students spent far less time attending church and doing homework for school, and much more time working for paid employment, socializing with their friends, and using drugs and alcohol. Some of the most significant findings of the study include: 1) males spent considerably more time watching TV and videos, hanging out, cruising and being with friends, working, and playing athletics whereas the females spent more time with personal grooming, talking on the phone and studying school assignments, 2) the time of day when church meetings were held did not influence significantly now when church meetings were held did not alter significantly the number who attended their Sunday meetings, and 3) the perceived degree of family strengths held by the youth did not alter significantly how they spent their Sunday time. Other significant findings include: 4) those youth over 16 spent more time with friends out of the home, less time watching TV and videos, and more time doing paid employment on Sunday, 5) youth who live with both parents spent more time doing school assignments and attending church meetings and 6) those adolescents who work on Sunday spent an average of almost two and a half hours working on Sunday, and they watched TV and videos more and spent less time with their family.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of similarity or differences between the attitudes of high school and college females toward family life and children. Data for this study were collected by administering a standardized questionnaire with 35 items to both groups of students. The students' responses were evaluated and each question analyzed separately. The findings of this study indicate that the responses of the college sample were more realistic than for the high school sample. Also the high school sample appeared to have more glamorous expectations of marriage than did the college sample.