This study investigated child compliance and maternal instruction during planning. Based on the Child Behavior Checklist and free-play observations, 40 mothers and their 4- to 5-year-old children were assigned to a group with children who behaved within the normal range of compliance (n = 20) or a group with children with high rates of noncompliance for this age (n = 20). Mothers in the noncompliant group provided more low-level, directive, and negative instruction; requested more compliance; and shared less task responsibility with children. Mothers in both groups responded to child compliance by increasing or maintaining the level of instruction. Results are discussed in relation to the role of child compliance in regulating opportunities for cognitive development in social context.

This study explored the relation of children's emotional functioning to children's behavior during individual planning and mother's and children's behaviors during joint planning. Participants were 118 mothers and their second‐grade children. Mothers rated children on their emotional intensity and children rated themselves on their use of emotion regulation strategies. Children and mother–child dyads were videotaped during planning tasks and independent observers rated their behavior. Child emotional intensity was directly related to children being less engaged in the task and to an emphasis in maternal instruction on regulatory behaviors. Some types of emotion regulation strategies modified these relations. Findings suggest that child emotionality may play an important role in the early school years in children's opportunities to learn during social‐cognitive activity.

This longitudinal research used a sociocultural perspective to examine planning competence in the everyday experiences of European American and Latino children from 7 to 9 years of age. Data on children's participation in planning their activities outside of school, parental expectations about children's planning competence, and children's planning in the classroom were collected yearly from Grades 2 to 4 from 140 children and their mothers, and the children's teachers. Results indicate that decision-making practices and parental expectations change with development and vary by ethnicity. Decision making at home was related to children's classroom planning; however, the nature of these relations changed over middle childhood. Results are discussed in terms of cultural and parental contributions to the development of planning skills.

To address the paucity of current research on the development of creativity in deaf students, and to extend existing research to adolescents, the present study investigated divergent thinking, a method of assessing creativity, in both deaf and hearing adolescents. We assessed divergent thinking in two domains, figural and verbal, while also adjusting the instructional method in written format, sign language, or spoken English. Deaf students' performance was equal to, or more creative than, hearing students on the figural assessment of divergent thinking, but less creative on the verbal assessment. Additional studies should be conducted to determine whether this was an anomalous finding or one that might contribute to hypotheses yielding effective interventions.

Mother-child planning was examined in relation to child emotional functioning and first-grade school performance. Ninety dyads were randomly assigned to the explicit-goal condition (emphasized accuracy and preparation for a child-only posttest) or the no-explicit-goal condition (dyads just asked to work together). In the no-explicit-goal condition only, children higher in negative emotionality and lower in regulation skills were less engaged in the task and planned less effectively. Both mother-child planning and adaptive child emotional functioning were positively associated with school performance. Results suggest that child emotional functioning mediated associations between planning and school performance. Implications of these findings for the development of planning and children's transition to school are discussed.