Inconsistent findings in the investigation of the characteristics of the empathic process as well as of the role of sex differences in this process are detailed. The present investigation uses an empathy measure that minimizes abstract reasoning, facilitates intuitive empathic judgments, and systematically varies both sex of the judge and sex of the person being judged. Ninety-six male and female subjects judged the feelings of an equal number of male and female clients during videotaped counseling sessions. Results showed that males and females did not differ significantly with regard to empathio ability. However, significant differences were found between samesex and other-sex groups, supporting the hypothesis that individuals will show more empathy when judging people of the same sex than when judging persons of the opposite sex. Implications involve the consideration of sexual similarity in terms of both counselor and teacher effectiveness.

Observations made in a nursery setting of 22 infants 9 to 12 months old suggest that girls become aware of psychological separateness earlier than do boys. The nature of the infant's means of coping, the relation to mother and to play objects, and maternal handling differences are also reported. Implications for gender identity formation are discussed.

The author evaluates developmental and clinical data concerning female genital anxieties in an attempt to address the question of its clinical utility. An effort is made to clarify evidence for female genital anxiety as distinct from castration anxiety in females in the clinical situation and in development. This paper examines these concepts from the perspective of the author's detailed observational and clinical data, which are central to this report.

A multifaceted mode of therapeutic action is delineated as the complex neuropsychological and psychogenic factors in the development and functioning of an unusual four-year-old boy became elucidated. In addition to standard technique, the author developed a variety of psychoanalytically informed ways to facilitate his growth and ameliorate deviational aspects, especially his difficulties in appreciating and responding to the social-emotional world and establishing stable, integrated mental representations of self and other. The evolving treatment process is presented as well as attempts to coordinate and harmonize analytic and developmental goals.

This paper examines the different behavior patterns utilized by boys and girls as they form peer relationships and engage in peer play; the nature of their relations with their mothers is also reported. Girls manifested more intense involvement with their mothers, engaged in less peer play than boys, showed lower mood, lower levels of play, less direct aggression, and more controlling play with peers. Furthermore, their mothers handled their requests for contact and aggressive behavior differently than did mothers of boys. Boys were slower to become aware of separateness but once aware, they came to terms with it faster than girls. The boys took longer to pay attention to peers; once peers were focused on, the play moved more quickly to high levels than did the play of the girls. Qualitative findings were supported by quantitative findings -boys showed more contact and more involvement with their peers than did girls. The hypothesis is tentatively offered that the reaction to the awareness of psychological separateness from their mothers is more intense in girls than in boys partly because girls experience this awareness earlier, owing to their more rapid cognitive maturation. The girls' shorter practicing period, however, leaves them with fewer bolstering resources during the emergence of psychological awareness and the ensuing aggression it stimulates. The implications of early peer group experiences for children at different developmental levels are discussed. It is further suggested that certain sex-linked defensive predispositions may result in part from coping with conflicts around separation: Girls turn their aggressive impulses inward and use regression; boys, as others have noted, resort to avoidance, denial, and motor activity.A study of levels of object permanence as well as self/object differentiation in infants between 11 and 13 months of age lends support to the hypothesis of an earlier awareness of psychological separateness in girls.Requests for reprints should be sent to Wendy Olesker, Ph.D.,