The role of fantasy figures in the regulation of young children's behavior: Santa Claus,the Easter Bunny,and donations

The present study examined the influence of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny on children's donations near the Easter season. Kindergarten and first-grade children were asked to tell stories about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or pets, for which they received nine pieces of gum. They were then encouraged to donate any amount of their gum to handicapped children. Main effects were found only for grade, with first-grade children donating significantly more than kindergarten children. In addition, a significant interaction was obtained between grade and type of story elicited from the child. This interaction revealed that for kindergarten children, the type of story failed to influence donations, whereas for first-grade children, stories referring to Santa Claus increased donations relative to stories told about the Easter Bunny or pets.     

Age and sex differences in motor performance of pre-school Nigerian children

Differences in motor performance according to chronological age and gender of 341 young Nigerian children (ages 3 to 5) were examined. Motor test items designed by Morris et al. (1981) were administered to the subjects. Analysis of variance was used to determine significant differences in the motor performance of the groups. In the whole sample, more age differences than sex differences in performance were noted. Except for the balancing and running performances of the girls, a fairly linear trend of improvement with age was observed in the motor performances of the groups. At each age level the boys consistently performed better than the girls in four of the six motor tests (catching, standing long jump, tennis ball throw and speed run). Generally, the 4- and 5-year-old children performed homogeneously, with a great disparity in performance noted for the 3-year-old children. The results of this study confirm that age and sex differences in motor performance occur at early childhood. Prospective studies should seek to control the extraneous factors which influence motor development and account for the observed differences in motor performance of pre-school children.     

Concerns about death among severely ill people

Personal construct psychology was used to generate a set of questions about concerns about death among severely ill people. Answers to these questions were provided by content analyses of the responses of a large group of ill people to an open-ended question about their current experiences. Comparison of their responses with those of a similar group of well people indicated that they expressed more concerns about death. More death-related concerns were reported by those ill people who were facing surgery rather than those who were not, those whose illnesses were acute rather than chronic, and those who were interviewed while in the hospital rather than at home. Gender, age, marital status, and educational attainment were all considered predictors of death-related concerns; but none was found to be significant, nor were concerns about death observed to vary according to illness type. The psychological states found to accompany greater death-related concerns among ill people proved to represent both the adaptive and the dislocative processes of mourning. People who were not ill, but who had greater death-related concerns than other well people, on contrast, showed signs only of the more dislocative processes. Some of the implications of these findings for thanatological counseling of severely ill people are discussed.