Welfare reform, family support, and child development: perspectives from policy analysis and developmental psychopathology.

This article explores the implications of recent welfare-related policy change for the well-being of children in low-income families, and for research investigating child development processes and outcomes. It provides an overview of current welfare-related policies and explores the implications for developmental researchers. The article also synthesizes early findings from research, highlighting both overall impacts and the more nuanced evidence that while families are transitioning off welfare, only a small number are transitioning out of poverty, and a subgroup of families at risk are not faring well.

Locus of reaction time change in schizophrenics and normal subjects.

Simple reaction time (RT) obtained from trials presented in isotemporal series (preparatory intervals of the same duration) were partitioned into premyographic and myographic time components for 20 schizophrenic and 20 normal subjects according to a previously developed procedure. This procedure allowed for an examination of the relative contributions made by these RT components to: a) overall mean reaction time; and b) the crossover pattern of responding as first observed by David Shakow. In addition, a within-subject comparison of the traditional press-release motor task and an alternative press-only motor task was made.

Normative data for the Tactual Performance Test.

Investigated the effects of age and IQ on the Tactual Performance Test (TPT) with 117 normal Ss divided into three IQ ranges (91-111, 112-122, 123-139) and four age ranges (20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-60). The high percentage of older Ss classified as brain-damaged by Reitan's suggested cut-off scores indicated the need for age adjusted cut-offs. A revised cut-off score for total time of 17.

Verbal fluency: normative data.

Administered a verbal fluency task and a WAIS to two groups of Ss (one that ranged from 20 to 59 years and the other from 60 to 94 years). In the younger group there were no significant differences in verbal fluency across three IQ or across four decade age ranges. In the older group there were no significant differences across the four decade age ranges, but there were significant differences across the three IQ ranges.