Findings suggest that the combination of phonological awareness, rapid naming and morphological awareness are essential in the early prediction of later reading difficulties in Chinese children.

In 1979, China implemented its one-child-per-family policy in order to control its burgeoning population. Subsequently, concern has been raised about the policy and its potentially negative effects on children. In the present study, we examined these presumed effects on 202 adolescents born before the policy went into effect, 290 preadolescents born during the period in which the policy was being implemented, and 239 children who were born after the policy went into effect. Measures of fear, anxiety, and depression were obtained. Contrary to our hypotheses, based on concerns raised by the one-child policy, children with siblings reported significantly higher levels of fear, anxiety, and depression than only children, regardless of when they were born. For depression, this effect was qualified by a sibling status x age interaction. Children with siblings born after the policy went into effect, or during its implementation, reported higher levels of depression than did only children; however, only children and children with siblings born before the policy went into effect did not differ significantly from one another. Sociocultural factors associated with these findings are explored.

Gender differences in fear were examined in 693 Chinese children and adolescents. Subjects were asked to rate their own fears, the fears of their best friends, and the fears of "other" classmates using the Fear Survey Schedule for Children--Revised (Ollendick, 1983). Consistent with previous investigations in Western and Eastern countries, girls rated themselves as more fearful than boys. In addition, both girls and boys rated their best friends as similar in number, content, and intensity of fears. However, girls rated their classmates as less fearful than themselves or their best friends, while boys rated their classmates as more fearful then themselves or their best friends. Findings are discussed in terms of gender role expectations and similarity-attraction hypotheses.

The stability in number, level, content, and pattern of fears over a one-year period was examined in Chinese children and adolescents aged 7-17. In addition, perceptions of fear in friends and parents as well as perceptions of the controllability and modifiability of fears were explored as predictors of subsequent fear level. Evidence for moderate stability of fears was obtained. However, stability was qualified by age and sex interaction effects. A developmental-cultural hypothesis was put forth to account for those findings. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that perceptions of fears in friends and parents, along with perceptions of the controllability and modifiability of fears, were predictive of fear level at follow-up. Limitations of the study are noted.