Based on data from 710 2-parent families enrolled in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, this article examined dyadic and family-level interdependence among indicators of family members' competence over time. A cross-lagged model that included children and both parents was…

Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,364), the present study supports an agentic perspective; it demonstrates that mothers' depressive symptoms in infancy predict children's poor first-grade cognitive functioning because depressive symptoms…

This study examined children's peer information processing as an explanatory mechanism underlying the association between their insecure representations of interparental and parent-child relationships and school adjustment in a sample of 210 first graders. Consistent with emotional security theory (P. T. Davies & E. M. Cummings, 1994), results…

Social and behavioral problems can interfere with a child's acquisition of age-appropriate skills, which may lead to antisocial behavior in adolescence and adulthood. Thus, determining how best to support positive skills during early childhood is critical. Using data from the first three phases of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth…

An emerging literature suggests that maternal distress during the prenatal and perinatal period may adversely affect offspring development. The association between maternal stress and emotional status in the perinatal period (defined as 1 month after birth) and adjustment of first-grade children was examined in 948 mother-child dyads from the…

We examined the extent to which infant attachment status is directly related to child conduct problems 6 years later, and assessed the potential mediating roles of hostile parenting and maternal depression. The sample included 84 adolescent mothers and their children (45 girls, 39 boys). Infant attachment status was assessed using the Strange…

Standardized rating scales remain the primary mechanism through which child behaviors are recorded. Despite the many advantages of such systems, the documented lack of agreement among different informants' ratings of the same child remains a pervasive problem for clinicians. This study examines the degree to which observed behavior ratings were…

This study examined the longitudinal relationship of early elementary predictors to adolescent depression 7 years later. The sample consisted of 938 students who have been part of a larger longitudinal study that started in 1993. Data collected from parents, teachers, and youth self-reports on early risk factors when students were in 1st and 2nd…

Logistic regression analyses were used to establish the most robust set of risk factors that would best predict borderline/clinical levels of problem behavior (i.e., a t score at or above 60 on the Child Behavior Checklist Total Problem scale) of kindergarten and first-grade children at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. Results showed…