The paper analyzes changes in conceptions of social interaction in infancy from a unidirectional process to a bidirectional one requiring dyadic analysis. Developments in the fields of ethology and comparative psychology are cited as are implications of early behaviorist research that pointed out the effects on the mother of the infant's behavior.…

The relationship between parental personality traits and how parents socialize their children's emotions is largely unexplored. This study examined the association of personality traits such as Neuroticism and Agreeableness, and emotion traits such as Anxiety and Trait Depression to the strategies parents use to socialize their children's sadness,…

This study examined the relationship between maternal personality factors, as measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the development of the attachment relationship. The subjects were 45 firstborn 12-month-olds and their mothers. The sample was preponderantly white, middle class, and married. Mothers completed the…

This study examined correlations between temperament and demanding behavior in toddlers. Subjects were eight mothers and their children from 18 to 27 months of age. Mothers were interviewed in their homes and completed the Toddler Temperament Scale and the Parenting Stress Index. Mother-child interactions were videotaped for the duration of the…

Recently, methodologists interested in examining problems associated with measuring change have suggested that developmental researchers should focus upon assessing change at both intra-individual and inter-individual levels. This study used an application of individual growth curve analysis to the problem of maternal postpartum depression.…

Implications of parental self-esteem for the subsequent personality qualities and self-esteem of the developing child were explored in this investigation. The sample consisted of 65 mothers and 44 fathers who completed a self Q-sort and an ideal-self Q-sort when their children were 12 years of age. At the ages of 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, and 14 years, 54…

To examine relationships between parents' ratings of children's temperament or behavior style and behavior of mothers and fathers toward individual children, 47 mothers and 47 fathers with a preschool child independently completed the Parent Temperament Questionnaire and the Iowa Parent Behavior Inventory. Dimensions of temperament measured…

In order to identify antecedents of infant's compliance with mothers' directions on how to solve four tasks (graded in terms of stressfulness to the infant), 194 high-risk mothers and their 2-year-old children were observed on videotape and assessed with a six-point rating scale. Data collected prenatally and postnatally at 3, 6, 12 and 18 months…

To determine the extent to which toddlers are aware of their friends' qualities, mothers of two groups of toddler preschoolers were interviewed about which of her child's classmates is talked about at home and what her child typically says about his or her peers. The children had been observed for several months prior to the interviews to identify…

The increasing participation of women in the labor force has generated research concerning how employed women are perceived by others. Less research has been done concerning how working mothers, particularly those with very young children, are perceived. This study examined how adults viewed working mothers or young children and investigated…

This study examined separation-individuation development issues for young adult women, from the perspective of object-relations theory. Its purpose was to explore a woman's perception of her relationship with mother as it is affected by age and request for psychotherapy as well as the relationship between mother-daughter bond and personality…

To investigate the relationship of differences in 2-year-old children's reactions to strangers to differences in their temperaments and their security of attachment with their mothers, a correlational study was conducted with 47 infants and their parents. In the first component of the study, both parents completed a child temperament rating…

Whether maternal touching of the infant while speaking to him or her about a stranger facilitates or interferes with social referencing is investigated in this study. Thirty-three 10-month-olds received positive or neutral nonverbal messages when their mothers spoke to them about a stranger. Infants whose mothers did not touch them while speaking…

One influence on the adolescent's sense of affective self is the relationship with significant others. A study was conducted to examine the differential influence of relationships with parents and peers on the adolescent's sense of affective self. Twenty-five male and 25 female University of Denver undergraduates provided descriptions of…

While a number of factors influencing the adjustment of family members following divorce have been studied, the relationship of the child's gender to the custodial mother's adjustment has not received much systematic attention. This study examined the relationship between gender of the eldest child and self-reported psychopathology of the…