In the current study (a) maternal insightfulness into the experience of the child and (b) resolution with respect to the child's diagnosis and their associations with children's security of attachment were examined in a sample of 45 preschoolers (mean age = 49 months) with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It was hypothesized that mothers who were…

The role played by neuroembryological forces in shaping brain development is well documented in Nowakowski's (1987) article. Additional mechanisms whereby experience may influence brain structure and function are outlined. Several routes exist by which postnatal experiential influences may produce long-term alterations in behavior and…

Recent longitudinal data suggest that retrospectively defined earned-secures are not more likely than continuous-secures to have been anxiously attached to their mothers in infancy and indeed experience high-quality maternal parenting in childhood. Such findings leave unanswered the question of why earned-secures report negative childhood…

A sample of 40 3-year-old children participated in a short-term longitudinal study assessing the relationship between peer competence and 2 antecedent variables; the security of the attachment relations with the mother and the amount of experience with peers. (Author/JMB)

Studied interactions which are related to written language, attachment security, and emergent literacy between 45 mothers and their children, aged one-and-a-half to five-and-a-half years. Results suggest that mothers give reading instruction to small children by naming letters and well-known words which contain those letters. Mother-child…

Critically reviews research since 1972 on maternal deprivation. Topics discussed include: the development of social relationships and the process of bonding; critical periods of development; links between childhood experiences and parenting behavior; influences on parenting; and possible reasons why so many children do not succumb to deprivation…

Mothers' emotion and personality characteristics were assessed by behavior ratings and self-reports; infants' characteristics by maternal reports and objective coding. Security of infant-mother attachment in the Ainsworth Strange Situation was predicted by mothers' emotional experience, expressive behavior, and personality traits, and by infants'…

The Ainsworth-Wittig strange situation was used to compare 12 42-month-old children with approximately 6 months of day care experience to individually matched children who had not had group child rearing experience. Results did not support the idea that day-care experience impairs attachment to the mother. (JMB)

The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) was administered to 96 expecting mothers. In a one-year followup, mothers were seen with their child in the Strange Situation procedure. Maternal representations of attachment from the AAI predicted infant-mother attachment patterns in the Strange Situation. (BC)

Examined relationship of security of attachment to development of fear, anger, and joy over child's first 3 years. Found that attachment groups differed in trajectories of emotional development, with differences apparent at 14 months. Resistant children were most fearful and least joyful. Over the second and third years, secure children became…

Investigated homesickness in boys ages 8 through 16. Results indicated that homesickness was prevalent and varied in intensity, was experienced as a combination of depression and anxiety, was presented most often as internalizing behavior, and was more typical for younger boys. The most-homesick became increasingly so during the separation,…

Developed measures of preoccupied and avoidant coping to determine whether the measures concurrently relate to adjustment problems. Subjects were 229 children from third through seventh grades. Results indicated that preoccupied and avoidant coping with the mother can contribute to maladjustment in other arenas. Children's adjustment with peers…

The concept of reproductive strategy is applied to the study of childhood experience and interpersonal development to develop an evolutionary theory of socialization. The relationship between this theory and prevailing theories of socialization is considered, and research consistent with the evolutionary theory is reviewed. Discusses directions…