This study tested two competing models of differential susceptibility and diathesis-stress in a prospective longitudinal study of African American youths (N = 935). It examined whether individual variations in the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis at age 11 interact with middle childhood parent-child relationship…

This study investigated bidirectional links between the quality of teacher-child relationships and children's interest and pre-academic skills in literacy and math. Furthermore, differences in the patterns of bidirectionality between boys and girls were explored. Participants were 461 Finnish kindergarteners (6-year-olds) and their teachers…

This study examined teacher-child conflict as a possible mediator of the effects of temperamental anger and effortful control on subsequent externalizing behavior. Reciprocal influences between teacher-child conflict and externalizing behavior were also examined. Participants were 1,152 children (49% female; 81.6% non-Hispanic White) from the…

This study examined whether children's observed individual engagement with teachers, peers, and tasks related to their school readiness after controlling for observed preschool classroom quality and children's baseline skills. The sample included 211 predominately low-income, racially/ethnically diverse 4-year-old children in 49 preschool…

Between-child and within-child effects of teacher-student warmth and conflict on children's peer-nominated disliking and liking across Grades 1-4 (ages 6-10) were investigated in a sample of 746 ethnically diverse and academically at-risk children in Texas. Multilevel modeling controlled for time-invariant between-child differences while modeling…

This study tested whether the mediational pathway involving interparental conflict, adolescent emotional insecurity, and their psychological problems was altered by their earlier childhood histories of insecurity. Participants included 230 families, with the first of the five measurement occasions occurring when children were in first grade…

The hypothesis was tested that the new open-group Norwegian day-care centers would more than traditionally organized centers negatively affect (a) current and (b) future teacher-child relationships, and (c) the developmental legacy of preschool problem behavior. The focus was on eight hundred and fifty 4-year-olds from 153 centers who were…

Teacher-child relationships were examined as predictors of cortisol change in preschool children. Saliva for assays was collected from one hundred and ninety-one 4-year-olds (101 boys) in the mornings and afternoons on 2 days at child care, and before and after a series of challenging tasks and a teacher-child interaction session outside the…

This study examined interrelationships among children's cortisol reactivity and their psychological reactivity to interparental conflict in a sample of 208 first graders (mean age = 6.6 years). Assessments of children's psychological reactivity to conflict distinguished among their distress, hostile, and involvement responses across multiple…

Marital conflict was examined as a predictor of the quality and quantity of sleep in a sample of healthy 8 to 9 year-olds. Parents and children reported on marital conflict, the quantity and quality of children's sleep were examined through an actigraph worn for 7 consecutive nights, and child sleepiness was derived from child and mother reports.…

Investigates whether disputes arising between 21-month-old children, meeting for the first time in a laboratory playroom, showed one or more of the following social hallmarks: (1) a patterned interactive structure, (2) explicitly communicative content, including conventional gestures and intelligible speech, and (3) antecedent and consequent…

Observed in a laboratory setting how dyads, ages 4 and 6 years or 6 and 8 years, negotiated division of toys. Found that children used a preponderance of constructive problem-solving strategies rather than contentious tactics. Degree of conflict of interests and quality of sibling relationships predicted use of problem-solving and contentious…

Examined the link between different forms of family aggression and children's symptoms of psychopathology through interviews with 365 mothers and 1 of each mother's children between the ages of 6 and 12. Found that although domestic violence predicted children's general psychopathology, little evidence was uncovered for the presence of specific…

This multi-method study sought to identify parameters of developmental change and stability of child reaction patterns to interparental conflict in the context of family relations in a sample of 223 6-year-old children and their parents followed over the course of one year. Consistent with the sensitization hypothesis, interparental withdrawal and…

Premarital and postbirth indices of parent's marital relationship were related to child functioning. For mothers, high satisfaction, low conflict, and high communication quality were related to child security of attachment and dependency. For fathers, higher levels of premarital conflict and lower levels of communication quality were positively…