The issue of informant discrepancies about child and adolescent functioning is an important concern for clinicians, developmental psychologists, and others who must consider ways of handling discrepant reports of information, but reasons for discrepancies in reports have been poorly understood. Adolescent attachment and informant depressive…

This multimethod study of 101 mothers, fathers, and children elucidates poorly understood role of children's attachment security as "moderating" a common maladaptive trajectory: from parental power assertion, to child resentful opposition, to child antisocial conduct. Children's security was assessed at 15 months, parents' power assertion observed…

Examined the relation between infant-sibling affective involvement and the attachment security of 1-7-year-old children of 53 mothers. Secure infants reacted less negatively than insecure infants when mothers turned their attention to an older child. (RJC)

The contributions of temperamentally and nontemperamentally based emotional reactions to the organization of social interactive behavior within the Strange Situation are examined for the purpose of bettering the understanding of the emotional underpinnings of attachment system functioning. At 12 1/2 and 19 1/2 months, temperamental fear was…

Findings indicated that (1) when siblings were 24-months-old, their social-emotional behavior displayed some concordance, and maternal behavior was stable with all siblings; (2) significant concordance in siblings' social-emotional behavior was conditioned by stability of maternal behavior; and (3) quality of infant-mother attachment at 12 months…

This article outlines a strategy for studying early social relationships in relatively simple animal model systems. It describes some of the differences in approach between neuroscientists and human developmentalists in dealing with the same research problems. (BN)

Social behaviors of 10- and 12-month-old infants were studied as a function of experimental context (home and laboratory) and experimental history (home rearing and day care). Results suggested that the experimental context influenced infant social behaviors. No differences attributable to rearing condition as a main effect were found. (Author/SB)

Studies 174 mother-infant dyads to determine the relation between 3-month-old infant, mother, and mother-infant interaction behavior and later attachment behavior. Individual infant differences in sociability at 3 months were found to be related to avoidant behavior and A-type attachment. (RJC)

This study tested predictions from economic and developmental theories that maternal time with an infant is important for mother-child relationships and children's development, using time-use diaries for mothers of 7- to 8-month-old infants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care (N=1,053).…

Discusses observations of sets of infant twins, aged 6 to 24 months, as they interacted with one another and with an unfamiliar peer. Assesses quality of infant-mother attachment. Finds twins are more likely to react with one another than with a peer. Results are discussed in relation to early peer relationships and attachment. (Author/RWB)

Examined the relationship between maternal and infant measures of interaction, maternal psychosocial problems, infant cognitive development, and infant attachment security at 18 months of age and child behavior problems at age 5. Disorganized-disorientated attachment status and maternal psychosocial problems were the strongest predictors of…

Preschool children's security of attachment was assessed in the laboratory, and their interactions with peers were observed in the preschool. Insecure boys showed more aggressive, disruptive, assertive, and controlling behavior than secure children. Insecure girls showed more dependent and compliant behavior, and less assertive and controlling…