The effects of parental control on child behavior were examined in a survey of 473 fifth, eighth, and tenth graders, who completed measures on parent behavior, family functioning, and their own behavior. The study found that psychological control was more predictive of adolescent internalized problems, whereas behavioral control was more…

Investigated relations of marital discord and parental and child behavior for battered women and comparison mothers and their children. Found differences in level of stress and inconsistency in parenting between the groups of mothers. Children from violent families were reported to have more internalizing behavior problems than comparison…

Explored aggression and delinquency in unrelated adoptive sibling pairs and biologically-related sibling pairs in the Colorado Adoption Project at 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12 years. Found that boys and adopted children were higher in externalizing behavior problems than girls and biologically related pairs. Sex differences in delinquency were more…

Used NICHD Early Child Care data to examine effects of attentional persistence on relationship of infant negative emotionality to age 3 outcomes. Found that high negative emotionality related to low social competence only when attentional persistence was poor. Found no moderating effects of attentional persistence for behavior problems. High…

Examined relationships among mothers' hostile attribution tendencies regarding their children's ambiguous problem behaviors, mothers' harsh discipline, and children's externalizing behavior problems. Assessments over four years demonstrated that mothers' hostile attributions predicted children's externalizing school behavior problems. The…

This study treated a key relationship in the developmental ecology of adolescence, friendships, as multidimensional and context specific. First, it examined 4 characteristics of friends (academic achievement, alcohol use, emotional distress, and extracurricular participation) as independent factors and as components in holistic friendship group…

Interviews were conducted with 336 mother--child dyads (children's ages ranged from 6 to 17 years; mothers' ages ranged from 20 to 59 years) in China, India, Italy, Kenya, the Philippines, and Thailand to examine whether normativeness of physical discipline moderates the link between mothers' use of physical discipline and children's adjustment.…

Assesses age differences in the reliability of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for children commissioned by the National Institute for Mental Health. The interview, covering a broad range of clinically relevant symptoms and behaviors, was administered to 242 children and their parents. Parent and child were interviewed separately and were…

Examined within-family differences in parenting and problem behavior in 95 nondivorced and 421 remarried families. Within-family differences in parenting and problem behavior were greatest in remarried families where siblings did not share the same biological parent. Differential treatment was also more strongly related to problem behavior in this…

Assessed relationships between early temperament and behavior problems in a longitudinal study of 850 children from age 3 to 15. Temperament dimensions at ages 3 and 5 were correlated in theoretically coherent ways with behavior problems that were independently evaluated by parents and teachers at ages 9 and 11 and by parents as ages 13 and 15.…

Found significant cultural and racial differences in 62 of 118 behavioral and emotional problems among 308 Kenyan, Thai, African-American, and Caucasian-American 11- to 15-year-old children. Caucasian-American children were rated high on undercontrolled problems such as disobedience. Embu children in Kenya were rated high on overcontrolled…

The effects of fetal cocaine exposure on newborn cry characteristics were studied in 80 cocaine-exposed and 80 control infants. Findings were consistent with the notion that two neurobehavioral syndromes, excitable and depressed, can be described in cocaine-exposed infants and that these two syndromes are a result of direct neurotoxic effects and…

Investigated models relating coping efficacy, coping efforts, and psychological problems of children of divorce. Structural equation model supported coping efficacy as mediating between active coping, avoiding coping, and psychological problems. Prospective longitudinal model supported coping efficacy as mediating between active coping and…

The relationship of parental warmth, communication, and tracking (WCT), and child conduct problems in early elementary school (age 5.5 years) to monitoring in late elementary school (age 9.5 years) was longitudinally examined in a sample of 267 boys and girls. WCT in kindergarten was associated with lower kindergarten levels and less growth of…

Data were analyzed from an epidemiological sample of 5-year- old twins and their parents. Findings indicated that the less time fathers lived with their children, the more conduct problems their children had, but only if the fathers engaged in low levels of antisocial behavior. When fathers engaged in high levels of antisocial behavior, the more…