Research suggests that mothers interacting with disruptive children tend to experience greater negative affect (NA) and less parental confidence. Because children with externalizing disorders can be quite oppositional and rejecting, involvement in the parental role can lead to a sense of learned helplessness that can exacerbate anxious feelings.…

Asserts that effective children and adolescents can engage in socially undesirable behavior to attain personal goals at relatively little personal or interpersonal cost, implying that relations between adjustment and aggression may not be optimally described by standard linear models. Suggests that if researchers recognize that some aggression…

Examined preschoolers' performance on false belief tasks and perceptions of parental discipline. Found that children performed better on questions about their own false beliefs than on questions about others' false beliefs. Overall, children performed below average on false belief measures; and children expected parents in hypothetical scenarios…

Collected data on natural rates of compliance of preschool children in day care centers. Found a mean rate of 84%. Also found that overall compliance increased with age, that children were more compliant to direct requests (of which teachers gave more) than to indirect or group requests, and that girls were not significantly more compliant than…

To deal with difficult campers, meet with them at an unexpected place and time, and have as many adults present as campers. Begin with a story, then have each camper share a positive story. Discuss positive possibilities and ask for honest accountability. Frame the solution realistically, get agreement for change, and close with affirmation.…

An "in vivo" direct instruction procedure involving the therapist working directly with parents to provide immediate consequences for a child's noncompliant behavior was used. Following training, improvements in correct responding of parents was evident. When assessing parents' initial skill level, child compliance was not found to be an accurate…

This essay asserts that clinical conceptualizations of emotion that stress its disruptive influences and functional models of emotion that emphasize its adaptive aspects can be integrated into a developmental psychopathology framework. Under certain conditions, emotion regulation may develop dysregulatory aspects that can become a characteristic…

Discusses the use of aversive treatment on children with behavior disorders. Suggests that aversive treatment should be used primarily in conjunction with behavior analysis and therapy. Argues that the primary ethical concern of aversive treatment should be whether there are safeguards against potential abuses of aversive procedures. (SNR)

The unique relations of effortful control and impulsivity to resiliency and adjustment were examined when children were 4.5 to 8 years old, and 2 years later. Parents and teachers reported on all constructs and children's attentional persistence was observed. In concurrent structural equation models, effortful control and impulsivity uniquely and…

Attachment status of children exposed in utero to cocaine, opiates, and other substances was examined at 18 months (n=860) and 36 months (n=732) corrected age. Children exposed to cocaine and opiates had slightly lower rates of attachment security (but not disorganization), and their insecurity was skewed toward ambivalent, rather than avoidant,…

This within-family, longitudinal study including biological and stepfamilies investigated mutual influences between marital conflict and children's behavior problems. Children (4 to 17 years; N296) residing in 127 families drawn from a general population study were investigated at Time 1 and again 2 years later. These nested data were analyzed…

This study examined whether the general stress--caregiver strain--mental health outcome model may be as appropriate for caregivers of minor-age children as it has been for caregivers of adults with chronic illness. The authors examined whether children's behavioral problems are related to mothers' caregiving strains, which then is related to…

The relation between cognitive and motor performance was studied in a sample of 378 children aged 5-6. Half of these children had no behavior problems; the others were selected for externalizing (38%) or internalizing problems (12%). Quantitative and qualitative aspects of motor performance were related to several aspects of cognition, after…

In this article, the author presents ways on how to deal with a child who monopolizes classroom objects and the attention of others. The author discusses the importance of identifying children's needs and exploring their behavior. Among other things, the author emphasizes introducing esteem-building activities, as well as providing opportunities…

The association between corporal punishment and children's emotional and behavioral functioning was studied in a sample of 98 non-referred children with a mean age of 12.35 (SD=1.72) recruited from two school systems in the southeastern United States. Children were divided into those who had experienced no corporal punishment over approximately a…