The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parent-child relationship characteristics (attachment, involvement, discipline practices, parenting confidence, and relational frustration) and behavioral outcomes (internalizing, externalizing, and adaptive) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD presents pervasive…

Very preterm birth (<32 weeks of gestation) heightens the risk for developmental and behavioral problems, but individual outcomes vary greatly. We evaluated whether mother-toddler dyadic interaction quality, assessed longitudinally at 14, 20, and 30 months (corrected), could account for unique variance in very preterm and full-term children's…

Background: There is limited knowledge about how positive and negative parenting practices differ across individuals and change over time in parents with substantiated physical abuse history, and how trajectories of these parenting practices affect child adjustment. Objective: The present study examined latent trajectories of positive and negative…

Previous research has focused on who the primary attachment figures are for children in middle childhood, but there has been relatively little research on other important people who may fulfill attachment needs. The goal of the study was to identify who children use as non-parental attachment figures and to examine whether children's use varies…

While both positive and negative peer interactions have long been a focus of scientific interest, much less attention has been given to children who tend to refrain from interacting with peers. This volume brings together leading authorities to review progress in understanding the development, causes, and consequences of shyness and social…

The purpose of the study was to examine the contributions of maternal encouragement of autonomy and maternal encouragement of connectedness to the prediction of children's social behaviors. A sample of children (N = 94), initially aged two years, and their mothers in China participated in the two-year longitudinal study. Child autonomy and…

The purpose of this study was to test direct, additive, and mediation models involving family, neighborhood, and peer factors in relation to emerging antisocial behavior and social skills. Neighborhood danger, maternal depressive symptoms, and supportive parenting were assessed in early childhood. Peer group acceptance was measured in middle…

The current study examined the mutual influence of parenting and boys' externalizing behavior from 4th to 8th grade, how these relationships change as children develop, and the stability of parenting and child behavior in a sample of 122 boys. Child behavior predicted poor parental monitoring at 6th and 7th grade and inconsistent discipline at all…

Research has shown that living away from one's biological father is associated with a greater risk of adverse child and adolescent outcomes; yet, the role of the father-child relationship in understanding this association has not been directly investigated. This study uses data on biological fathers' relationships with their children from the 1979…

Uses national longitudinal data to explain the intergenerational transmission of divorce. Findings suggest that parental divorce elevates the risk of offspring divorce by increasing the likelihood that offspring exhibit behaviors that interfere with the maintenance of mutually rewarding intimate relationships. Offers four hypotheses for future…

Assessed, at 8-10 months, children's restraint and attention, and at 13-15 months, compliance to mother, internalization of her prohibition, and quality of motivation of the mother-child teaching context. Found support for view of compliance and noncompliance as heterogenous: committed compliance was higher to maternal "don'ts" than…

Assessed mother-infant face-to-face play and infant difficult temperament at 3 and 9 months; assessed self-control, verbal IQ, and maternal warm discipline at 2 years. Found that maternal synchrony with infant affect at 3 months and mutual synchrony at 9 months were related to self-control at 2 years when temperament, IQ, and maternal style were…

This study examined the relation between type of parent-child interaction task and parenting behaviors among a predominantly African American community-based sample. Twenty-five anxious and matched nonanxious (N = 50) mothers were videotaped with their children (M age = 5.8 years) engaging in both a structured and unstructured task. Blind raters…

Notes infants' capacity for empathy and that the way parents respond to infants' natural selfish preoccupation as well as the behaviors modeled for them as they grow influence their manners and concepts of compassion, shame, and moral reasoning. (HTH)

Explored fathers' specific contribution to their children's attachment representation at various ages. Found fathers' play sensitivity to be a better predictor of the child's long-term attachment representation than the early infant-father security of attachment. (Author)