This article examines the descriptive influences of reading and learning disorders on personality development. It discusses the effects of biologic vulnerabilities and environmental interaction, the variant patterns of defense and symptom development at various life stages, and evidence that early development failures are key elements in later…

This paper applies a developmental structuralist approach to the classification of adaptive and pathologic personality organizations and behavior in infancy and early childhood, and it discusses implications of this approach for preventive intervention. In general, as development proceeds, the structural capacity of the developing infant and child…

Childhood abuse has been implicated in such difficulties as developmental lags, family dysfunction, social problems, and emotional distress. This paper presents a review of the empirical literature which examines the relationship between physical abuse and object relations impairment. Data in the literature were commonly derived from either…

This paper presents a literature review and the author's views on the male role in parenting, including the choice not to parent. The traditional view of male parenting is reviewed, with an emphasis on the effects of the traditional paternal role on the development of children. The materials shift in focus to a broader consideration of the…

Reviews research on the heritability of intellectual factors, personality factors, and psychopathology. Discusses the importance of investigating within-family environmental differences in order to understand the environmental origins of individual differences in development. (Author/BJV)

The nature, origin, and treatment of infantile autism are explored with a consideration of the child's world of encounter and case histories. The beginning of life, called the region of shadows, is mentioned; and the world of the newborn, body language, mutuality, autonomy, the autistic anlage, and the right side of time are examined for the…