This study examined the relevance of infant temperament, parent personality and parenting stress for children's socio-emotional development, looking in addition for any differences between mothers and fathers. Participants, from a community sample, were 410 mothers and fathers reporting their personality (NEO Personality Inventory), child…

Disputes claims concerning the association between strange-situation behavior around 12-20 months of age and subsequent child performance. Maintains studies have precluded causal inferences about the direction and nature of effects, finding associations only when the quality of care received was stable, thus, precluding inferences about the…

Sketches the outlines of a life-span perspective on competence development, which focuses on beliefs about one's potential for producing desirable outcomes. The concern is with the nature and implications of individual differences in perceptions of personal agency and likely origins and development of the perceptions in the early years. (Author/BB)