A developmental dialectical approach to understanding and working with lower and middle class damaged parents--those identified as abusive and neglectful--has specific features and implications. The approach suggests that (1) the personality characteristics and interpersonal relations of parents are inseparable from their social conditions; (2)…

This paper presents a study of lower socioeconomic status children who were exposed to a Parent-Child Center stimulation program from infancy to age 3. Center children (N=10) were compared to a control group (N=10) having a group care experience, another control group (N=10) with no prior experience of any kind, and a middle socioeconomic status…