Guided by developmental models examining the legacy of childhood caregiving environments, we examined the longitudinal pattern of associations between harsh parenting and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms across late childhood to late adolescence. Participants included 199 youth (48.7% female, 65.3% White, 32.2% Black, 2.5%…

The present study investigated how Chinese children develop theory of mind (ToM) in a language environment with limited mental state talk that is rich in behavior discourse. In Study 1, 60 mothers shared a wordless storybook with their 3-4-year-olds. The children completed two false-belief tasks and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised at…

Using a longitudinal, prospective adoption design, the authors of this study examined the effects of the environment (adoptive parents' depressive symptoms and responsiveness) and genetic liability of maternal depression (inferred by birth mothers' major depressive disorder [MDD]) on the development of fussiness in adopted children between 9 and…

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (N = 4,190), this study examined adolescents' reports of primary confidants. Results showed that nearly 30% of adolescents aged 16-18 nominated mothers as primary confidants, 25% nominated romantic partners, and 20% nominated friends. Nominating romantic partners or friends was related…

This longitudinal study examined links between disorganization and atypical maternal behavior at 12 and 24 months in 71 adolescent mother-child dyads. Organized attachment and maternal not disrupted behavior were more stable than disorganization and disrupted behavior, respectively. At both ages, disorganization and maternal disrupted behavior…

Tests three previously untested hypotheses central to the theory of Brazelton and colleagues about the sequential structure of mother-infant face-to-face interaction. Results show that with some revision the hypotheses describe the structure of mother-infant face-to-face interaction from three to nine months of age. (Author/RH)

Using reports by mothers about their 1- to 10-year-old children's behavior and, years later, by these same children, now parents themselves, of their 2-year-old children's behavior, assessed six behavior variables that reflected two higher-order behavioral patterns. Found stability across generations in the "inhibited" but not the…

Examined associations between attachment quality and children's friendships at 4 and 5 years of age as a follow-up of the sample used in an earlier study by Park and Waters (1989) of secure-secure and secure-insecure friend pairs. Found that the pattern of relations between friendship and attachment changed over time, but attachment pairing…

Patterns of change in parental support, behavioral control, and psychological control were examined longitudinally across adolescence.

In this longitudinal study, the bidirectional relations between parenting and friends' deviance, on one hand, and early adolescent externalizing and internalizing problem behavior, on the other hand, are examined. Of the 650 adolescents (13- to 14-year-olds) who filled out the Youth Self-Report and questionnaires about their parents at two times…

Explores particulars that may partially account for the remedial influence on development of interactions between infants and caregivers. Videotaped interactions between 20 prematurely born toddlers and their mothers were described in terms of dyadic joint attention to features of the environment. (Author/RH)

This paper presents arguments for greater use of sophisticated research strategies and statistical analyses of data in dealing with the real-life complexity of social interaction. Three possible procedures are proposed and illustrated in a study of interactions between mothers and their 8- to 18-month-old children. The first strategy is to…

The study involving 147 infant-mother pairs explored the relationship among infant temperament, maternal concern, and adjustment during early infancy, and the stability of these variables over time. (Author/SBH)

This study investigated several questions concerning the amount of viewing and types of programs children and parents watch alone and together. Patterns of children's viewing with and without parents were examined, as well as how parent-child coviewing affects individual family members' viewing. Children 3 to 5 and 5 to 7 years old, and their…