Despite the robust link between dispositional optimism and well-being across the lifespan, the developmental origins of dispositional optimism are unknown. Understanding the pathways that lead to greater optimism during the transition from adolescence into young adulthood may be important given that this stage of the life course involves the…

Internal working models of social relationships are based on the earliest attachment bonds we make with caregivers (Bowlby, 1969, 1973), and relate to a number of later outcomes in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. In education, attachment styles map on to young children's educational journey but finding evidence in older groups has been…

The present study aimed to assess the interaction between familial and cultural factors on child problem behaviors of learning disabled children aged between 7 and 14 within the perspective of ecocultural theory (N = 90). Mothers completed the Family Support Scale, Portrait Values Questionnaire, and Social-Demographical Form, and teachers…

Background: Childhood internalizing and externalizing problems are closely related and often co-occur. Directional models have been employed to test how these problems are related, while few studies have tested a third variables model. Objective: This study investigates whether internalizing and externalizing problems are reciprocally or…

Parental locus of control refers to parents' perceived power and efficacy in child-rearing situations. This study explored parental locus of control and its correlates in 160 mothers of children ages 8 to 14 cross-sectionally and 1 year later. Maternal depression, maternal expressed emotion, and child internalizing and externalizing behavior were…

Childhood internalizing problems may occur as early as preschool, tend to be stable over time, and undermine social and academic functioning. Parent emotion regulatory behaviors may contribute to child internalizing problems and may be especially important during the preschool years when parents model emotion coping and regulation for their…

Background: Psychological mechanisms may help to explain the variance observed in parental psychological adjustment in parents of children with intellectual disability (ID). In this study, parental locus of control and its role in relation to maternal psychological well-being was explored. Method: Questionnaires were sent to 91 mothers of children…

Objective: Utilizing the conceptual framework of the Social Information Processing (SIP) model ([Milner, 1993] and [Milner, 2000]), associations between cognitive risk factors and child physical abuse risk and maladaptive discipline style and practices were examined in an at-risk population. Methods: Seventy-three mothers of 5-12-year-old…

The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) scale has been shown to be a significant predictor of later cognitive outcomes in many cultures. Therefore identifying factors associated with HOME could be used to promote child development. Maternal psychological well-being is often overlooked although critical in the creation of…

Background: Few studies have investigated if mother's interest and father's interest in child's education are linked to educational attainment via their impact on child's self-esteem and locus of control. Aims: (1) To investigate (after controlling for known confounding factors) the long-term effect of mother's and father's interest in child's…

The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to determine whether a relationship exists between maternal depressive symptomatology and children's emotional well-being, and (2) to determine specifically whether it is the depressed mother's lack of supportiveness that affects her child's well-being. A total of 160 nonclinical population mother/child…

Among low-income women, Black teenage and White adult mothers' social ties to significant others were found to influence parenting skill. Black adult mothers' parenting skill was predicted only by locus of control. (RH)

Twenty-four families of a child with learning disabilities were analyzed with respect to their perceptions of their child's Locus of Control (LOC). Mothers' perspectives were more correlated to the child's LOC. Parents' educational level and income, and child's age when diagnosed, are variables that may influence the child's LOC. (Contains…

A longitudinal study tested the hypotheses that in relation to parents with an external locus of control, parents with an internal locus of control: would have a higher level of mother-infant interaction, would have more self-directing and less conforming values for children, and would have children who showed more academic competence. The initial…