One-quarter of the Head Start population has a mother who participated in the program as a child. This study uses experimental Head Start Impact Study (HSIS) data on 3- and 4-year-olds (N = 2,849) to describe multigenerational Head Start families and their program experiences. In sharp contrast to full-sample HSIS findings, Head Start has large,…

Friendships matter for withdrawn youth because the consequences of peer isolation are severe. From a normative sample of 2,437 fifth graders (1,245 females; M age = 10.25), a subset (n = 1,364; 638 female) was classified into 3 groups (anxious-solitary, unsociable, comparison) and followed across a school year. Findings indicated that it was more…

Disrupted sensory processing, characterized by over- or underresponsiveness to environmental stimuli, has been reported in children with a variety of developmental disabilities. This study examined the effects of prenatal stress and moderate-level prenatal alcohol exposure on tactile sensitivity and its relationship to striatal dopamine system…

Twenty-four socially withdrawn preschool children, identified through classroom observations, were assigned to one of three conditions: (1) socialization with a younger child during 10 play sessions, (2) socialization with an age mate during a similar series of sessions, and (3) no treatment. (JMB)

Examined the ability of children of different ages to encode and retrieve from memory descriptions of aggressive and withdrawn behavior displayed by hypothetical peers. Descriptions of two hypothetical peers were read aloud to the children studied. (PCB)

Observed 4-year-olds during interaction tasks, and 2-weeks later recorded brain wave functions while subject attended to a visual stimulus. Found that children who displayed social competence exhibited greater relative left frontal activation than children displaying social withdrawal during the play session, who exhibited greater relative right…

Findings yielded a comprehensive portrait of the predictive relations among children's aggressive or withdrawn behaviors, peer rejection, and psychological maladjustment across the 5-12 age period. Examination of peer rejection in different variable contexts and across repeated intervals throughout childhood revealed differences in the timing,…

Examined patterns of children's inhibition and the behavior of their mothers, who were either well or depressed, in nonsocial and social situations that were unfamiliar. Children of unipolar depressed mothers were most inhibited. Boys were more inhibited to a new environment, and girls to a new person. Results suggested that encounters with the…

Three studies examined the hypothesis that aggressive-rejected children are unaware of their social status because they are self-protective when processing negative peer feedback. Found that aggressive rejected boys could accurately assess others' social status, but aggressive rejected boys and girls were more unrealistic in assessing their own…

Examined effects of parental psychopathology and maltreatment on behavior of 102 children with mean ages of 9.75 years. Parental psychiatric status and maltreatment interacted significantly, so that offspring of schizophrenic parents from maltreating families showed increases in externalized behavior problems over time. (RJC)

Used prospective longitudinal design to examine peer rejection, aggressive behavior, and social withdrawal among 107 maltreated and 107 nonmaltreated children. Found that chronic maltreatment was associated with heightened risk of peer rejection from childhood to early adolescence. Aggression accounted largely for the association between chronic…

Examined toddlers' behavioral inhibition and wariness with peers in novel situations involving unfamiliar settings, adults, and peers. Found little consistency of inhibited behavior across the three situations. Consistently inhibited toddlers had fearful temperaments, showed distress after maternal separation, and had mothers who were warm and…

Examined role of social anxiety, social withdrawal, and locus of control in the developmental level of interpersonal negotiation strategies (INS) when resolving hypothetical conflicts. Found that sociable children were more likely than socially withdrawn children to exhibit greater competence in INS. Children with internal locus of control were…

Examined parents' emotional responses to aggression and social withdrawal in early childhood, beliefs about the causes of problematic social behaviors, and strategies for responding to aggression and withdrawal. Considered variation in parental beliefs as a function of child sex and differences between mothers and fathers. (RH)

Three studies examined children's ability to differentiate aggression and social withdrawal using attributional constructs. Found that even very young children understand the meaning of responsibility and are capable of using it to act as intuitive judges, weighing the evidence to make inferences about responsibility and then meting out judgments…