Background: Adopted children have been said to be difficult children, scarred by their past experiences in maltreating families or neglecting orphanages, or by genetic or pre- and perinatal problems. Is (domestic or international) adoption an effective intervention in the developmental domains of physical growth, attachment security, cognitive…

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine a score on the Obsessive Compulsive Scale (OCS) from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) to screen for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in children and to rigorously test the specificity and sensitivity of a single cutpoint. Methods: A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis…

U.S. schools are currently addressing bullying and its effects on children. Bullying is characterized as repetitive verbal teasing, threatening, physical intimidation, demeaning others, violent acts, torture, and other forms of verbal and physical aggression (Smith & Sharp, 1994a). Little is known about bullying and its impact on deaf children.…

Research has shown that living away from one's biological father is associated with a greater risk of adverse child and adolescent outcomes; yet, the role of the father-child relationship in understanding this association has not been directly investigated. This study uses data on biological fathers' relationships with their children from the 1979…

The study investigated whether young children's health status is significantly related to their performance on measures of intelligence, language, and behavior, as well as parents' concerns, stress, and perceptions of their children's development. One hundred twelve 3 to 5 year-old children, recruited from a large pediatric practice and three…

Speaker immersion is a tactic that uses multiple establishing operations to increase speaker behavior for individuals with limited mand and tact repertoires. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the effects of speaker immersion on the number of independent mands, tacts, and autoclitics emitted by young children with verbal delays. In the…

The first phase of parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT), called child-directed interaction, teaches parents to use positive and differential social attention to improve the parent-child relationship. This study examined predictors of change in mother and child functioning during the child-directed interaction for 100 mother-child dyads. The…

Objective: To investigate the relationship between preschool depression severity, observed behavior, and parental emotional support in a population of 3.0- to 5.6-year-olds and their mothers. Method: One hundred fifty preschoolers who underwent a comprehensive mental health assessment during which DSM-IV diagnoses were derived were included in…

The empirical research on psychological and social adjustment of children and adolescents with visual impairments is reviewed. The dichotomy between deficit and nondeficit functioning of these youths is explored. Personality research suggests that some youth with visual impairments display minor deficits in self-concept and self-esteem. It is…

This study investigated whether the "Big-5" structure (a 5-factor model used to capture variance in adult personality) can be obtained from parental ratings of 4-year-old children using traditional markers of this structure that are derived primarily from research on adult personality. The study also examined whether Big-5 markers can be…

This study examined how parents' engagement and affect during parent-child interaction related to children's ability to successfully interact with peers. Subjects were 56 families, each with a child between the ages of 4 and 6. Ten-minute interactions were videotaped as parents obtained information about a story previously heard by the child, and…

This study examined social communication behavior during play time among eight kindergarten (5- to 7-year-old) children with profound hearing loss in integrational situations (with normal children ages between 4-6) in Ankara, Turkey. Observations were made of children's preferences for different play centers, types of social play, social…

Although many studies have examined the competencies associated with being well-liked by the peer group, far less is known about the competencies children need in order to make and maintain good quality friendships. This study addressed friendship tasks, investigating 5 of 10 previously hypothesized competencies necessary to make and maintain good…

This paper describes two projects analyzing forms of appearance and the characteristics of symbolic play, that is, spontaneous play free from adult intervention. The paper highlights some characteristics and theoretical orientations and discusses preliminary findings. The theoretical framework includes using evolutive cognitive and…

This study examined the prevalence and clinical correlates of sexually inappropriate behaviors in all youth treated at a tertiary care public sector psychiatric hospital over a 5-year period. A retrospective chart review was completed on 499 subjects. Subjects were grouped in four mutually exclusive categories: no inappropriate sexual behaviors…