The present study examined how vulnerability and protective factors at the individual level (child's disabilities; patterns of attachment), and at the family level (fathers'/mothers' affect), help explain differences in socioemotional and behavioural adjustment among children aged 8-12 years with comorbid learning disability (LD) and attention…

According to developmental research, peer relationships serve a positive function in children's, adolescents', and adults' lives. We expected that peer relationships would also benefit emerging adults as they transition into college. Using friendship quality and attachment measures, we examined the link between the closeness of peer relationships…

This study examined the cultural relevance of adult attachment within a Korean sample (N = 390) using Rasch rating scale modeling. The psychometric properties of scores from the Korean version of the Revised Experiences in Close Relationships, comprised of two subscales of Anxiety (self) and Avoidance (other), were assessed. Results obtained from…

The stillbirth of a baby occurs in about 1 in 110 families yearly. Yet, little is understood about the ways in which grieving mothers and fathers experience the baby's death. This study is intended to explore the ways in which bereaved parents perceive and cope with the death of their baby and how the baby's death affects them both individually…

We examined the associations between perceived parental rearing, attachment style, self-concept, and mental health problems among Japanese adolescents. About 193 high school students (143 boys and 50 girls, mean = 16.4) completed a set of self-report questionnaires including EMBU-C (My Memories of Child Upbringing for Children), AQC (Attachment…

We tested special and general explanations of male adolescent sexual offending by conducting a meta-analysis of 59 independent studies comparing male adolescent sex offenders (n = 3,855) with male adolescent non-sex offenders (n = 13,393) on theoretically derived variables reflecting general delinquency risk factors (antisocial tendencies),…

This study examined the effectiveness of a culturally adapted Strengthening Families Program (SFP) for Latinos to reduce risks for alcohol and drug use in children. Latino families, predominantly Puerto Rican, with a 9- to 12-year-old child and a parent(s) with a substance abuse problem participated in the study. Pre- and post-tests were conducted…

This study examined linguistic patterns in the Jewish ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, a group that has rarely been studied from a sociolinguistic perspective. Participants were 92 girls, 10-12 years old, who attend a school where Yiddish is the language of instruction and Hebrew, Israel's official language, is studied only in religious…

This exploratory study represents one of the first attachment investigations of Japanese children who have been institutionalized. Mental representation of attachment was assessed using George and Solomon's (1990, 1996, 2000) Attachment Doll Play Classification System of the Bretherton et al. (1990) doll play story stems. Participants were 32…

Is infant looking behavior in ambiguous situations best described in terms of information seeking (social referencing) or as attachment behavior? Twelve-month-old infants were assigned to 1 of 2 conditions (Study 1); each infant's mother provided positive information about an ambiguous toy and an experimenter provided positive information. In…

Children who have been traumatized tug at the souls of early childhood teachers who have big hearts and open arms. Whether children have been witnesses to a disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, or have experienced trauma through direct assault, such as abuse, they need people who are willing and able to take extra care and…

Following a 1986 study reporting a predominance of ambivalent attachment among insecure Sapporo infants, the generalizability of attachment theory and methodologies to Japanese samples has been questioned. In this 2nd study of Sapporo mother-child dyads (N = 43), the authors examined attachment distributions for both (a) child, based on M. Main…

To better understand the origins of autonomic reactivity during marital interactions, this study examined the psychophysiological profiles of prototypically secure (vs. insecure) and deactivating (vs. hyperactivating) adults while they talked about areas of disagreement with their (pre)marital partners. Adults who idealized their caregivers…

To increase our understanding of the cognitive processes involved in internal working models of attachment, this study investigated the relationship between secure attachment and attentional breadth to mother using a dual task design. The content of the cues (mother vs. unfamiliar women) and the duration of the presentation of the cues (34 msec,…

The current study examined coping strategies as mediators of the relation between maternal attachment and depressive symptoms in a sample of urban youth. Participants included 393 adolescents (M age = 12.03, SD = 0.85) participating in a larger study of the impact of stressful life experiences on low-income urban youth. Participants completed…