This study tested a conceptual model of a psychosocial pathway to academic competence in preschool. Developmental theory and research with older children suggest that social and psychological factors could have a significant impact on young children's learning and school readiness. Children in 3 preschool classrooms (N = 31) participated. Mothers'…

The Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program promotes school readiness by providing services directly to parents through home visitation. This study describes the outcomes of the HIPPY program for Latino immigrant families in a large Southwestern city. A quasi-experimental design compared 48 families on the program…

How can language and literacy enhance emotional development in the very young (birth to three years)? Although all children begin to understand their world through language and social interaction, literacy differs from culture to culture. It can range from oral stories of personal and cultural relevance to songs of ethnic pride and includes a…

Based on research in infant sign language, this book teaches parents methods of communicating with their infants through the use of simple bodily movements that signify objects, events, and needs. Noting that communication between parent and child can flourish between 9 months and 30 months, when a baby's desire to communicate outstrips the…

This study compares affiliative and attachment behaviors of nontraditional fathers who are their infant's primary caregivers, secondary caregiving fathers, and primary and secondary caregiving mothers. Subjects were 28 mobile infants and their middle-class American parents. In half of the families, the father was the primary caregiver; in the…

This paper deals with the psychological processes and emotional experiences of children whose parents are going through the process of divorce and the complications posed by divorced or divorcing parents moving to new locations. The paper begins with a discussion of the implications of divorce, claiming that divorce is a change that affects…

Gender inevitably influences intimacy. This paper examines how gender differences can inhibit intimate relationships. In the analysis of two cases, it was observed that the researcher unconsciously had a tendency to defer to male perspectives regarding intimacy, and suggests that many female clients may do the same. Researchers have speculated…

Research indicates that establishing a secure attachment relationship in childhood affects later perceived social support (PSS). In order to test this relationship empirically and to gather comparative information on the separate elements of PSS, two attachment questionnaires and three measures of PSS were administered to 139 white males and 320…

This two-part investigation attempted to formulate culturally sensitive definitions of desirable and undesirable attachment behavior. Participants were 3 sociocultural groups of 16 mothers each: middle-class Anglo mothers, lower-class Anglo mothers, and lower-class Puerto Rican mothers living on the U.S. mainland. All mothers had at least 1 child…

The possibility was explored that children's attachments to their mothers may provide an internal working model for their cognitions of marriage and divorce. Subjects were 112 children in kindergarten, second, and fourth grade who were living with nondivorced or divorced parents. The mean length of time since parents' separation and divorce was 56…

The development and validation of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA), a self-report instrument for use with adolescents, is described. Item content of the instrument was suggested by Bowlby's theoretical formulations concerning the nature of feelings toward attachment figures. A hierarchical regression model was employed to…

Five bulletins of the National Center for Clinical Infant Programs include articles with the following titles and authors: "Lay Home Visiting Programs: Strengths, Tensions, and Challenges" (Mary Larner and Robert Halpern); "The Post-Partum Support Project: Serving Young Mothers and Older Women through Home Visiting" (Elizabeth Anisfeld and…

A theory of normal mother-infant relationship based on Margaret Mahler's theories is the basis of a treatment program for disturbed mother/infant relationships. This theory includes the concept of symbiosis which for the child is an undifferentiated condition, a fusion with the mother where the two have a common outward border, thereby protecting…

The seven articles in this annual report concern aspects of attachment, social interaction among parents and children, temperament, affective behavior, and/or research methodology. Aspects of attachment and temperament are addressed in Kazuo Miyake's study of the "Relation of Temperamental Disposition to Classification of Attachment,"…

More mothers than ever are now entering the work force and leaving greater numbers of preschool children and infants with less maternal supervision. How this phenomenon affects the development of infants and preschoolers has been the focus of much research, and research results have been mixed. A review of the research related to maternal…