Policymakers and early childhood experts have long recognized the important role early childhood programs play in meeting the needs of young vulnerable children. Federal programs such as Head Start and Parts 619 & C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are specifically designed to target young, vulnerable children and…

Emergent themes from this special issue on parent-child co-sleeping are featured in this concluding article. Each of the pieces in this collection addressed one or more of the following themes: methodologies for studying parent-infant co-sleeping, physical and social characteristics of the child's sleep environment, associations between sleep…

In a community sample of 116 children, assessments of parent-child interaction, parent-child attachment, and various parental, child, and contextual characteristics at 15 and 28 months and at age 5 were used to predict externalizing behavior at age 5, as rated by parents and teachers. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis and path analysis…

Parental care plays an important role in the emotional and cognitive development of the offspring. Children who have been exposed to abuse or neglect are more likely to develop numerous psychopathologies, while good parent-infant bonding is associated with improved resiliency to stress. Similar observations have also been reported in non-human…

In this brief essay the authors reflect on the value of community participation and cultural adaptation in their evolving research on American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) infant and toddler development. They describe three concerns identified by their AI/AN community partners in adapting established research methodologies to work in AI/AN…

Background: An area-based initiative, Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs), was established by the UK government to reduce social exclusion through improving the well-being of children aged 0-3 years and their families in disadvantaged communities; a true community intervention in that all children under four and their families in specified areas…

Children's socialization environments reflect cultural models of parenting. In particular, Euro-American and Chinese families have been described as following different socialization scripts. The present study assesses parenting behaviors as well as parenting ethnotheories with respect to three-month-old babies in middle-class families in Los…

Infant joint attention has been observed to be related to social-emotional outcomes in at-risk children. To address whether this relation is also evident in typically developing children, 52 children were tested at 12, 15, 24, and 30 months to examine associations between infant joint attention and social outcomes. Twelve-month initiating and…

The third Fenno-Hungarian Conference on Developmental Psychology covered four main concepts: the historical roots and development of social competence through three generations, parent-child interaction, parenthood, and the development of socio-cognitive competence through childhood and adolescence. A series of papers was presented addressing the…

This latest annually produced Iowa Kids Count data book, "Iowa Kids Count 2009: Trends in the Well-Being of Iowa Children," provides data on 18 different indicators of child and family well-being at the United States, Iowa, substate and county-level. The 18 indicators presented in the data book contain an expanse of data from economic,…

This study focused on the psychosocial aspects of cleft lip and/or palate on maternal emotional reactions and the family, with emphasis on the effect on the maternal-infant bond. Interviews were conducted with 40 mothers of 1-year-old infants with non-syndromic cleft lip and/or palate. The interviews were analyzed using the phenomenological…

With the increasing number of mothers entering the workplace and placing infants in another's care, concern has arisen regarding the effects of nonmaternal care on the development of infants and children. Particular attention has been paid to the impact on the mother-infant attachment relationship of repeated daily separations and exposure to…

The history of childhood is of major importance to any study of human society. This book reviews systematically the attitudes and practices of parents toward their children in different Western cultures and time periods. The chapters of the book are: (1) "The Evolution of Childhood" (Lloyd deMause); (2) "Barbarism and Religion: Late…

The purpose of this study was to examine the convergence among observational data on children's temperament. Data were gathered through: (1) standard procedures designed to elicit discrete emotions; (2) parental reports; and (3) children's emotional tone observed during naturalistic mother-child contexts. A total of 112 normally developing 8- to…

This study examined gender and race differences in children's interactions with infants. Subjects were 53 black and white children between 8 and 10 years of age. An experimenter of the same race as the children presented them with a 6-week to 12-month-old infant of the same race. Children were photographed with the infant; while playing the role…