The 5 studies in this special section both confirm prior findings regarding the intergenerational transmission of parenting and provide important new evidence regarding the intergenerational transmission of positive parenting and the developmental mediators that seem involved in that transmission. Consistent with earlier research, the findings…

This study examined early observed parenting and child-care experiences in relation to functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis over the long term. Consistent with the attenuation hypothesis, individuals (n = 863) who experienced: (a) higher levels of maternal insensitivity and (b) more time in child-care centers in the first…

Research on differential susceptibility to rearing suggests that infants with difficult temperaments are disproportionately affected by parenting and child care quality, but a major U.S. child care study raises questions as to whether quality of care influences social adjustment. One thousand three hundred sixty-four American children from…

Evolutionary-biological reasoning suggests that individuals should be differentially susceptible to environmental influences, with some people being not just more vulnerable than others to the negative effects of adversity, as the prevailing diathesis-stress view of psychopathology (and of many environmental influences) maintains, but also…

Lethal intergroup conflict has been part of the human experience ever since our species emerged on the African savannah. Modern evolutionary thinking suggests that children's development could have evolved a variety of responses to it, some of which are highlighted upon considering, from the field of behavioural ecology, life-history theory and,…

Longitudinal analysis of data on 658 children/families from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development addressed two issues regarding children's sleep problems (measured by maternal report in third and sixth grades when the child was 8 and 11 years old, respectively) and family…

Examined attachment relationships in infant-mother dyads. Dyads that were developing secure attachments interacted in a mutually rewarding manner. Among dyads developing insecure relationships, avoidant dyads were characterized by maternal intrusiveness, and resistant dyads by interactions in which mothers were underinvolved and inconsistent. (BC)

Examined interrelation of marital and parent-child relationship subsystems among 100 families with 3-year-old child who were participating in Pennsylvania Infant and Family Development Project. Results revealed more systematic associations between marital change patterns and father-child interaction than between marital change patterns and…

Findings suggest that infant temperament affects the manner in which security or insecurity is expressed, but does not determine whether an infant develops a secure or insecure attachment to parent. (PCB)

Based on data obtained on a sample of 63 mother-infant dyads, concludes that separation anxiety is multiply determined by characteristics of the mother, the infant, and the employment situation and that variation in anxiety has consequences for the development of attachment relationships. (RH)

Responds to Worobey and Brazelton's commentary on the author's assessment of a Brazelton-based newborn intervention by addressing two issues: (1) what the literature indicates with respect to this intervention technique, and (2) the significance of the process by which interventions are implemented. (HOD)

Studied 125 mothers and firstborn sons over 11-month period to examine relations between mothers' representations of their relationships with their children, adult representations of attachment, and observed mothering. Findings revealed significant relationship between mothers' representations of relationships with their children and adult…

Families were compared at one, three, and nine months to examine the effects of active or passive exposure to the Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment. Either the mother or both parents were the target of the intervention. Assessments of interaction behavior between parents and infants revealed no effects of the experimental intervention.…

Pooled sibling attachment data to compare attachment relationships to mothers for 138 sibling pairs. Found that sibling relationships were significantly concordant when classified as secure/nonsecure but not when further subcategorized. Maternal insensitivity to both siblings was associated with concordance of sibling nonsecurity. Same gender…

Indicates that husband-wife differences in evaluations of marital adjustment increased over time when individuals recalled being reared in a cold/rejecting as opposed to warm/supportive manner, particularly when individuals also recalled their own parents as not having an especially harmonious marital relationship. (Author/RH)