Twin studies have documented that parenting behavior is partly heritable, but it is unclear how parents' genetics shape their caregiving. Using tools of molecular genetics, the present study investigated this process by testing hypotheses about associations between a genome-wide polygenic score for educational attainment and parental caregiving in…

The present study examined whether and how socioeconomic status (SES) predicts school achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) using structural equation modeling and data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Child Care and Youth Development. The present inquiry addresses gaps in…

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…

Two studies were conducted to (1) develop measure of infants' executive capacity, defined as difference between infants' most sophisticated level of functioning displayed first in free and then in elicited play and (2) to test several hypotheses regarding relationship between these performance and competence measures of child functioning and home…

Draws from works by Bronfenbrenner, Tinbergen, and Burgess to conceptualize child maltreatment as a social-psychological phenomenon that is multiply determined by individual, family, community, and cultural forces. (Author/GC)

Responds to Maccoby's and Hinde's commentaries on the Belsky, et al. article in this issue. Highlights several points of concurrence and disagreement. Draws attention to the potential benefits of asking questions about proximal and ultimate causation simultaneously and, thus, the need for child developmentalists to think about both the how and why…

To assess the effect of setting on mother-infant interaction, 24 twelve-month-old children and their middle class mothers were observed on two occasions, a week apart. Half of these dyads were seen twice at home under naturalistic conditions or twice in the lab in a free play situation. The remaining 12 pairs were observed once in each location…

Infants who changed in levels of emotionality between three and nine months were compared with infants who remained stable. Maternal personality, marital factors, and mother-infant interaction accounted for the change in highly emotional infants. Father factors accounted for changes by infants who were initially low in negativity. (BC)

Examined parent-child interaction during toddlers'"terrible twos" stage. Found that families experiencing difficulty could be identified, troubled behavior could be predicted based on family ecology, and families at moderate and high contextual risk were more likely to experience troublesome behavior when the child experienced 20 or more hours per…

Used data on parenting and family climate gathered six times during childhood and adolescence to predict intergenerational relations between young adult children and parents. Found that more supportive family environments and child-rearing experiences forecasted more positive parent-child relationships in young adulthood. Effects of unsupportive…