Examined effects of early supportive parenting on children's school adjustment. Found that supportive parenting (maternal warmth, proactive teaching, inductive discipline, and positive involvement) predicted adjustment (behavior problems, social skills, and academic performance) in grade 6, even after controlling for kindergarten adjustment and…

Examined the expression of shame and pride in maltreated and nonmaltreated children. Subjects were 84 4- and 5-year-olds and their mothers. Found that maltreated girls showed more shame when they failed and less pride when they succeeded than nonmaltreated girls. (MOK)

Observed home interaction between parents and 2- and 4-year-olds at Time 1 and 2 years later. Found that parent mental state talk to children varied by child's age, context of talk, and parent gender. Four-year-olds with older siblings produced and heard more cognitive talk and less desire talk than children without older siblings. Time 1 family…

Examined association of family-related factors with children's depression and conduct problems among low-income Mexican American (English- and Spanish-speaking) and European American mothers and children. Found ethnic differences in children's depression, maternal inconsistent discipline, and hostile control. Also found language differences within…

Argues that an evolutionary perspective can unite the study of species-typical development and individual variation. Provides examples from the domains of personality, social, and intellectual development. Maintains that understanding the ways in which genes and environments work together helps developmentalists identify children who need…

Examined differential treatment of siblings in families with a disabled child and other families. Assessed connections between differential treatment, both children's adjustment, and sibling relationships. Results revealed greater levels of differential treatment in families with disabled children but no context differences in the correlations…

Analyzed individual developmental trajectories of disruptive behavior problems (DBP) between 3.5 and 6.0 years for children of adolescent mothers. Found that DBP decreased with age. Boys and children of more depressed/anxious mothers exhibited higher levels of DBP. Maternal negative control was associated with level of DBP and change rate, and…

Examined developmental differences in parental availability and child dependency in late childhood and early adolescence and their association with peer relations. Found that children's perceptions of mother's availability and boys' perceptions of father's availability did not change with age. Dependency decreased with age. Positive friendship…

Examined extent to which Chinese-American adolescents assist and spend time with their families. Found that adolescents were more likely to balance family obligations with academic demands than with peer relationships. Girls showed slightly more conflict between activities, but neither family obligations nor balancing activities were associated…

Examined association between infants' emotional reactivity and reliance on mother and cognitive and language development at 2 years. Found that infants with high reactivity and reliance on mother during emotion challenges had higher cognitive and language skills than infants with low reactivity and reliance. Poor developmental outcomes were…

Patterns of speech from lower socioeconomic status mothers to their infants were analyzed to determine correlations with infant risk of mental retardation. Measures of maternal language included sentence form, amount of speech, and syntactic complexity. The proportion of imperatives was positively correlated with risk status and negatively…

Tested the basic hypothesis that failure experiences at school increase the likelihood of aversive parent-child interaction after school. Subjects were 254 elementary school students. Found that children who rated more academic failure events at school described parents as more disapproving after school, but this effect was only partially mediated…

Identified groups of economically disadvantaged children showing high externalizing behavior in first grade that persisted (persistent) or decreased (improver) in third grade, or low first- grade levels that were stable (unproblematic) or increased (new problem) in third grade. Found that verbal ability, behavioral impulsivity, parent…

Of 4,100 adolescents, those who characterized their parents as authoritative scored highest on psychosocial competence and lowest on behavioral dysfunction. The reverse was true for neglected adolescents. Adolescents from authoritarian homes scored high on obedience but low on self-perception. Adolescents from indulgent homes evidenced…