Explored the stability of attachment security and representations from infancy to early adulthood in a high risk sample. Found no evidence for significant continuity between infant and adult attachment, but rather a lawful discontinuity, with many participants transitioning to insecurity. Continuous and discontinuous groups were differentiated on…

Compared 100 three-year-olds with speech delay of unknown origin and 539 same-age peers with respect to 6 speech disorder variables; also examined abnormal hearing in a subset of 279 children. Found significant odds ratios only for low maternal education, male sex, and positive family history; a child with all 3 factors was 7.71 times as likely to…

At 3 years of age, children who had received food supplementation were an average of 2.6 cm and 642 grams larger than controls. Home visiting and supplementation combined reduced the number of children with severe growth retardation. Participants were 280 infants and their families from poor neighborhoods in Bogota, Colombia. (RH)

Compared outcomes of middle-school-age children born at very low (less than 750-g) or low birthweights (750 to 1,499-g) and full-term. Found that the very-low-weight group fared less well at school age than the low weight and term groups on cognitive functioning, achievement, behavior, and academic performance. Those without neurosensory disorders…

Longitudinal studies in two countries investigated impact of father absence on girls' early sexual activity (ESA) and teenage pregnancy. Findings indicated that greater exposure to father absence strongly related to elevated ESA and adolescent pregnancy risk. Elevated risk was not explained (U.S. sample) or only partly explained (New Zealand…

Tested four different theoretical models (risk, protective, potentiator, and person-environment fit) describing ways that geographical neighborhoods might be associated with aggression and peer relationship problems in 1,271 elementary school children. Results suggest a protective effect of middle-SES neighborhoods on the aggressive behavior among…

Infant-mother dyads classified as anxiously attached intervention and control or securely attached control were compared. Intervention toddlers were lower than anxious controls in avoidance, resistance, and anger, and higher in partnership with mother. Intervention mothers were higher in empathy and interactiveness. No differences between…

Examined the role of individual characteristics and peer influences in evoking early substance abuse in young boys. Individual characteristics, such as fighting, hyperactivity, oppositional behaviors, and likability, were found to be pivotal in the development of substance abuse--more than friends' deviance. Results suggest that prevention…

Compared adopted and nonadopted adolescents across variety of measures. Found that adopted adolescents were at higher risk in all domains examined, including school achievement and problems, psychological well-being, and physical health. Effect sizes for group differences were larger for males, younger or older adolescents, Hispanics or Asians,…

Studied the social networks and daily activities of children and adolescents living or working on the streets of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Found that youngsters who lived at home and worked on the street appeared to be experiencing orderly development despite their impoverished circumstances. Youngsters who lived on the streets, however, showed…

Examined if and how differences in functioning of single-mother and two-parent families relate to occurrence of behavioral problems among inner-city boys ages 10-15. Findings included (1) multiple family risk factors contribute to occurrence of behavior problems; (2) most family risk factors were generalizable to both single-mother and two-parent…

Examined how 147 urban youth evaluated three reporting options available to investigators when a research participant tells them that they are involved in or the victims of behaviors that present different developmental risks. Confidentiality was viewed favorably for risk behaviors of low perceived severity or for which the consequences of adult…

For 152 children, intelligence scores were assessed at 4 and 13 years of age, and the number of factors out of 10 social and family risk factors was counted. The presence of multiple risk factors in children's lives explained up to half the variance of children's IQ scores at 4 and 13 years. (MDM)

Examined how relational stressors and supports interface with aggression to influence early adjustment trajectories from Fall of kindergarten year to Spring of first grade. Found that with few exceptions, relational experiences predicted adjustment beyond children's aggressive risk status. Chronicity of aggressive risk status and relational…

Followed development of children at family risk for dyslexia from 3 years to 8 years. Found that 66 percent of high-risk group had reading disabilities at age 8 compared with only 13 percent in a control group. However, family risk of dyslexia was continuous. Interpreted findings within a model in which problems in establishing a phonological…