Concerns regarding the social-behavioral maladjustment of U.S. youth have spurred efforts among educators and policymakers to identify and remedy educational contexts that exacerbate children's anxiety, depression, aggression, and misconduct. However, investigations of the influence of collective classroom student characteristics on individuals'…

The present study tested whether individual differences in autonomic nervous system functioning interact with environmental risk factors to predict adolescents' psychosocial functioning. The authors assessed skin conductance and respiratory sinus arrhythmia at rest and during laboratory stressors in 110 14-year-olds. Subsequently, adolescents and…

Examined the role of regulation in mediating the relations between maternal emotional expressivity and children's adjustment and social competence when children were 4.5 to just 8 years old, and again 2 years later. Found that at Times 1 and 2, regulation mediated the relation between positive maternal emotional expressivity and children's…

Examined associations between in vitro fertilization (IVF) and parenting quality, family functioning, and emotional/behavioral adjustment of 3- to 7-year-olds. Found that IVF mothers reported greater protectiveness than mothers of naturally conceived children. Teachers rated IVF mothers as displaying greater warmth but not overprotective or…

This study attempted to distinguish two types of social withdrawal in early childhood: (a) one based on social fear and anxiety despite a desire to interact socially (conflicted shyness) and (b) one based on the lack of a strong motivation to engage in social interaction (social disinterest). Two samples of preschoolers (n = 119 and n = 127) 3-5…

Examined the quality of parent-child relationships and the socioemotional and gender development of a community sample of 7-year-olds with lesbian parents, with two-parent heterosexual parents, or with single heterosexual mothers from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Found no significant differences between lesbian mothers and…

Tested a model linking family financial resources to adjustment among African American 6- to 9-year olds with single, rural, Southern mothers. Found that inadequate financial resources related to mothers' depression and low self-esteem. Self-esteem was linked with family routines and mother-child relationship quality. Child self-regulation…

Examined the adjustment of boys from intact, single-mother, stepfather, and multiple-transition families. Boys who had experienced multiple transitions showed the poorest adjustment. The antisocial mother was most at risk for transitions and unskilled parenting practices, which in turn placed her son at risk for poor adjustment. (BC)

Used a variety of family factors to predict development of children who averaged 30 hours of nonparental care per week for each month of their lives and of those who experienced no more than 10 hours of nonparental care per week. Multivariate analyses provided no evidence that family factors predicted outcomes differently for these two groups.…