The authors examined the effects of antipoverty programs on children's cumulative poverty-related risk and the relationship between cumulative poverty-related risk and child outcomes among low-income families. Samples included 419 children ages 3-10 years in the New Hope program and 759 children ages 2-9 years in the Minnesota Family …

Compared arousal during peekaboo game of low birthweight infants with higher or lower perinatal risk to that of healthy full-term infants. Found that low birthweight babies showed less positive arousal, more negative arousal, and three mixtures of behavioral cues than full-term babies, who showed strong positive and negative responses. Perinatal…

In the current study, the authors tested the hypothesis that children of alcoholic parents (COAs) show deficits in social competence that begin in early childhood and escalate through middle adolescence. Teachers, parents, and children reported on the social competence of COAs and matched controls in a community sample assessed from ages 6 to 15.…

Assessed relationship between family instability and problem behaviors at ages 5 and 7 years. Found direct, concurrent relations between family instability and preschool children's externalizing behavior in the context of other family process variables, relations between subsequent family instability and first-grade children's internalizing…

Compared 34 infants of very low birth weight (VLBW) and 40 full-term infants, using Ainsworth's Strange Situation procedure and Waters' Attachment Q-Set. Found that, at 14 months, VLBW infants were more likely than full-term infants to be insecurely attached when rated using the Q-Set but not when using the Strange Situation. (MDM)

Indicated that infants with different degrees of brain insult display different degrees of abnormalities. The grouping of infants by documented brain insult provides better differentiation of infants than grouping by birth weight. (RH)

Assessed 8- to 16-year-olds of 64 mothers with recurrent unipolar or bipolar affective disorders, chronic medical illness, or no disorder. Results supported a model in which children's outcomes 6 months later were caused by maternal functioning and characteristics of the child. (RH)

Examines issues related to the design and interpretation of high-risk depression research, including the identification of symptoms and syndromes, categorical versus dimensional scales, aspects of depression to be considered, specificity of effects, use of process measures, and conceptualization of risk and resilience. (MDM)

Studied the organization of arousal and attention processes in 138 neurologically at-risk neonates by examining visual preferences when infants were in 3 arousal conditions that involved light panel stimuli. There were no differences in preferences in the two conditions that caused the most arousal. (LB)

Examined association between maternal responsiveness during infancy and middle-childhood behavior problems. Found that responsiveness was significantly associated with disruptive behavior problems but unrelated to attention problems. Absence of MRes during infancy increased risk of later disruptive behavior problems, even with concurrent parenting…

Examined analytic methods for describing children's social risk. Found that the individual-risk-variables approach provided better overall prediction of developmental outcomes at a particular age. The risk-factor approach provided good prediction of developmental trajectories with moderate to large sample sizes. The risk-index was useful for…

Examined the relationship between housing status and depression, anxiety, and problem behaviors among elementary school-aged children from low-income, single-parent, female-headed families. Found that mother-reported problem behaviors were above normal levels for both homeless and poor, housed youths, but self-reported depression and anxiety were…

Children prenatally exposed to cocaine may be at elevated risk for adjustment problems in early development because of greater reactivity and reduced regulation during challenging tasks. Few studies have examined whether cocaine-exposed children show such difficulties during the preschool years, a period marked by increased social and cognitive…

Associations between parents' poor marital adjustment, parent-child discord, affectionless control, low family cohesion, and parental divorce and DSM-III diagnoses were explored among 220 offspring of parents with and without major depression. Parental depression and family risk factors were significant predictors of conduct disorder. (RH)

Compared adjustment of maltreated and nonmaltreated 5- to 12-year-olds. Found that maltreated children showed less academic engagement, more social skills deficits, lower ego resiliency, and more externalizing and internalizing behavior problems than nonmaltreated children. Effects of maltreatment on academic maladjustment were partially mediated…