Behaviorism and psychoanalytic theory, prevalent early in this century, declined at midcentury. Theorists subsequently developed domain-specific theories of socialization, which were influenced by, or resulted in, changing conceptions of children's identification with their parents, changing definitions of optimal parenting, and an understanding…

Examined whether links between the marital relationship and sibling interaction were directed or mediated by the mother-child relationship. Found that older siblings' negative behavior was linked with negative dimensions of the marital and mother-child relationship. Younger siblings' negative behavior was linked with the mother-child and…

Illustrates contribution of genetic and environmental factors to differential ratings of within-family behavior and environmental differences. Maintains that, assuming differential ratings are a linear function of underlying trait differences, it is simple to recover within-family statistics, offering a more legitimate basis than comparing mean…

Examines associations among contemporaneous measures of marital quality, parenting attitudes and behavior, and toddler development in two-parent families. Seventy-five families with one 20-month-old child served as subjects. Results generally indicated that good marital quality was associated with optimal toddler functioning and sensitive…

Study examined the childhood intellectual performance of a sample of black college graduates from poverty backgrounds to determine whether or not (a) they were more intelligent children than their neighborhood peers, (b) they were more intelligent than their own siblings, or (c) they simply came from bright families. (Author)

Reviews recent research that suggests that changes in family environments because of parental depression increase children's risk for psychopathology. Argues that some aspects of family and child functioning may not be adversely affected by parental depression. Considers conceptual models to explain the effects of parental depression, and areas…

For a sample of families consisting of a teen mother and her infant and parents, examined grandmothers' influence on their grandchild and grandparents' indirect effect on their grandchild through their influence on the teen mother's nurturance and perceptions of family support. Found that grandfathers had a direct effect on their grandchild, and…

Examined links between parents' depression, marital quality, and parenting style, and their preschool and early adolescent children's angry, defiant, and acting-out behaviors. Parents' depression was related to the quality of their marital relationship and their parenting style, but not their children's behavior. (BC)

Mothers recorded their children's prosocial behavior and failure to be prosocial, and their own responses to their children's behavior. Helping occurred more frequently than other prosocial behaviors. Children were equally likely to receive acknowledgement, approval, praise and no response for prosocial behavior. (BC)

This study adds to the growing literature linking children's experiences in the environment to individual differences in their developing skills in attention, memory, and planning. The authors asked about the extent to which stimulating and sensitive care in the family and in the child-care or school environments would predict these cognitive…

Preschool to school-age trajectories of 242 children, including 37 with insecure-disorganized and 66 with insecure-organized attachment patterns, were examined. Child attachment and stressful life events (the latter retrospectively) were measured at ages 5-7, and mother-child interactive quality, parenting stress, marital satisfaction, and…

This study tested the independent and interactive influences of classroom (concentrations of peer prosocial behaviors and victimization), family (household moves, mothers' education), and school (proportion of students receiving income assistance) ecologies on changes in children's social competence (e.g., interpersonal skills, leadership…

Mother-child play of 12-month-old infants (N = 130) from maltreating (N = 78) and nonmaltreating (N = 52) families was analyzed as a context that integrates infants' developing social and cognitive skills. Play was coded from semistructured and unstructured play paradigms. No group differences were found in infants' play maturity. Infants from…

Investigates differences in the language learning environments of six twin pairs and 12 singleton toddlers (all firstborn) with special reference to pragamatic factors that might be expected to differ in dyadic and triadic interactive situations. (HOD)

The present study investigated some properties of the environment that control an infant's response to his mother's departure and, in particular, the readiness with which he follows her. (Authors)