Consistent with results of research with toddlers, abused preschoolers exhibited more inappropriate responses toward distressed peers, and were more likely to cause distress of peers, than were nonabused peers. Inappropriate responses of abused children persist beyond toddlerhood, despite experiences with nonabusive caregivers and nonabused peers.…

Focuses on: (1) principles that underlie regulation of distress and negative emotions among infants and young children; and (2) developmental trends that occur during the first years of life. Discusses the role of caregivers. Offers ideas that lend themselves to hypothesis testing and empirical validation. (RH)

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…

Infants at two, four, and six months of age learned a string-pulling task and were tested again two months later. Individual differences in emotional expressions of anger during extinction, and interest and enjoyment during learning, were stable over the two-month interval. (BC)

Used latent variables path analysis to examine models linking parents' and kindergartners' expressed affect during parent-child play and children's social functioning with peers in kindergarten and first grade. Found that relations between parental positive affect and children's social competence were mediated by children's expressed positive…

Assessed mother-infant face-to-face play and infant difficult temperament at 3 and 9 months; assessed self-control, verbal IQ, and maternal warm discipline at 2 years. Found that maternal synchrony with infant affect at 3 months and mutual synchrony at 9 months were related to self-control at 2 years when temperament, IQ, and maternal style were…

Middle-class African American mothers and adolescents (n=81) participated in a dyadic interaction task in early adolescence (M=13.06 years, SD=1.27) and then again 2 years later (M=15.01 years, SD=1.27). Following the task, mothers and adolescents rated their own and their partner's support and involvement in the task; observers rated videotaped…

There is much evidence that parents' perceptions of children's competence affect the development of children's academic functioning. In the current research, the possibility that this is moderated by parents' theories about the stability of competence was examined. In a 2-wave, 1-year study of 126 children (9 to 12 years old) and their mothers,…

Mothers whose infants varied in early biological characteristics (born at term, n = 120; born at very low birth weight [VLBW], n = 144) were randomized to a target group (n = 133) or developmental feedback comparison group (n = 131) to determine whether learning responsive behaviors would facilitate infant development. The target condition…

Examined the influence of maternal differential behavior and child temperament on sibling relationships. Forty pairs of four-to-nine-year-old siblings and their mothers were observed playing in sibling dyads and mother-children triads in their homes. Mothers provided temperament ratings of their children's activity, emotional intensity, and…

Examined parents' responses to emotional distress in their preschool children and assessed the relation of these responses to children's competence. Data on parent-child interactions was collected for 30 families by means of home observations, parent self-reports, observer ratings, and child interviews. Preschool competence was assessed by teacher…

Interests of preschool children were naturalistically identified through patterns of attention in the classroom and were related to assessing (1) direction of attentional shift, (2) level of recognition, and (3) likelihood of recall. Findings are interpreted in terms of cognitive/affective conceptualization of interest as central figure of…

Peer competence in preschool children in two classes was assessed via (a) teacher rankings of social competence, (b) peer sociometrics, and behavioral measures of (c) social participation, and others. Affective expression and social behavior were temporally stable and consistent across contexts for both classes; however, patterns of…

Results of this experiment demonstrate that brief, even fleeting, affective experiences appear to have significant implications for behavior toward others. The transient experience of positive affect makes children more generous to others, while the equally ephemeral experience of negative affect appears to make them more niggardly. (Authors)

Examined the relation between a history of maltreatment and cognitive control functioning in two groups of preschool and early school-age maltreated and nonmaltreated children. Maltreated children showed developmentally impaired cognitive control functioning on a number of tasks. (RH)