Prior studies have demonstrated that social norms or cues of others' eating behaviors serve as powerful guides for one's own eating behaviors. Yet it remains underexplored whether young children are susceptible to social pressure by remote peers when faced with a conflict between what they prefer and the healthy choices of a group majority. Here…

The present study examined the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) and sibling differences in birth weight on sibling differences in the receipt of maternal sensitivity (i.e., differential parenting). It was hypothesized that sibling differences in birth weight would predict "absolute" differential parenting across the sibship (i.e.,…

The current study examines the extent to which participation in preschool at age 4 is associated with blood pressure, body mass index, and awakening cortisol at age 15. We capitalize on data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development to examine differences in adolescent health…

Although Erikson (1968) originally conceptualized identity development as a process of becoming at home in one's body, little work has been done linking identity development and research on the body. This study examines how trajectories of the development of body esteem over time are related to young people's sense of identity and psychological…

This study tested the association between multiple prenatal and postnatal early life factors and adolescent sexual orientation in a longitudinal birth cohort. Factors included birth weight, gestational age, parental age at birth, number of older brothers and sisters, breastfeeding, maternal anxiety/depression, family socioeconomic position,…

Media exposure among young children has been suggested to influence self-concept and the adoption of social stereotypes regarding body weight, as well as being associated with increased weight. The aim of this study was to examine the role of TV/DVD viewing in the development of positive stereotypes toward thinness, self-esteem and body mass index…

Children's eating behavior influences energy intake and thus weight through choices of type and amount of food. One type of eating behavior, food responsiveness, defined as eating in response to external cues such as the sight and smell of food, is particularly related to increased caloric intake and weight. Because little is known about the…

The present study explored cultural differences in parental beliefs about motor development across 2 Western cultures: Israel and the Netherlands. Can 2 cultural models be distinguished regarding infant motor development in Israel and the Netherlands or are parental beliefs about motor development similar across these cultures? Using a…

Overeating (eating an unusually large amount of food) and binge eating (overeating with loss of control [LOC]) predict adverse health consequences in adolescence. We aimed to characterize the stability of and risk factors for these distinct but interrelated constructs during critical developmental transitions. We used a population-based sample (n…

This study investigates body image concerns and disordered weight- and shape-related behaviors across adolescence and young adulthood in males and how patterns vary by sexual orientation. Participants were 5,388 males from the U.S. national Growing Up Today Study. In 2001, 2003, and 2005 (spanning ages 15-20 years), participants reported sexual…

This article used data from 5,171 young women participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study, to identify longitudinal trajectory patterns of mental health across 6 surveys over 16 years of early adulthood, from age 18-23 to age 34-39. In addition, we identified both…

This study evaluated prospective longitudinal relations among an index of poverty-related cumulative risk, maternal salivary cortisol, child negative affect, and maternal sensitivity across the first 2 postpartum years. Participants included 1,180 biological mothers residing in rural and predominantly low-income communities in the United States.…

Mass media have numerous effects on children, ranging from influencing school performance to increased or reduced aggression. What we do not know, however, is how media availability in the bedroom moderates these effects. Although several researchers have suggested that bedroom media may influence outcomes by displacing other activities (the…

Our goal in the present study was to examine the effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on infant self-regulation, exploring birth weight as a mediator and sex as a moderator of risk. A prospective sample of 218 infants was assessed at 6 months of age. Infants completed a battery of tasks assessing working memory/inhibition, attention, and…

Depressive syndrome and disorders increase substantially during adolescence. Little is known, however, about how "individual" symptoms of depression change over the course of this developmental period. The present study examined within-person changes in symptom severity of each individual symptom of depression, utilizing longitudinal…