Research Findings: This study aimed to explore the mediating role of social competence and the moderating role of teacher-child conflict in the relation between maternal overcontrol and Chinese preschooler's internalizing problems. Participants were 216 children aged 3-4 years, from two kindergartens in Shanghai, China. Mothers completed the…

The aim of this short-term longitudinal study was to explore the moderating role of insecure mother--child attachment (i.e., ambivalent and avoidant) in the relations between shyness and indices of adjustment difficulties in early childhood. Participants were 360 children (200 boys and 160 girls, M[subscript age]=4.72 years, SD=0.63) attending…

This study was designed to discover if preschool teaching affects children's development of social skills and behaviours. Mothers of 50 children from middle socio-economic class families attending preschools and mothers of 50 children from the same socio-economic class families not attending preschools were included in the study. "Social…

The development and adjustment correlates of parent-child social (parent, child, and others present) and dyadic time (only parent and child present) from age 8 to 18 were examined. Mothers, fathers, and firstborns and secondborns from 188 White families participated in both home and nightly phone interviews. Social time declined across…

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…

The role of child's characteristics (gender, cognitive ability, mother-perceived personality traits), family environment (maternal education, self-reported parenting practices) and pre-school experience (at least three years vs. no experience) in social adjustment to school, reflected through teacher reports on social competence and internalising…

This prospective investigation sought to discriminate children who were both aggressive towards and victimized by peers in the first grade, from those who were only aggressive, only victimized, or neither (i.e., socially adjusted), using early child and family risk factors. Two hundred thirty-eight children, their mothers, and teachers…

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…

Presented is a sequenced series of approximately 25 lessons designed to help mothers increase the interpersonal problem solving ability and behavioral adjustment of their 4- and 5-year-old children. It is explained that the program which takes 20 minutes per day over a 3 month period, combines an educational and preventive mental health approach.…

Two studies are reported: one examines stereotypes about only children and the other examines stereotypes about mothers of only children. A sample of 150 college students were the subjects for the first study which utilized the Prisoner's Dilemma Game, the NASA exercise, and a questionnaire to test the hypotheses that only children are selfish,…

The purpose of this study was to develop a cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBT) for depressed mothers of children between 5-12 years old, with behavior problems and to examine the effectiveness of the program. The CBT group met 8 times in total (2-hour weekly sessions for 8 weeks), followed by a booster session 3 months after the program was…

Investigated associations between parents' reported coercion and negotiation with their children, children's self-reported conflict strategies with peers, and their behavioral competence rated by both parents. Results obtained through observation, interviews, and questionnaires included a concurrent correlation between parents' use of coercion and…

Assessed 8-year-olds' perceptions of emotional support from mother and best friend. Found that preschool attachment security predicted age-8 maternal-support perceptions better than did mother's behavior. Identification of best friends as part of the support network related positively to social competence. The more insecurely attached children…

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.…