Examined parenting self-efficacy as a potential mediator of effect of competence-promoting and inhibiting parenting on toddlers' scores on mental scale of the Bayley Scales. Found that effect of competence-inhibiting composite (forceful redirection of child's attention, ignoring and reinforcing misbehavior, potentially distracting self- conscious…

Observed mothers playing with their 40-month-old children and eliciting their children's memories of shared experiences. Cluster analysis found two distinct maternal interaction styles in each of these contexts. Individual mothers' styles varied across the contexts, suggesting that infant-mother dyads must be observed in multiple contexts to…

Used behavioral observation and maternal reports to examine the relationship of fearfulness/anxiety, attachment security, and maternal discipline with internalization in 103 toddlers. For relatively fearful/anxious children, gentle maternal discipline that deemphasized power predicted internalization. For relatively fearless children, security of…

This study of the relationship between mother-child interactions and children's development for 18 children (ages 20-36 months) with severe visual impairments found that mother-responsive behaviors were positively related to child development, whereas mother-initiated behaviors were either negatively related or not related. (Author/JDD)

Eighty infants, toddlers, and preschoolers were observed before, during, and after separations from their mothers. Results suggested that there were no negative cumulative effects of repeated separations. The children seemed to adapt to repeated separations following the stressful experience with their first separation. (GLR)

Examines maternal modes of organizing an imminent emotional event, a brief separation from the child. Finds that the mothers displayed two ways of structuring the future event, and these different modes were related statistically to the gender of the child. Investigates how the mother directs the child's mental processes by using augments of…

This study interviewed 39 mothers of young children with autism of whom 19 reported their children had experienced developmental regression, especially in verbal and non-verbal communication and social skills. Mean age of regression was 24 months. There was little difference between children who regressed and those who did not in maternal…

Recent research supports the idea that both the content and style of mother-child discourse is important in shaping a child's early moral understanding. This study was designed to further this research by examining how the clarity, elaborativeness, and emotional content of conversations about the past related to a child's sociomoral development.…

This study was conducted to examine the effects of functional communication training when used by mothers to address the serious challenging behaviors of toddlers. Multiple baseline (across home routines) designs were used with two mother-child dyads. The data showed mothers used the procedures correctly and interventions produced reductions in…

The early years of toddlerhood mark the emergence of self-regulation and the child's ability to comply with parental requests. The current study examined young children's compliance and noncompliance in a family context by observing mothers, fathers, and two children in a family clean-up paradigm. Marital conflict and mutual responsiveness in the…

Some adults and children exhibit defensive behaviors to tactile or auditory stimulation. These symptoms occur not only in subsets of children with ADHD, autism, and Fragile X syndrome, but also in the apparent absence of accompanying disorders. Relatively little research explores the correlates and antecedents of sensory defensiveness. Using a…

This study examined correlations between temperament and demanding behavior in toddlers. Subjects were eight mothers and their children from 18 to 27 months of age. Mothers were interviewed in their homes and completed the Toddler Temperament Scale and the Parenting Stress Index. Mother-child interactions were videotaped for the duration of the…

The bibliography contains over 50 annotated citations of research on the nature of maternal speech and its effects on child language development. It is limited to studies focusing on verbal features of mothers' speech to normal one-to-four-year-olds learning English. The first section is devoted to literature describing characteristics specific to…

Two studies concerned with agreement in ratings of temperament are reported. Ratings of the mothers of toddlers versus daycare workers were compared on the Toddler Temperament Scale (Study 1), and on ratings of a videotape of a 2-year-old child for responses relevant to six dimensions of temperament (Study 2). (Author/BN)

Examines 2,000 Strange Situation classifications obtained in eight different countries. Differences and similarities between distributions in classifications of samples are investigated using correspondence analysis. Substantial intracultural differences are established; data also suggest a pattern of cross-cultural differences. (Author/RWB)