This paper provides a brief overview of what is currently known about families of children with Down syndrome. In addition, it highlights a number of issues that require further research if we are to have a thorough understanding of the impact of a child with Down syndrome on families as a system and on the individuals who make up that system.…

In the ongoing Sibling Adoption Study of sibling relationships, data gathered from three methods was used to assess the sibling relationship in the home. This report focuses on comparison of the information about the sibling relationship gathered from each method. Eighty-four middle-class families with younger siblings, aged four to six, and older…

Two studies examined the relationship between maternal sensitivity and infant security of attachment in home and hospital contexts. Results are discussed in terms of links between methodology and effect sizes, the generality of links between maternal care and child security, need for research on caregiving in ordinary and emergency situations, and…

This paper emerges from a perception of educational policy studies as restrained in its theoretical and methodological tools. It is argued that because most educational policy studies take place within a traditional rationalist frame, the findings of these studies do not provide a comprehensive understanding of the policy problems being researched…

Discusses a model of the bi-directional relations between children and the context of their living situations and explains how the usefulness of this model may be evaluated by assessing the relations between child temperament and maternal attitudes and behaviors. Also indicates how the child's temperament may influence the mother's decision to…

Proposes to identify the mechanisms underlying the links between maternal attention directing strategies and infants' focused attention. Observes onset and offset of maternal behaviors toward objects and infants' attention in a sample of 50 dyads during the first year of life. Discusses research methods, results, and implications for further…

This monograph reports the key findings of the Foundation for Child Development's 1989 Forum on Children and the Family Support Act, a forum convened to examine the potential effects of the Family Support Act (FSA) on children. The following topics were addressed: (1) population and characteristics of children who will be affected by the FSA; (2)…

A meeting of child care researchers, federal and state child care administrators, and participants in the studies of child outcomes in the context of state welfare waiver evaluations was convened on February 7, 1997. The purpose of the meeting was to ask for input as to the most important aspects of child care to cover in the state welfare waiver…