The spontaneous narratives of three brothers, ages 5, 8, and 11, in response to a structured story stem task were analysed for representations of positive and negative family interactions. The children had lived their entire lives with no permanent home, and often on the streets, in the care of their mother. The story stem task presented brief…

"Weight-related attitudes" refer to negative attitudes toward individuals because they are overweight or obese. These attitudes are widespread among children and adults and have been proven to be recalcitrant to intervention. To develop more effective interventions, it is necessary to understand the origin and development of explicit and…

This study examined mother-child reminiscing about children's experiences with peers and its relation to children's peer-related self-views and social competence. Sixty-three mothers and their preschool-aged children discussed at home two specific past events involving the child and his or her peers, one event being positive and one negative. The…

Relations among maternal depression, child attachment, and children's representations of parents and self were examined. Participants included toddlers and their mothers with a history of major depressive disorder (n=63) or no history of mental disorder (n=68). Attachment was assessed at 20 and 36 months and representations of parents and self…

In this study we investigated whether mothers' typical expressive style and specific emotional responses to children's behaviors are linked to children's prosocial and competence self-ratings. Eight- to 12-year-old children and their mothers rated how mothers had felt when children behaved prosocially and antisocially, achieved and failed to…

The relationships among communication, modeling, body image dissatisfaction, and maladaptive eating attitudes and behaviors in preadolescent girls were investigated in a cross-sectional study of 69 girls in fourth through sixth grade and their mothers. Participants completed questionnaires assessing familial and peer influences, body image…

A study of children's perceptions of self and of significant adults investigated Sullivan's (1953) concepts of good me/bad me and good mother/bad mother and extended the analysis to children's perceptions of fathers and teachers. Subjects were 10-year-old elementary school students from low-income families who were enrolled in a longitudinal study…

The purpose of this ongoing study is to assess the impact of style of coping, self-image, family environment, and perceptions of parenting skills on the adaptation of adolescents to the stressors of parenthood. A total of 27 adolescent mothers and their infants, and a cohort of 16 pregnant teens, have thus far participated in the study. Each of…