Many children who are born into poverty face increased challenges. But different factors can ameliorate such risks and some findings on resilience and protective factors are reported in this paper. The data are based on the Parent-Child Project, a 22-year study of high-risk children. The focus is on protective factors identified in the first three…

Although permanency planning has been a central focus of child welfare practice since the passage of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act in 1980, new requirements of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 encourage concurrent planning on reunification and another alternative such as adoption. This guide is intended to assist child…

Noting that few studies have assessed the long-term correlates of maternal employment during infancy, this study assessed the quality of college-age students' current relationships with their parents as a function of the employment status of their parents during the respondents' childhood. Participating in the research were 822 college students…

Challenging the prevailing belief that the first 3 years of a child's life comprise the most critical period for development, this book maintains that although there is valid scientific evidence for the existence of critical periods, the same research points to learning and development occurring throughout life. The book asserts that too many…

Caring for infants and toddlers has long been conceptualized in Western society as mothers' work, and consequently devalued. Alternative care for infants and toddlers has lacked a knowledge base like that undergirding preschool education. Factors impeding research on infant/toddler care include strong ideological opposition to nonmaternal care,…

The "new homeless" of the eighties and nineties are not only more numerous; they are younger, more likely to use drugs, and they exhibit symptoms of mental illness. Homeless mentally ill individuals typically have estranged family relationships and fewer supportive relationships compared with other homeless persons. They typically have…

Noting that gender may be an important issue when studying relations between attachment and social functioning, four studies explored whether the relationship between children's internal working models of attachment and their general functioning was gender specific. A total of 246 children, ages 5 to 10 years, were given the Separation Anxiety…

Only children and their parents may have special problems settling the issues of parent-child identification and attachment. Children without siblings and their parents face a continuing oedipal triangle unless the parents maintain united partnership at best, or at least are able to encourage independence in the child. (Author)

A study was done extending work on children's literacy by relating quality of parent-child interactive exchange during book reading to assessments of infant-parent attachment security. Compared to secure mother-child pairs, insecure-avoidant pairs and insecure-resistant pairs were more inclined to encounter distraction and ambivalence on the part…

Evaluates a family-based treatment for childhood anxiety. Children (N=79) with separation anxiety, overanxious disorder or social phobia were randomly allocated to three treatment conditions: cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), CBT and family management, or a waiting list. Indicated 69.8% of the children no longer fulfilled diagnostic criteria for…

Analyzed adoptive parents' view of their children's development within an attachment framework. Found six patterns of adoption ranging from secure/stable to insecure to nonattached. These patterns highlight the influence of care prior to adoption on the quality of present adoption placements. (HTH)

Highlights usefulness of the categorical approach to measuring infant attachment by reviewing some major advances in the field that have been fostered by that approach. Advances include identification of the disorganized attachment group, development of the concept of conditional behavior strategies, creation of systems for coding attachment…

Ainsworth's system of classifying attachment patterns will not be easily displaced primarily because of difficulties involved in a dimensional approach. Problems include the number of dimensions involved, need to develop reliable scales, and need to describe how behavior changes across age and in the Strange Situation. Only when an alternative…

Examines the short- and long-term consequences of working during adolescence. Responses from 1,725 adolescents reveal that the negative short-term effects are in the domains of school, family and friend bonding, beliefs, and substance use. The long-term beneficial effect is that the duration of early work helps employability in adulthood. (GR)

Therapists (N=73) completed measures that assessed levels of self-directed hostility, perceived social supports, and degree of comfort with attachment. Their clients completed a measure that estimated the working alliance between the third and fifth sessions of therapy. Results show that the above factors predicted the working alliance's bond…