This study examined the relationship between varying patterns of maternal employment, the use of child care, and the infant's establishment of a reciprocal, responsive relationship with the mother. Parental and non-parental caregivers were located within a family system to examine attachment theory within an ecological framework. The subjects were…

The differences in California Achievement Test (CAT) scores from 1990 to 1991 in seventh graders, currently enrolled in Albritton Junior High School in the Fort Bragg Schools, of deployed and nondeployed fathers were analyzed. CAT percentile scores from 1990 and 1991 (1991 being the year of "Desert Storm") were obtained in reading, math…

Research on determinants of parenting behavior has traditionally focused on parents' goals and beliefs about child rearing or on the effect of parents' own attachment experiences. In an effort to relate these two approaches, a study was conducted to examine parent behaviors and attitudes in 94 parent-child dyads. Dyads consisted of 20 fathers and…

Research has shown contradictory results on the relationship of infant attachment security to play and mastery behavior, at times predicting the cognitive quality of play and at other times predicting the affective quality of play. In order to test the hypotheses that, during play, attachment security would predict only positive affect,…

This document provides data from an ongoing longitudinal study of the degree of continuity in individual development over time and describes the complexities involved in efforts to determine the nature of individual continuity. Findings from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of children in a day camp provide evidence for continuity in individual…

The development of and relationship between early language, symbolic play, sensorimotor skills, and social development were examined in a longitudinal study conducted in Japan with two young autistic males who were observed from the approximate ages of 2 to 4 years in clinic, day care, and home settings. One child acquired speech; the other did…

Studies on the effects of early day care can be characterized according to two distinct research trends. In the first, which occurred during the 1960s and 1970s, the principal issue was whether day care had any inevitable and negative consequences for the child and, particularly, the mother-child attachment. The second, more recent, trend has been…

Children's responses toward strangers, qualities of mother-child interaction, and maternal stresses were examined in 38 mother-child pairs, with children from single and two-parent families. Responses to female and male strangers were observed in a modified Strange Situation. Mother-child interaction was assessed with a modified version of…

This study was intended to determine whether differences in maternal attitude and behavior relate to differences in infants' Strange Situation security classification. Subjects for the present study were 38 white middle-class mothers and their normal, 1-year-old infants (20 male, 18 female). Infants who were classified as to the quality of their…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the organization of associations among college-aged women's perceptions of individual and family-level separation-individuation difficulties and two subtypes of depressive vulnerability proposed by Blatt. One type is focused on achievement and issues of self-worth; the other type is focused on…

Nearly 30 years ago, research showed that preschool children reared by parents with differing parenting attitudes or styles, differed in their degrees of social competence. To test this theory, a two-year study was conducted. During "Year 1," 2,250 high school seniors and 406 university freshmen from the middle South were surveyed…

Intended for parents with infants, this book is a collection of 230 simple, fun-filled games that can be played with infants from birth to age 1 year. The book begins with guidelines for growth in motor, auditory, visual, language, cognitive, and self-concept skills from birth to 6 months and from 6 to 12 months. The remainder of the book presents…

Noting that there has been little research attention on the ability of foster children to form emotional attachments, this literature review looks at available research related to attachment and children in foster care. The review suggests that foster children are at risk for insecure attachment due to experiences of abuse and neglect, parental…

Although there is considerable evidence linking the security of children's attachment to their mothers to child competence and adaptive functioning, the distinct picture of adjustment problems characteristic of each pattern of insecure attachment has received less research attention, especially during middle childhood. This study examined the…

Four studies tested a theory that high interparental conflict increases child mental health risk by shaking children's sense of security in the family. Findings showed that children's fear, avoidance, and involvement were prominent responses, especially relative to reactions predicted by other theories. Interparental conflict related to greater…