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Frontal asymmetry (FA), the difference in brain activity between the left versus right frontal areas, is thought to reflect approach versus avoidance motivation. This study (2012–2021) used functional near‐infrared spectroscopy to investigate if infant (Mage = 7.63 months; N = 90; n = 48 male; n = 75 White) FA in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex relates to psychopathology in later childhood (Mage = 62.05 months). Greater right FA to happy faces was associated with increased internalizing (η2 =.09) and externalizing (η2 =.06) problems at age 5 years. Greater right FA to both happy and fearful faces was associated with an increased likelihood of a lifetime anxiety diagnosis (R2 >.13). FA may be an informative and early‐emerging marker for psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We utilized a community detection approach to longitudinally (a) identify distinct groups of children with common temperament profiles in infancy and at 2 and 3 years of age and (b) determine whether co‐occurrence of certain temperament traits may be early predictors of internalizing problems at 5 years of age. Seven hundred and seventy‐four infants (360 girls; 88.6% White, 9.8% Hispanic, and 1.6% other races) were recruited from the Boston area. Data collection spanned from 2012 to 2021. The analysis yielded three distinct groups of children with different temperament traits and was associated with significant variation in levels of internalizing symptoms and anxiety diagnosis rate. Our findings suggest that stable temperament "communities" can be detected in early childhood and may predict risk for psychopathology later in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is among the most heritable psychiatric childhood disorders, social and gene–environment interactions seemingly play an important role in the etiology of ADHD. Consistent with this, this study finds that School‐Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) reduced the likelihood of pharmacotherapeutic treatment for ADHD at age 14–16 by 12%, using population‐wide Norwegian register data and a difference‐in‐difference design (N = 698,364, birth cohorts 1990–2002, 48.7% girls, 5.7% immigrant background). At‐risk students in schools with high fidelity of implementation are driving these intervention effects. Overall, the findings indicate that children with a genetic disposition for ADHD are more likely to avoid medical treatment in an organized and predictable school setting with a focus on positive reinforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental psychopathology can affect child functioning, and vice versa. We examined bidirectional associations between parent and offspring psychopathology in 5,536 children and their parents. We asked three questions: (a) are parent‐to‐child associations stronger than child‐to‐parent associations? (b) are mother‐to‐child associations stronger than father‐to‐child associations? and (c) do within‐ and between‐person effects contribute to bidirectional associations between parent and offspring psychopathology? Our findings suggest that only within‐rater bidirectional associations of parent and offspring psychopathology can be consistently detected, with no difference between mothers and fathers. Child psychopathology was hardly associated with parental psychopathology. No evidence for cross‐rater child‐to‐parent associations was found suggesting that the within‐rater child‐to‐parent associations reflect shared method variance. Moreover, within‐person change accounted for a part of the variance observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To illuminate how within-family differences in achievement may emerge, this study examined sibling experiences in middle childhood as predictors of sibling differences in college graduation. First- and second-borns from 152 families reported on their experiences with siblings and parents at ages 11.80 (SD = 0.56) and 9.22 (SD = 0.90), respectively, and on their educational attainment at about age 26. Significant childhood predictors of sibling differences in college graduation status included low sibling warmth, fathers' differential time spent with siblings, and perceived unfair differential treatment by parents. Findings suggest long-term implications of early sibling dynamics for educational attainment and provided novel insights into families' role in achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines observed maternal sensitivity, harsh-intrusion, and mental-state talk in infancy as predictors of conduct problems (CP) and callous-unemotional (CU) behaviors in middle childhood, as well as the extent to which infants' resting cortisol and cortisol reactivity moderate these associations. Using data from the Family Life Project (n = 1,292), results indicate that maternal sensitivity at 6 months predicts fewer CP at first grade, but only for infants who demonstrate high levels of cortisol reactivity. Maternal harsh intrusion predicts fewer empathic-prosocial behaviors, a component of CU behaviors, but only for infants who demonstrate high resting cortisol. Findings are discussed in the context of diathesis-stress and differential susceptibility models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative parenting is shaped by the genetically influenced characteristics of children (via evocative rGE) and by parental antisocial behavior; however, it is unclear how these factors jointly impact parenting. This study examined the effects of birth parent and adoptive parent antisocial behavior on negative parenting. Participants included 546 families within a prospective adoption study. Adoptive parent antisocial behavior emerged as a small but significant predictor of negative parenting at 18 months and of change in parenting from 18 to 27 months. Birth parent antisocial behavior predicted change in adoptive father's (but not mother's) parenting over time. These findings highlight the role of parent characteristics and suggest that evocative rGE effects on parenting may be small in magnitude in early childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twin factor mixture modeling was used to identify temperament profiles while simultaneously estimating a latent factor model for each profile with a sample of 787 twin pairs (Mage  = 7.4 years, SD = .84; 49% female; 88.3% Caucasian), using mother- and father-reported temperament. A four-profile, one-factor model fit the data well. Profiles included "regulated, typical reactive," "well-regulated, positive reactive," "regulated, surgent," and "dysregulated, negative reactive." All profiles were heritable, with lower heritability and shared environment also contributing to membership in the "regulated, typical reactive" and "dysregulated, negative reactive" profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accumulating evidence suggests that early adversity is linked to methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene, NR3C1, which is a key regulator of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Yet no prior work has considered the contribution of methylation of NR3C1 to emerging behavior problems and psychopathology in childhood. This study examined the links between methylation of NR3C1 and behavior problems in preschoolers. Data were drawn from a sample of preschoolers with early adversity (n = 171). Children ranged in age from 3 to 5 years, were racially and ethnically diverse, and nearly all qualified for public assistance. Seventy-one children had child welfare documentation of moderate to severe maltreatment in the past 6 months. Structured record review and interviews in the home were used to assess early adversity. Parents reported on child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Methylation of NR3C1 at exons 1D , 1F , and 1H were measured via sodium bisulfite pyrosequencing from saliva DNA. Methylation of NR3C1 at exons 1D and 1F was positively associated with internalizing (r = .21, p < .01 and r = .23, p < .01, respectively), but not externalizing, behavior problems. Furthermore, NR3C1 methylation mediated effects of early adversity on internalizing behavior problems. These results suggest that methylation of NR3C1 contributes to psychopathology in young children, and NR3C1 methylation from saliva DNA is salient to behavioral outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested whether children's more anxious and avoidant attachment is linked to decreased support-seeking behavior toward their mother during stress in middle childhood, and whether children's decreased support-seeking behavior enhances the impact of experiencing life events on the increase of depressive symptoms 18 months later. Ninety-eight 8- to 12-year-old children filled out questionnaires assessing their level of anxious and avoidant attachment and depressive symptoms. Children's support-seeking behavior was observed through measuring the time children waited before calling for their mother's help while carrying out a stressful task. Results supported the hypothesis that more anxiously or avoidantly attached children waited longer before seeking maternal support. Moreover, waiting longer was related to increased depressive symptoms at follow-up in children who reported more experienced life events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used a data-driven, person-centered approach to examine the characterization, continuity, and etiology of child temperament from infancy to toddlerhood. Data from 561 families who participated in an ongoing prospective adoption study, the Early Growth and Development Study, were used to estimate latent profiles of temperament at 9, 18, and 27 months. Results indicated that four profiles of temperament best fit the data at all three points of assessment. The characterization of profiles was stable over time, while membership in profiles changed across age. Facets of adoptive parent and birth mother personality were predictive of children's profile membership at each age, providing preliminary evidence for specific environmental and genetic influences on patterns of temperament development from infancy to toddlerhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral/emotional difficulties in children are the first sign of mental health problems. These problems are however, heterogeneous. A domain that may identify homogenous subgroups is hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function. This study tested whether epigenetic regulation of glucocorticoid receptor gene could explain the co-occurrence of anxiety problems in children with behavior problems. Four- to 16-year-old clinically referred children ( N = 241) were measured for psychiatric symptoms, methylation of target CpG sites in blood or saliva, and morning cortisol levels in those who gave blood. Increased methylation of promoter 1F CpG sites was associated with higher vulnerability to co-occurring internalizing symptoms and morning cortisol. The results support increasing optimism that epigenetic regulation of key neuroendocrine systems might help explain hitherto unfathomable individual differences in susceptibility to psychiatric symptom profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although few would now contest the presence of Gene × Environment (G × E) effects in the development of child psychopathology, it remains unclear how these effects manifest themselves. Alternative G × E models have been proposed (i.e., diathesis-stress, differential susceptibility, bioecological), each of which has notably different implications for etiology. Child twin studies present a powerful tool for discriminating between these models. The current study examined whether and how parental involvement moderated etiological influences on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD) within 500 twin pairs aged 6-11 years. Results indicated moderation of genetic and nonshared environmental contributions to ADHD by parental involvement, and moreover, suggested both differential susceptibility and bioecological models of G × E. Results highlight the utility of child twin samples in testing different manifestations of G × E effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children exposed to extreme stress are at heightened risk for developing mental and physical disorders. However, little is known about mechanisms underlying these associations in humans. An emerging insight is that children's social environments change gene expression, which contributes to biological vulnerabilities for behavioral problems. Epigenetic changes in the glucocorticoid receptor gene, a critical component of stress regulation, were examined in whole blood from 56 children aged 11-14 years. Children exposed to physical maltreatment had greater methylation within exon 1F in the NR3C1 promoter region of the gene compared to nonmaltreated children, including the putative NGFI-A (nerve growth factor) binding site. These results highlight molecular mechanisms linking childhood stress with biological changes that may lead to mental and physical disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the changing relation between emotion and inhibitory control during adolescence. One hundred participants between 11 and 25 years of age performed a go-nogo task in which task-relevant stimuli (letters) were presented at the center of large task-irrelevant images depicting negative, positive, or neutral scenes selected from the International Affective Picture System. Longer reaction times for negative trials were found across all age groups, suggesting that negative but not positive emotional images captured attention across this age range. However, age differences in accuracy on inhibitory trials suggest that response inhibition is more readily disrupted by negative emotional distraction in early adolescence relative to late childhood, late adolescence, or early adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child hypothalamic pituitary adrenal ( HPA) activity was investigated as a moderator of parental depressive symptom effects on child behavior in an adoption sample ( n = 210 families). Adoptive parents' depressive symptoms and child internalizing and externalizing were assessed at 18, 27, and 54 months, and child morning and evening HPA activity measured through salivary cortisol at 54 months. Children's daily cortisol levels and day-to-day variability were tested as moderators of longitudinal associations between parent and child symptoms at within- and between-family levels. Mothers' symptoms related directly to child internalizing, but child evening cortisol moderated effects of fathers' symptoms on internalizing, and of both parents' symptoms on externalizing. Different paths of within-family risk dynamics versus between-family risk synergy were found for internalizing versus externalizing outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three waves of data from a prospective longitudinal study in Sierra Leone were used to examine internalizing trajectories in 529 war-affected youth (ages 10-17 at baseline; 25% female). Latent class growth analyses identified 4 trajectories: A large majority of youth maintained lower levels of internalizing problems (41.4%) or significantly improved over time (47.6%) despite very limited access to care, but smaller proportions continued to report severe difficulties 6 years postwar (4.5%) or their symptoms worsened (6.4%). Continued internalizing problems were associated with loss of a caregiver, family abuse and neglect, and community stigma. Despite the comparative resilience of most war-affected youth in the face of extreme adversity, there remains a compelling need for interventions that address family- and community-level stressors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The longitudinal contributions of emotion regulation and emotion lability-negativity to internalizing symptomatology were examined in a low-income sample (171 maltreated and 151 nonmaltreated children, from age 7 to 10 years). Latent difference score models indicated that for both maltreated and nonmaltreated children, emotion regulation was a mediator between emotion lability-negativity and internalizing symptomatology, whereas emotion lability-negativity was not a mediator between emotion regulation and internalizing symptomatology. Early maltreatment was associated with high emotion lability-negativity (age 7) that contributed to poor emotion regulation (age 8), which in turn was predictive of increases in internalizing symptomatology (from age 8 to 9). The results imply important roles of emotion regulation in the development of internalizing symptomatology, especially for children with high emotion lability-negativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of informant discrepancies about child and adolescent functioning is an important concern for clinicians, developmental psychologists, and others who must consider ways of handling discrepant reports of information, but reasons for discrepancies in reports have been poorly understood. Adolescent attachment and informant depressive symptoms were examined as 2 explanations for absolute and directional discrepancies about adolescent symptoms, relationships, and social behavior in a sample of 189 eleventh-grade students (mean age = 16.5 years). Adolescent attachment predicted absolute discrepancies, with greater attachment coherence associated with fewer discrepancies in reports of adolescent depressive symptoms, parent-adolescent conflict, and adolescent externalizing behavior. Parents' but not adolescents' depressive symptoms sometimes predicted absolute discrepancies. Mothers' depressive symptoms and adolescent attachment predicted the direction of discrepancies for mother-peer reports only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examined 284 maltreated and nonmaltreated children's (6- to 12-year-olds) ability to inhibit true and false memories for neutral and emotional information using the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Children studied either emotional or neutral DRM lists in a control condition or were given directed-remembering or directed-forgetting instructions. The findings indicated that children, regardless of age and maltreatment status, could inhibit the output of true and false emotional information, although they did so less effectively than when they were inhibiting the output of neutral material. Verbal IQ was related to memory, but dissociative symptoms were not related to children's recollective ability. These findings add to the growing literature that shows more similarities among, than differences between, maltreated and nonmaltreated children's basic memory processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many studies suggest that family violence is associated with child psychopathology, multiple features of the home environment might account for this association, such as poverty and caregiver psychopathology. Studies are needed examining how change in psychopathology symptoms is affected by home violence, controlling for children’s own developmental symptom histories and other predictors of psychopathology. This study used latent difference score structural equation modeling to test if witnessing home violence and/or experiencing harsh physical discipline predicted changes in psychopathology symptoms among 2,925 youth aged 5-16 years previously exposed to violence. Results demonstrated that harsh physical discipline predicted child-specific changes in externalizing symptoms, whereas witnessing violence predicted child-specific changes in internalizing symptoms across time. Implications for research and policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to examine the links among attachment, child temperament, and the quality and frequency of mother–toddler conflict. Sixty-four mothers and children took part in a series of laboratory tasks when the child was 30 months of age and an audiorecorded home observation when the child was 36 months of age. All episodes of conflict were identified from the videotapes/audiotapes, transcribed, and coded for conflict strategies, resolution, and themes. Mothers also completed measures of attachment security and child temperament. Concurrent attachment security was related to the quality of mother–toddler conflict (including resolution, justification, and compromise) at both periods but not to the frequency of conflict. In addition, aspects of child temperament (i.e., negative reactivity and activity level/impulsivity) were related to both the quality and the frequency of mother–toddler conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined associations between medications prescribed to control children's problem behaviors and levels of, and diurnal variation in, salivary cortisol (C), testosterone (T), and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Saliva was collected in the morning, midday, and afternoon from 432 children ages 6–13 years. Relative to a no-medication comparison group, children taking (1) antipsychotics had higher DHEA levels and flat C diurnal rhythms, (2) Ritalin® or Adderall® had flat T diurnal rhythms, (3) Concerta® had higher T and DHEA levels, (4) antidepressants had flat DHEA diurnal rhythms, and (5) hypotensives had flat DHEA diurnal rhythms and higher T levels. Medications prescribed to control children's problem behaviors should be monitored in studies of the endocrine correlates and consequences of developmental psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Children-of-Twins design was used to test whether associations between marital conflict frequency and conduct problems can be replicated within the children of discordant twin pairs. A sample of 2,051 children (age 14-39 years) of 1,045 twins was used to estimate the genetic and environmental influences on marital conflict and determine whether genetic or environmental selection processes underlie the observed association between marital conflict and conduct problems. Results indicate that genetic and nonshared environmental factors influence the risk of marital conflict. Furthermore, genetic influences mediated the association between marital conflict frequency and conduct problems. These results highlight the need for quasiexperimental designs in investigations of intergenerational associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the link between different forms of family aggression and children's symptoms of psychopathology. Abuse in the home; Support and closeness within the family; Mental health of mother and children.

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Yough (NLSY) were used to examine factors related to the achievement and adjustment of African American children in the early elementary grades. All African American children between the ages of 6 and 9 years for whom data were available in the NLSY were included in this study (N = 378). Consistent with past research, there was a positive relation between the number of risk factors children were exposed to and the probability that they were experiencing academic or behavioral problems. Favorable outcomes in the cognitive and social-emotional domains (i.e., scoring in the top quartile for this sample) were associated with high scores on an "advantage index." The need for more research on successful African American children is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very little is known about the influence of the social-psychological context on children's aggressive behavior. The purpose of this research was to examine the interrelations of group contextual factors and the occurrence of aggressive behavior in 22 experimental play groups of 7- and 9-year-old African-American boys. Group context was examined before, during, and after an aggressive act as well as during nonaggressive periods. The results showed that there are dimensions of group context (i.e., negative affect, high aversive behavior, high activity level, low group cohesion, competitiveness) that were related to the occurrence of aggressive behavior between 2 children in the group. Group context influenced how children reacted to aggression between its members (e.g., siding with the victim), which in turn influenced the quality of the postaggression group atmosphere. This study suggests that individual-within-context information be incorporated into theories of aggression among children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sample consisted of black adolescents who were members of the Columbia-Presbyterian chapter of the Collaborative Perinatal Project from birth to age 7. At age 17, subjects and their parents were administered a battery of instruments that included standardized psychiatric diagnostic interviews as part of a call-back study. Results from least-squares and logistic regression analyses were compatible with the hypothesis that deficiencies in cognitive functioning are causally related to adolescent conduct disorder as defined by DSM III. The results suggested that the relation of cognitive functioning to psychiatric status appears to be specific to conduct disorders. The results were incompatible with a "third" variable hypothesis (third factors included neurological status and environmental disadvantage) and the hypothesis that conduct problems lead to deficits in cognitive functioning. The 3 most (and equally) important factors in accounting for age-17 conduct disorder were cognitive functioning, parent psychopathology, and early aggression. A closer look at the data tentatively suggested that a broad deficiency in acculturational learning, rather than narrowly focused social cognitive differences or native endowment, constitutes a key element in the link between cognitive functioning and conduct disorder. Test bias was ruled out as a possible explanation for the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the mental health and psychosocial development of 58 Guatemalan Mayan Indian children in two refugee camps in Chiapas, Mexico. Background of the Guatemalan refugees in Chiapas; Refugee camps; Examination of children's understanding and feelings regarding their situation; Images of violence upon leaving Guatemala; Coping behavior of refugee children.

Describes a study of troubled children's interpersonal negotiation strategies. Use of a transcript/narrative analysis technique to identify all interpersonal negotiation strategies used by each child within each session; Classification of the strategies; Discussion of the results of the study in terms of their implications for using developmental methods and models for clinical purposes.

Examines the effect of child maltreatment on children's social-cognitive development. Investigation of abused, neglected and non-maltreated children's judgments regarding permissibility of social-conventional and moral transgressions pertaining to physical harm, psychological distress, and the unfair distribution of resources; Egocentrism of the children in their judgments for the self.

Studies cranial-facial proportion as an abstract specification for age level and its effects on child caregiving. Links between cranial-facial proportion perception and risk of child abuse; Impact on caregivers' expectations of youngsters who appear older than their chronological age; Assertion that cranial-facial information is a specification for age level, not a cause of abusive behavior.

Describes experiments conducted to study visual information processing in children with schizophrenia. Description of the study subjects; Description of study methods and tests administered to the study subjects; Children's performance of a serial information-processing strategy while performing on the partial-report version of the span-of-apprehension task.

Studies developmental trends in cognitive skills for children diagnosed with autism and schizophrenia. Description of the study subjects; Results of a test battery of skill measures and perception skill measures; Comparisons of age and test score correlations; Comparisons of cross-sequential means; Trends for means for diagnostic subgroups and normal controls; Steady prepubertal cognitive skill development.

Describes a measure of children's skills in discriminating intention cues in others developed in order to test the hypothesis that intention-cue detection skill is related to social competence in children. Description of the study methods; Sociometric status differences in the responses; Developmental lag among socially deviant children in the acquisition of intention-cue detection skills.

Examines the relationship between the quality of the early attachment relationship and later psychopathology in six-year-old children. Results of the Achenbach and Edelbroch Child Behavior Profile tests; Differences in outcomes for male and female children; Absence of relationship between attachment and later psychopathology in female children.

This essay is based on the assumption that a long-neglected topic of socialization, the determinants of individual differences in parental functioning, is illuminated by research on the etiology of child maltreatment. Three domains of determinants are identified (personal psychological resources of parents, characteristics of the child, and contextual sources of stress and support), and a process model of competent parental functioning is offered on the basis of the analysis. The model presumes that parental functioning is multiply determined, that sources of contextual stress and support can directly affect parenting or indirectly affect parenting by first influencing individual psychological well-being, that personality influences contextual support/stress, which feeds back to shape parenting, and that, in order of importance, the personal psychological resources of the parent are more effective in buffering the parent-child relation from stress than are contextual sources of support, which are themselves more effective than characteristics of the child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asserts that there are several features of the child's developing physical, psychological and behavioral characteristics that suggest the sorts of interventions that may be effective and the ones that may be less efficient or counterproductive. Illustrations drawn from the literature; Systematic desensitization; Cognitive-behavioral self-control therapy; Interventions for social isolates; Parent training programs.

Describes a study focusing on psychopathology in infancy and early childhood. Background on the developmental-structuralist approach to psychopathology in infants and young children; Clinical perspectives on the organization of sensory and affective-thematic experience of the children; Factors affecting infant and child psychopathologies.

Discusses a developmental perspective and its implications for research in developmental psychopathology. Role of the developmental aspect of developmental psychopathology in distinguishing it from other disciplines of psychology and psychiatry; Complexity of the adaptational process; Discussion of some examples presented; Focus on the case of depression.

Provides a developmental framework for the classification of psychopathology in children. Potential contributions that such classification may have toward the understanding of normal development; Continuity between childhood and adult psychopathology; Definition of normality and adaptation in the context of development; Implications of the continuity issue for classification.

Provides an overview of recent activities designed to promote the integration of developmental perspectives in research involving infant and childhood psychopathology. Definition provided for what appears to be an emerging field of developmental psychopathology; Methods to foster the growth of the interdisciplinary endeavor; Examples presented.

The results of research on infants at high risk for schizophrenia (offspring of schizophrenic presents) are reviewed. The findings indicate that high-risk infants are not exposed to greater exogenous stress during the prenatal and perinatal periods, although subsequent caregiving provided by disturbed mothers may be nonoptimal. Several findings point to the existence of a constitutionally vulnerable subgroup of high-risk infants. Fetal and neonatal deaths, unrelated to obstetrical complications, may be more common among high-risk offspring, and neuromotor abnormalities are apparent in a subgroup of high-risk subjects across the life span. Moreover, there is evidence to suggest that offspring of schizophrenics are uniquely susceptible to obstetrical complications when they occurs: Neuromotor deficits and other developmental deviations show a greater relationship with obstetrical complications among high-risk infants than controls. Taken together, the results lend support to the validity of interactional models of the etiology of schizophrenia and suggest that preventive intervention may be a realistic goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents evidence from a number of studies showing that the antisocial behavior of some youngsters is more stable over time than that of other youngsters. Behavioral dimensions in which the extremity of antisocial behavior can be evident; Description of antisocial behavior; Patterns of overt and covert antisocial behavior over age groups.

4 experiments are reported in which high or low magnitude incentives were dispensed in a manner maximizing their distracting or satiating effects during a 2-choice discrimination task. Data were children's rate of acquisition, continued use of the correct response in the E's. absence, and preference for the reinforced response. In all experiments, conditions of low magnitude reinforcement produced more rapid acquisition. It was concluded from the data that satiation plays a determining role in the continued utilization of an acquired response while distraction is a primary determinant of acquisition rate. Low magnitude reinforcement also increased children preference for the reinforced response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sixty experimental Ss were individually habituated to an array of eight small toys. Following this, each child was shown four additional arrays and asked to choose one for further play. The five arrays represented a series graduated with respect to degree of novelty as follows 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 per cent. Anxiety scores for each child were obtained by means of independent ratings by three teachers on a scale devised for this purpose. It was found that for the total group the preference value of a toy array increased as a direct function of its degree of novelty Older children, boys, and low-anxious children preferred greater novelty significantly more frequently then did younger children, girls, and high-anxious children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the association between foster care experiences and subsequent mental illness and deviant social careers of children in the U.S. Estimated number of children living in foster care and institutions; Characteristics of children placed in foster homes; Influence of the kind of family a child is placed on child development.

Personality theories are replete with bipolar concepts: love-hate, introversion-extraversion, masculinity-femininity, manic-depressive, pleasure-pain, and so forth. Research workers have sought to identify behavior items which can be considered indicative of one or the other pole of such bipolar traits. The diagnostic significance of behavior items is often investigated by comparing observations made on contrasting reference groups. An example of this procedure is seen in establishment of masculinity-femininity scale by comparing the answers of men and women to a series of questionnaire items. It will often occur, however, that no clear reference groups are available to tie down the ends of the continuum. Also the significance of a particular behavior item may be arguable, some theorists urging that it belongs to one end of the continuum, and others main taming precisely the opposite.