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Drawing from the concept of family systems theory, the present study examined how partners' marital hostility and net positive affect observed in prenatal couple interactions forecast their perceptions of each other's parenting 8 months later, and in turn, how these perceptions forecast their subsequent hostility and net positive affect in couple interactions 24 months after childbirth. Data were obtained from a longitudinal study of 124 families in central Texas over their first 2 years of parenthood. Each parent's perceptions of their spouse's parenting were coded from a couple interaction task when infants were 8 months old, and couple interaction qualities were coded from marital interaction tasks when the mothers were pregnant and 24 months after childbirth. Parents' more positive perceptions of their spouse's parenting at 8 months were predicted by greater couple interaction net positive affect and by less couple interaction hostility before childbirth. Greater couple interaction hostility at 24 months after childbirth was predicted indirectly by greater couple hostility before childbirth through mothers' (but not fathers') less positive perceptions of their spouses' parenting. Greater couple net positive affect before childbirth was associated with greater couple net positive affect 2 years later, controlling for parents' perceptions, and fathers' (but not mothers') more positive perceptions were associated with greater couple net positive affect at 24 months. This study should help researchers further understand the role of parents' attitudes toward each other's parenting in couple interaction qualities during the transition to parenthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The present study examined how mothers' and fathers' perceptions of each others' parenting competence and infant temperament interact to predict each parent's individual behaviors during coparenting (involvement, support, and warmth) and their dyadic child-centered coparenting behavior. Data were obtained from a longitudinal study of 125 families in central Texas over their first 2 years of parenthood. Ratings of infants' temperament were obtained when infants were 6 weeks old. Each parents' perceptions of their spouse's parenting were coded from a couple interaction task when infants were 8 months old, and parents' coparenting behaviors were coded from triadic (mother-father-child) interactions obtained when children were 24 months old. Parents' perceptions of their spouse's parenting at 8 months interacted with their infants' temperament to predict their later warmth and dyadic child-centered coparenting. High maternal perceptions of fathers' parenting predicted high levels of father warmth and high levels of dyadic child-centered coparenting when infant temperamental reactivity was high. In contrast, high paternal perceptions of mothers' parenting marginally predicted high levels of mother warmth and high dyadic child-centered coparenting when infant temperamental reactivity was low. Parents' individual warmth and fathers' involvement and support were also associated with dyadic child-centered coparenting. This study should help researchers further understand how parents' attitudes toward each other's parenting interact with their infants' temperament qualities across the early years of parenthood to influence the quality of their dyadic coparenting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

This chapter draws on past and ongoing research from the Partners to Parents Project, a longitudinal study of 125 heterosexual couples undergoing the transition to first-time parenthood, to help identify prenatal predictors of couples’ ability to successfully navigate this transition. We examine how different patterns of observed prenatal couple interactions forecast family dynamics (including dyadic parent–child-, couple-, and triadic family interactions) in the first two postnatal years. We discuss how variations in postnatal family dynamics relate to later child outcomes, including toddler emotion regulation and emotional and behavioral problems at age seven. We also discuss the role of partners’ attachment representations, representations of their parents’ marriage, and perceptions of their spouse’s parenting, in forecasting prenatal couple interaction patterns and postnatal family dynamics. Finally, we present two illustrative case studies to provide a qualitative, holistic perspective on how couple, parent–child, and family subsystems interrelate and transform as partners become parents. Overall, our findings indicate that emotionally negative and hostile couple interaction patterns generally predict less sensitive and more emotionally disengaged parent–child interactions and more conflictual coparenting, whereas couple interactions characterized by blurred, enmeshed boundaries tend to forecast blurred boundaries in parent–child and triadic interactions and an increased likelihood of parent–child alliances.

This research examined couples' marital affect as a mediator between the couples' combined attachment representations (assessed prenatally) and each of their caregiving quality at 8 months postpartum. We followed 125 couples pregnant with their first child over the transition to parenthood. Prenatally, the Adult Attachment Interview was administered and marital interactions were observed. Parents were categorized in joint attachment pairs: secure/secure, secure mother/insecure father, secure father/insecure mother, and insecure/insecure. Caregiving in dyadic parent-infant interactions was observed at home, 8 months postpartum. Results indicated the secure/secure pairing displayed the most positive marital affect overall and predicted higher sensitivity in both mothers and fathers compared to parents in secure mother/insecure father pairs. Indirect effects indicate marital affect mediated the relations between joint attachment pairs and caregiving. Findings suggest that joint attachment pairs relate to prenatal marital quality, which in turn spills over to predict each parent's later caregiving quality.

Every parent-to-be has wishes for his or her child’s future. These wishes might influence parent–child interactions and children’s outcomes, yet little is known about the content of these wishes. The purpose of this mixed-methods investigation was to: (a) examine the different types of prenatal wishes that parents have for their first-born child using qualitative methods; and (b) explore whether parents’ wishes vary as a function of their gender and/or the gender of the child they are expecting, using quantitative methods. Participant interviews (n = 126 couples) from a longitudinal investigation that began in 1992 were used and qualitative analysis of mothers’ transcripts revealed eight wish categories: (1) well-being; (2) personal relationships; (3) particular characteristics; (4) particular goals; (5) personal achievement and responsibility; (6) personal fulfillment; (7) protection; and (8) dependence on the parent. Quantitative analyses revealed that, on average, mothers reported more wishes regarding their future child’s happiness (p < .05) and emotional fulfillment (p < .01), whereas fathers’ wishes focused more on their future child’s characteristics (p < .01), goals (p < .05), and achievement (p < .10). However, mothers’ and fathers’ wishes did not differ according to whether they knew if their future child was a boy or a girl. Although the types of wishes that mothers versus fathers have for their children’s future are generally influenced by the gender stereotypes in which they were raised, findings suggest that both mothers and fathers seem to avoid imposing these gender stereotypes on their future children.

This study examined how fathers' adult attachment representations, assessed before the birth of their first child, predict feeding practices with their 8-month-old infants. Fathers have been underrepresented in child feeding research, particularly in longitudinal and observational studies. Feeding is a key parenting task of infancy and a growing number of studies have begun to explore the connection between attachment and parental feeding practices and behavior, revealing a clear link between mothers' adult attachment and how they feed their children. This is the first longitudinal examination of attachment as a prenatal predictor of fathers' infant feeding behavior. Participants were 118 first-time fathers and their infants. Adult Attachment Interviews were conducted in the third trimester of pregnancy, and father-infant feeding interactions were observed at home when the infant was 8-months-old. Videotaped feedings were coded using Chatoor's Feeding Scale (1997). Compared to other fathers, (1) those with secure attachment representations were more attuned to their infants during feeding, (2) those with dismissing representations were less attuned, and (3) those with unresolved trauma displayed more controlling behaviors. Fathers were more controlling with their sons than their daughters across all attachment representations. Study results suggest that father's infant feeding behaviors may influence by their own attachment representations. The links to fathers' controlling feeding practices are noteworthy because of the negative implications controlling parental feeding practices can have on child outcomes. The prediction of paternal feeding behaviors from assessments conducted prenatally has important intervention implications.

The present study examined maternal attachment contributions on infant feeding behavior. Feeding is central for the development of the caregiver-infant relationship with lasting effects for children's health and self-regulation. Caregivers need to be attuned during feeding, so caregivers' attachment likely influences their feeding practices. While pregnant, 116 mothers were administered the Adult Attachment Interview. They completed an assessment of infant temperament at 6 weeks. At 8 months, mother-infant dyads were videotaped during feeding and mothers completed a depression assessment. Mothers classified as preoccupied showed higher levels of feeding conflict and control and less dyadic reciprocity compared with dismissing or secure. Regression analyses revealed that both involving anger and passivity predicted control. Maternal depression moderated the effect that both involving anger and passivity had on control. Maternal unresolved trauma increased the risk that mother-infant dyads showed controlling behaviors during feeding, though was not related to conflict or attunement.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between dyadic and triadic family interactions and their association with the development of children's externalizing behaviors. Data were obtained from a longitudinal study of family interactions (N = 125), followed from before parents had their first child until children were 7 years old. Family interactions (marital, father–child, mother–child, and triadic mother–father–child) were observed in separate interaction tasks when children were 24 months old as predictors of children's externalizing behaviors at age 7 (n = 71 children). Results demonstrated that the triadic measure of competitive coparenting and the dyadic mother–child interaction characterized by negative emotional socialization related to children's later externalizing behavior, even after controlling for covariates and effects of all other family interaction variables. Results emphasize the importance of examining the family holistically and provided new information for designing more effective whole-family interventions to reduce the development of children's externalizing behaviors.

Parental discriminatory experiences can have significant implications for adolescent adjustment. This study examined family processes linking parental perceived discrimination to adolescent depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors by using the family stress model and incorporating family systems theory. Participants were 444 Chinese American adolescents (M(age.wave1) = 13.03) and their parents residing in Northern California. Testing of actor–partner interdependent models showed a significant indirect effect from earlier paternal (but not maternal) perceived discrimination to later adolescent adjustment through paternal depressive symptoms and maternal hostility toward adolescents. The results highlight the importance of including both parents and examining actor and partner effects to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how maternal and paternal perceived discrimination differentially and indirectly relate to adolescent adjustment.

Competitive coparenting, defined as one parent undermining the other in the presence of the child or jockeying for control of the child, has been identified as a robust predictor of externalizing symptoms in children. But in addition to its core definition, competitive coparenting is also likely to involve a lack of cooperative coparenting, displays of negative affectivity, and family conflict, making it unclear what drives the relation between competitive coparenting and children’s externalizing symptoms. Thus, the present study aimed to examine the extent to which each aspect of family negativity contributes to externalizing symptoms in children, and in particular, whether the core definition of competitive coparenting (parental triangulation of the child) predicts their later externalizing symptoms above and beyond effects due to other types of negative family interaction. Both parents and their first-born child (N = 108 families) were observed in triadic family interactions when children were 24 months old, and children’s externalizing symptoms were rated by their teachers when children were 7 years old. Family interactions were coded at the triadic level for competitive coparenting, cooperative coparenting, negative affect, and conflict. First-order correlations indicated that competitive coparenting, negative affectivity, and family conflict within the triad were all associated with each other and with children’s externalizing symptoms. When all entered into a regression, however, competitive coparenting remained the sole predictor of later externalizing symptoms in children. Results suggest that the core definition of competitive coparenting predicts children’s externalizing symptoms beyond the general presence in family interaction of low cooperation, negative emotionality, and conflict.

This study examined changes in first-time parents' marital quality over the transition to parenthood as predictors of their coparenting quality and mothers' and fathers' involvement in parenting and support of their spouse's coparenting. Mothers and fathers (N = 96 cou- ples) individually completed measures of marital conflict and satisfaction prenatally, at 8 months, and at 24 months. Triadic family interactions observed at 24 months were coded for coparenting quality (cooperative and competitive coparenting), and coparenting dynamics (fathers' involve- ment in parenting, mothers' involvement in parenting, fa- thers' support of mothers' parenting, and mothers' support of fathers' parenting). Latent growth curve modeling demonstrated that declines in fathers' marital satisfaction predicted higher competitive coparenting and lower father involvement in parenting, and increases in fathers' marital conflict predicted lower cooperative coparenting. Increases in mothers' marital conflict predicted mothers' lower sup- port of fathers' parenting. Thus, declines in fathers' marital quality may have more direct effects on coparenting quality, whereas declines in mothers' marital quality may indirectly affect coparenting through mothers' support of their spouse's parenting.

This study explored the links between two different methods of assessing children’s attachment representations, a narrative task (the Manchester Attachment Story Task, MCAST) and a drawing task (the Family Drawing Task, FDT), in a clinical sample of 51 and a community sample of 45 Korean children aged 7–9. In both samples, attachment classifications derived from the MCAST were related to attachment classifications and global ratings derived from the FDT. In addition, rates of insecure attachment determined by MCAST classifications and by FDT global scales indicative of insecure attachment were higher in the clinical sample than the community sample. Variations in attachment patterns for these Korean samples are discussed in relation to Korean child-rearing customs. Results of this study contribute to the cross-cultural validation of both of these instruments, as well as extending our understanding of patterns of attachment in Korea from infancy to middle childhood.

This study tested Bowlby and Ainsworth’s hypothesis that a hierarchy of caregivers exists whereby infants prefer one caregiver over another when distressed. We examined parent gender (mother vs. father), primary caregiver status (defined as the parent who spent most time with the infant and performed most of the caregiving tasks), and role of toddlers’ history of attachment security with each parent, as predictors of toddlers’ preference for a particular caregiver when the toddlers are distressed and when they are content. Infants’ attachment security with each parent was assessed at 12–15 months. At 24 months, mother–child and father–child interactions were observed in triadic (mother, father, toddler) home interactions. When distressed, regardless of the security of their attachment to each parent, toddlers more often interacted with the primary caregiver. When content, toddlers did not show this preference. As expected, toddlers’ recovery from distress was predicted by their security of attachment with the parent whom they approached when distressed.

The present study examines the hypothesis that adult attachment orientation, specifically anxious attachment, is related to children's diminished ability to self-regulate their food intake, and that this relationship is mediated by parents' persuasive-controlling feeding practices. Two hundred and sixty five mothers and fathers of preschool children completed online questionnaires that included measures of Adult Attachment Orientation, Parental Persuasive-Controlling Feeding Practices, and Child Self-Regulation of Eating. Structural equation modeling revealed a significant relationship between parental anxious attachment and child self-regulatory abilities, which was fully mediated by parental persuasive-controlling feeding. Also as predicted, parents' avoidant attachment was found to be unrelated to persuasive-controlling feeding and child self-regulated eating. Findings suggest that parents with an anxious attachment orientation may be more likely than other parents to try to use persuasive techniques to control their children's food intake, which may impair children's ability to regulate their food intake, increasing their obesity risk. Implications for intervention are discussed.

The present study aims to address how dyadic and triadic family interactions across the transition to parenthood contribute to the later development of toddlers' adaptive emotion regulation using structural equation modeling methods. Specifically, we examined the interrelations of observed marital negative affect before childbirth, parents' emotional withdrawal during parent-infant interactions at 8 months, and coparenting conflict at 24 months as predictors of toddlers' adaptive emotion regulation at 24 months. Data for the present study were drawn from a longitudinal dataset in which 125 families were observed across the transition to parenthood. Results suggested that prenatal marital negativity predicted mothers' and fathers' emotional withdrawal toward their infants at 8 months postbirth as well as coparenting conflict at 24 months postbirth. Coparenting conflict and father-infant emotional withdrawal were negatively associated with toddlers' adaptive emotion regulation; however, mother-infant emotional withdrawal was not related. The implications of our study extend family systems research to demonstrate how multiple levels of detrimental family functioning over the first 2 years of parenthood influence toddlers' emotion regulation and highlight the importance of fathers' emotional involvement with their infants. (PsycINFO Database Record

The goal of the current study was to examine how changes in parenting due to a parenting intervention designed to decrease permissive parenting affected the quality of children’s peer interactions. Forty-nine mothers of toddlers aged 2–3 years participated in a 12-week intervention in which half got hands-on training and practice using positive guidance in a toddler classroom setting, while the other half learned positive guidance solely via a seminar format. To observe children’s peer interactions, toddlers were divided into 8 groups of 5–7 children mixed across condition. Observers coded mothers’ empathy, permissiveness, and positive guidance parenting strategies. Children’s peer interactions were coded for antisocial behaviors, verbal aggression, physical aggression, prosocial behaviors, positive social bids, and empathy. Prior analysis of this intervention indicated that mothers in both conditions showed reductions in permissiveness over the course of the intervention. Results from the present study indicated that reductions in permissiveness predicted decreases in toddlers’ verbal aggression. Maternal empathy was a moderator such that mothers low in empathy who got hands-on training in positive guidance had children who demonstrated the greatest reductions in antisocial behaviors.

The association between fathers' adult attachment representations and their recollections of childhood experiences with their caregiving quality with their eight-month-old infants and with father–infant attachment classification was examined in a longitudinal study of 117 fathers and their infants. Sensitive caregiving was related to secure-autonomous classification in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), hostile caregiving was related to fathers' dismissing and unresolved attachment, and emotional disengagement and role-reversed caregiving were both related to fathers' unresolved attachment. Childhood experiences of parental pressure to achieve were related to fathers' hostile and role-reversed caregiving and low sensitivity, independent of AAI classification. However, fathers' childhood experiences of maternal neglect were related to high-quality caregiving. It was also found that fathers' secure-autonomous AAI classification was related to secure father–child attachment in the Strange Situation Paradi...

To better understand peer exclusion in young children, 42 four- to six-year-olds were observed in an outdoor setting, and their verbalizations were recorded using wireless microphones. The frequency of peer exclusion and social aggression, the various techniques children used to exclude their peers (unmitigated, mitigated, ignoring, and planning exclusion) and the relation of gender and social status (acceptance, rejection, and dominance scores) to children’s use of exclusion were examined. Peer exclusion occurred frequently, whereas nonexclusionary forms of social aggression were rare. More dominant boys, less rejected boys, and more rejected girls excluded peers more frequently than did other children. Children who were more socially accepted tended to more frequently ignore their peers to exclude them. All girls and boys who were more socially accepted used higher rates of mitigated, subtle forms of exclusion. In addition, boys who were more dominant used higher rates of unmitigated, direct peer exclusion.

The present study sought to analyze infant and maternal behavior both during the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) and a free play session in a Korean sample (N = 87) to help understand whether mother-infant attachment relationships are universal or culture-specific. Distributions of attachment classifications in the Korean sample were compared with a cross-national sample. Behavior of mothers and infants following the two separation episodes in the SSP, including mothers' proximity to their infants and infants' approach to the caregiver, was also observed, as was the association between maternal sensitivity observed during free play session and infant security. The percentage of Korean infants classified as secure versus insecure mirrored the global distribution, however, only one Korean baby was classified as avoidant. Following the separation episodes in the Strange Situation, Korean mothers were more likely than mothers in Ainsworth's Baltimore sample to approach their babies immediately and sit beside them throughout the reunion episodes, even when their babies were no longer distressed. Also, Korean babies less often approached their mothers during reunions than did infants in the Baltimore sample. Finally, the link between maternal sensitivity and infant security was significant. The findings support the idea that the basic secure base function of attachment is universal and the SSP is a valid measure of secure attachment, but cultural differences in caregiving may result in variations in how this function is manifested.

This study explored the kinds of relationship experiences associated with earned-security, i.e., the extent to which mothers who report early negative relationship histories with their parents are later able to form a secure working model of attachment (indicated by the ability to speak clearly and coherently about these histories). Mothers from a low-risk sample (N = 121) expecting their first child completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), which was used to assess earned-security retrospectively using the stringent definition recommended by Main and Hesse (Hesse, 2008 ; Main, Goldwyn,Hesse, 2002 ), as well as to identify alternative support figures. Participants also completed self-report measures of depressive symptomatology, questionnaires concerning their experiences in therapy, and later, when their babies were 12 to 15 months old, the Strange Situation procedure. Sixteen mothers were classified as earned-secure (25% of those classified as secure-autonomous and 13% of the whole sample). Women who were earned-secure (vs. insecure and continuous-secure) reported significantly higher levels of emotional support, but not instrumental support, from alternative support figures. They also spent more time in therapy than did insecure and continuous-secure women and were more likely to form secure attachments with their infants than insecure women. These findings were obtained even after controlling for depressive symptoms.

This longitudinal study of 125 families investigated whether negative child outcomes related to fathers’ frightening (FR) behaviours with infants would be mitigated if fathers were also sensitive. Results indicated that children whose fathers were frightening and insensitive with them during infancy showed the highest emotional under‐regulation at 24 months and highest teacher ratings of attention problems at age 7, whereas those whose fathers were frightening and sensitive did not differ from children whose fathers were sensitive but not frightening. Sensitive caregiving mitigated the negative impact of FR behaviours on child outcomes for fathers, but not mothers. Perhaps fathers who can be sensitive but also engage in stimulating, albeit frightening, interactions with their infants may actually be scaffolding their ability to regulate their affect in intensely emotional situations. FR behaviours by mothers may be more problematic for child outcomes since these behaviours conflict with the primary caregi...

SYNOPSIS Objective. We examine how spouses' representations of marriage and expectations about first-time parenthood predict support of the other spouse's parenting in postpartum triadic family interactions. Design. Prenatally, spouses' representations of marriage were assessed based on the content and insightfulness of memories from their parents' marriage, and spouses also rated their expectations about parenthood. At 24 months postpartum, partners were each rated on support of their spouse's parenting. Results. In general, individuals' higher expectations that their personal well-being would improve following first-time parenthood predicted lower support of the partners' parenting. But this effect was modified by individuals' marital representations, indicating that potential disillusionment due to unrealistically high expectations may be mitigated by having the insight to learn from the negative marital relationships of one's parents. Conclusions. What partners bring to the transition to parenthood, i...

SUMMARY This study investigated antecedents of early triadic family interaction patterns characterized by boundary disturbances between parents and their toddlers. Parents' memories of involving/role-reversed experiences with their own parents, and parents' current representations of attachment relationships, were assessed when they were expecting their first child, and their caregiving interactions were assessed when their infant was eight months old. Two types of boundary disturbance patterns were identified from triadic interactions observed when children were 24 months old: enmeshed, in which a parent uses guilt-inducing, coy or helpless behavior to “pull in” the child to meet his or her needs, and controlling, in which a parent uses more power-assertive tactics. Results indicate that enmeshed boundary disturbances were predicted primarily by fathers' memories of having involving, role-reversed relationships with their own mothers, and by fathers' hostile and role-reversed infant caregiving patterns. ...

Marital maintenance, which involves engaging in behaviors that maintain closeness and is critical to sustaining marital satisfaction, was examined in 234 husbands and wives across the transition to parenthood. Prenatal assessments of adults' attachment representations and memories of their parents' marriage during childhood predicted perceptions of maintenance in their own marriage prenatally and 24 months postpartum. Adults who dismiss the importance of early attachment and lack believable memories of their parents' marriage reported the lowest levels of prenatal maintenance. Adults who are preoccupied with their early relationships with parents and have negative memories of their parents' marriage reported the sharpest declines in maintenance postpartum. Family interventions that can help couples recognize and explore problems that may accompany parenthood are discussed.

According to family systems theory, children's emotional development is likely to be influenced by family interactions at multiple levels, including marital, mother–child, and father–child interactions, as well as by interrelations between these levels. The purpose of the present study was to examine parents’ marital conflict and mothers’ and fathers’ distressed responses to their infant's negative emotions, assessed when their child was 8 and 24 months old, in addition to interactions between parents’ marital conflict and their distressed responses, as predictors of their toddler's negative and flat/withdrawn affect at 24 months. Higher marital conflict during infancy and toddlerhood predicted both increased negative and increased flat/withdrawn affect during toddlerhood. In addition, toddlers’ negative (but not flat) affect was related to mothers’ distressed responses, but was only related to father's distressed responses when martial conflict was high. Implications of this study for parent education and family intervention were discussed.

We propose and discuss several hypotheses concerning the unique developmental status of peer relations in the first three years of life. We then suggest how these developmental differences might translate into hypotheses regarding early individual differences. The integrating questions revolve around whether individual differences in toddler and early preschool peer relations mean the same thing to young children as they do to older children, and whether they carry the same weight and serve the same functions in toddler peer groups as in peer groups among older children. Specifically, we suggest three ways that peer relations in the first three years are fundamentally different from later childhood peer relations: 1) they are likely to be more directly linked to and determined by temperament and attachment relationships; 2) limits in self and other understanding in the early years we likely to constrain both individual interaction skills and the formation of relationships with peers; 3) because emotion re...

The following article examines the role of parents in the development of children's self-regulation of energy intake. Various paths of parental influence are offered based on the literature on parental influences on children's emotion self-regulation. The parental paths include modeling, responses to children's behavior, assistance in helping children self-regulate, and motivating children through rewards and punishments. Additionally, sources of variation in parental influences on regulation are examined, including parenting style, child temperament, and child-parent attachment security. Parallels in the nature of parents' role in socializing children's regulation of emotions and energy intake are examined. Implications for future research are discussed.

Communication patterns were investigated related to the emergence and maintenance of social status in young children.

Emotional attunement (i.e., couples' dyadic emotional connectedness and responsiveness) was examined in 86 couples across the transition to parenthood. After controlling for prenatal emotional attunement and verbal ability, the authors found that prenatal assessments of husbands' and wives' representations of their parents' marriage (i.e., content and insightfulness) predicted emotional attunement between partners 24 months postpartum. There was a trend for husbands and a statistically significant relationship for wives who insightfully recalled disharmonious content to show greater residualized postnatal emotional attunement compared with other husbands and wives, suggesting that anticipating marital problems following the transition to parenthood may increase attention to maintaining the marriage. In contrast, wives who recalled disharmonious content with low insight showed the lowest residualized postnatal scores for emotional attunement.

This article argues for the importance of focusing explicitly on the construct of boundary disturbances in families to understand the development of depressive, anxious, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in middle childhood. Grounded in family systems theory, this study examined traditional parent-child antecedents of childhood depression and anxiety (hostile, controlling, and disengaged interactions) in the context of the entire family as well as enmeshed patterns, whereby one parent drew in the child by turning to the child for caregiving or intimacy and excluded the spouse, and balanced patterns, whereby all family members expressed vulnerabilities and asserted their needs or desires. Mostly White, middle-class mothers, fathers, and children were observed at home interacting on a series of everyday tasks when the children were 24 months old, and mothers and teachers rated children's symptoms of anxiety, depression, somatic problems, and ADHD at age 7. Regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for maternal depression and the effects of other family patterns, enmeshed family patterns forecast children's depressive symptoms; controlling and disengaged interactions predicted anxious and depressive symptoms; and hostility forecast ADHD and somatic complaints. Intriguing gender differences emerged. As predicted, whereas boys who experienced enmeshed family patterns more often developed symptoms of ADHD, girls who experienced enmeshed family interactions later showed symptoms of depression.

HAZEN, NANCY L.; LOCKMAN, JEFFREY J.; and PICK, HERBERT L., JR. The Development of Children's Representations of Large-Scale Environments. Cmum DEVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 623-636. In an investigation of children's spatial knowledge of a large-scale environment, 3-6-year-old children were taken through an environment by a specified route. Once the route and landmarks along the route were learned, children were tested on their ability to (1) travel the route in reverse (route-reversal knowledge), (2) name the sequence of landmarks along the reverse route (landmark-reversal knowledge), (3) infer the relationship between parts of the environment not directly traveled between (inference knowledge), and (4) construct a model of the environment. Results indicated that route-reversal knowledge develops before landmark-reversal knowledge, and inference ability develops last; the results also suggested that young children's spatial representations are routelike and poorly integrated in comparison with those of older children. Furthermore, the results of the model-construction task indicated that the ability to coordinate knowledge of the route, sequence of landmarks, and shape of the layout may be a prerequisite for formation of an accurate spatial representation.