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BackgroundThe relationship between pubertal onset and tempo and pubertal growth is controversial. We hypothesized that the age at onset of girls' puberty predicts pubertal tempo and the rate of pubertal progression.MethodsWe analysed the data of 380 girls from the prospective Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD), who were recruited in the USA from 1991-2006 and followed from birth to age 15.5 years. We used the following indicators: thelarche age (Tanner stage B2), pubarche age (P2), menarche age (M), the age when breast (B5) and pubic hair (P5) became fully mature, pubertal growth, pubertal duration (time from B2 to B5), pubertal progression (time from B2 to M). We clustered the girls according to B2 age into early onset (EO;10.5 years).ResultsAll indicators of pubertal onset and conclusion occurred earlier in the EOs than in the LO; yet, the differences in the age at main pubertal milestones lessened as puberty progressed: two years for B2; -1.4 years for M; - one year for B5. In EO, puberty was one year (average) longer than in LO. Although EO grew 7 cm (average) more than LO, their heights at B5 were comparable. There was a significant relationship between the thelarche age and puberty tempo (r=0.23, P

Children from some demographic groups disproportionately receive special education (SE) services. Due to methodological shortcoming in existing work, it remains unclear whether this is due to real differences in academic needs or cultural selection/bias. Hence, in a community sample of 1250 Norwegian children, we examined the role of third grade SE services, academic test scores, behavioural problems, and teacher’s level of helplessness in mediating the effect of family socio-economic status (SES) and students’ gender on fifth-grade SE services. Results revealed no direct effects of either gender or SES on fifth-grade SE, but four mediated pathways were identified: (1) Boys had a greater likelihood of receiving fifth-grade SE services when (a) they previously received SE and (b) they experienced more ADHD symptoms, both in third grade. (2) Students from low-SES families were more likely to receive SE services in fifth grade when (a) they performed poorly in math in third grade and (b) their teacher reported greater feelings of helplessness when teaching these students. The findings are discussed with respect to the differential-needs hypothesis, mechanisms of cultural selection and the possibility of gendered selection for SE at younger ages.

Most family-system research on triangulation procebes has been undertaken in the West, with little known about this family dynamic in the East. The present crob-sectional study analysed 1,073 Chinese 3rd-12th-graders' self-reported exposure to three kinds of triangulation-crob-generation coalition, scapegoating, and parentification-in relation to family and child factors and with respect to children's school and social adjustment. Age-related analyses generally indicated that older children were leb frequently exposed to all three dimensions of triangulation than younger ones. Children residing with only their parents experienced more scapegoating than those living in extended families; and boys were exposed to crob-generation coalition and scapegoating more than were girls. Higher levels of coalition and scapegoating exposure were related to poorer school adjustment and greater deprebion of children. Higher levels of parentification exposure, however, were abociated with better school adjustment and social functioning. Findings are discubed in terms of theory and research on parent-child triangulation and cultural differences between East and West.

The effects of academic achievement may extend beyond economic success to influence social functioning, including future parenting. To evaluate whether adolescent academic achievement forecasts future parenting (both positive and negative) and the family home environment of parents. We used prospectively gathered intergenerational data from a population‐based birth cohort born in 1972/1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand, including data from Generation 1 (parents of the birth cohort), the birth cohort (Generation 2; G2), and G2's children (Generation 3). Adolescent academic achievement in G2 was used to predict observed and reported parenting outcomes when offspring (G3) were aged 3 years after controlling for a range of covariates, including G2's adolescent wellbeing, early childhood socioeconomic status (collected from G1), and G2's age at child's birth. We also evaluated 2‐way interactions between academic achievement and G2 parent sex, G3 child behaviour, and G2 adolescent wellbeing. Greater G2 academic achievement, net of controls, predicted more positive and less negative parenting (for mothers only), and a more positive home environment. For the home environment outcome, the effect of adolescent academic achievement was moderated by wellbeing. Adolescent academic achievement may positively influence parenting behaviour and the quality of the home environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutionalization adversely impacts children's emotional functioning, proving related to attachment disorders, perhaps most notably that involving indiscriminate behavior, the subject of this report. In seeking to extend work in this area, this research on gene X environment (GXE) interplay investigated whether the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) and val66met Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) polymorphisms moderated the effect of institutional care on indiscriminate behavior in preschoolers. Eighty-five institutionalized and 135 home-reared Portuguese children were assessed using Disturbances of Attachment Interview (DAI). GXE results indicated that s/s homozygotes of the 5-HTTLPR gene displayed significantly higher levels of indiscriminate behavior than all other children if institutionalized, something not true of such children when family reared. These findings proved consistent with the diathesis-stress rather than differential-susceptibility model of person×environment interaction. BDNF proved unrelated to indiscriminate behavior. Results are discussed in relation to previous work on this subject of indiscriminate behavior, institutionalization and GXE interaction.

Here we tested whether there was genetic moderation of effects of early maternal sensitivity on social-emotional and cognitive-linguistic development from early childhood onward and whether any detected Gene × Environment interaction effects proved consistent with differential-susceptibility or diathesis-stress models of Person × Environment interaction (N = 695). Two new approaches for evaluating models were employed with 12 candidate genes. Whereas maternal sensitivity proved to be a consistent predictor of child functioning across the primary-school years, candidate genes did not show many main effects, nor did they tend to interact with maternal sensitivity/insensitivity. These findings suggest that the developmental benefits of early sensitive mothering and the costs of insensitive mothering look more similar than different across genetically different children in the current sample. Although acknowledgement of this result is important, it is equally important that the generally null Gene × Environment results reported here not be overgeneralized to other samples, other predictors, other outcomes, and other candidate genes.

A body of research has examined the potential causes of psychopathy and psychopathic personality traits. What is surprisingly missing from these studies is an effort to estimate person–environment interactions that might explain variation in psychopathic personality traits. The current study addressed this lacuna, examining whether early-life temperament conditioned the effect of parental sensitivity on adolescent affective psychopathic personality traits. Drawing on data from the National Institute of Chlid Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the results revealed some evidence of temperament–parenting interactions, which were more in line with a differential-susceptibility than a diathesis-stress model of environmental action. Findings indicated that male infants with an easy temperament were the most affected by maternal and paternal sensitivity when it came to predicting a measure of affective psychopathic traits and the subcomponent of callousness. In addition, early-life temperament also interacted with paternal sensitivity in a for-better-and-for-worse fashion for the subcomponent of unemotionality.

Institutional rearing adversely affects children's development, but the extent to which specific characteristics of the institutional context and the quality of care provided contribute to problematic development remains unclear. In this study, 72 preschoolers institutionalised for at least 6 months were evaluated by their caregiver using the Child Behavior Checklist and the Disturbances of Attachment Interview. Distal and proximate indices of institutional caregiving quality were assessed using both staff reports and direct observation. Results revealed that greater caregiver sensitivity predicted reduced indiscriminate behaviour and secure-base distortions. A closer relationship with the caregiver predicted reduced inhibited attachment behaviour. Emotional and behavioural problems proved unrelated to caregiving quality. Results are discussed in terms of (non)-shared caregiving factors that influence institutionalised children's development.

Here we tested whether there was genetic moderation of effects of early maternal sensitivity on social-emotional and cognitive-linguistic development from early childhood onward and whether any detected Gene × Environment interaction effects proved consistent with differential-susceptibility or diathesis-stress models of Person × Environment interaction (N = 695). Two new approaches for evaluating models were employed with 12 candidate genes. Whereas maternal sensitivity proved to be a consistent predictor of child functioning across the primary-school years, candidate genes did not show many main effects, nor did they tend to interact with maternal sensitivity/insensitivity. These findings suggest that the developmental benefits of early sensitive mothering and the costs of insensitive mothering look more similar than different across genetically different children in the current sample. Although acknowledgement of this result is important, it is equally important that the generally null Gene × Environment results reported here not be overgeneralized to other samples, other predictors, other outcomes, and other candidate genes.

Children with histories of disorganized attachment exhibit diverse problems, possibly because disorganization takes at least two distinctive forms as children age: controlling-punitive and controlling-caregiving. This variation in the developmental legacy of disorganization has been attributed primarily to variations in children's rearing experiences. Here an alternative explanation of these divergent sequelae of disorganization is evaluated: one focused on genotype. Structural equation modeling was applied to data on 704 Norwegian children to test whether the catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met genotype moderates the effect of disorganized attachment, which was measured dimensionally at 4 years of age using the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task, on changes in aggressive behavior and social competence from ages 4 to 6. Children who scored high on disorganization and were homozygous for the valine allele displayed significantly greater increases in aggression and decreases in self-oriented social skills (e.g., self-regulation and assertiveness) over time than did their disorganized counterparts carrying the methionine allele, whereas disorganized children carrying the methionine allele increased their other-oriented social skill (e.g., cooperation and responsibility) scores more than did valine-homozygous children. These results are consistent with the controlling-punitive and controlling-caregiving behaviors observed in disorganized children, suggesting that the children's genotype contributed to variations in the social development of disorganized children.

The Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TaMHS) programme was a nationwide initiative that funded mental health provision in schools for pupils at risk of or already experiencing mental health problems. The implementation, impact and experience of this programme was evaluated using quantitative and qualitative methodology involving three main studies: (1) a 1-year RCT involving 8658 8-10 year olds and 6583 11-13 year olds, (2) a 3-year longitudinal study involving 3346 8-10 year olds and 2647 11-13 year olds and (3) qualitative interviews with 26 TaMHS workers, 31 school staff, 15 parents and 60 pupils. The RCT demonstrated that TaMHS led to reductions in behaviour problems but not emotional problems for 8-10 year olds. No impact was found for 11-13 year olds. The effects on behaviour problems in primary school were enhanced by the provision of evidence based self-help materials, but not by other area level support. The longitudinal study found information giving and good inter-agency working correlated with more positive outcomes for behavioural problems in secondary schools. The qualitative findings indicated that TaMHS was well received by all groups, though challenges to its implementation were noted. Overall, findings indicate the utility of targeted mental health provision in schools, particularly in primary settings. The implications for implementation are discussed. © 2013 Copyright SEBDA.

Eighty-five Portuguese children, aged 12 to 30 months, placed in residential institutions were assessed to investigate the influence of variations in the institutionalization experience of social withdrawal behavior, after taking into account potentially confounding individual characteristics and pre-admission experiences. In light of the limited attention in institutionalization research on social withdrawal, the determinants of the identified predictors of withdrawal symptoms also were examined. Current quality of care experienced in the institution, operationalized in terms of the absence (vs. presence) of a preferred attachment relationship, predicted social withdrawal, such that absence of such a relationship forecasted greater withdrawal. Moreover, existence of a preferred attachment relationship was itself predicted by better child socioemotional functioning, greater caregiver sensitive-responsiveness, and better quality of individualized care provided by the staff. © 2013 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

We present results of a meta-analysis of gene-by-environment (G × E) studies involving the serotonin transporter genotype 5HTTLPR to evaluate empirical support for two competing conceptual frameworks in developmental psychopathology: diathesis-stress and differential susceptibility. From a diathesis-stress perspective, the cumulative negative effects of the short allele (ss and sl genotypes) and adverse environments on development have been stressed. From a differential-susceptibility perspective, carriers of the s allele are predicted to be more open to adverse as well as positive environments, for better and for worse. Studies with children and adolescents up to 18 years of age (N=9361) were included. We found 41 effect sizes (N=5863) for the association between negative environments and developmental outcomes with or without significant moderation by 5HTTLPR genotype and 36 effect sizes (N=3498) for the potentially 5HTTLPR-moderated association between positive environments and developmental outcomes. Five moderators were examined: age, ethnicity, genotyping (biallelic or triallelic) and methods used to assess environment and outcome. In the total set of studies, including studies with mixed ethnicities, we found that ss/sl carriers were significantly more vulnerable to negative environments than ll carriers, thus supporting the diathesis-stress model. In the Caucasian samples, however, ss/sl carriers also profited significantly more from positive environmental input than ll carriers. Associations between (positive or negative) environment and (positive or negative) developmental outcome were absent for ll carriers. The meta-analytic findings support the hypothesis that in Caucasian samples 5HTTLPR is a genetic marker of differential susceptibility. G × E interactions might be critically dependent on ethnicity.

A total of 467 mothers of firstborn 20-month-old children from 7 countries (103 Argentine, 61 Belgian, 39 Israeli, 78 Italian, 57 Japanese, 69 Korean, and 60 US American) completed the "Jackson Personality Inventory" (JPI), measures of parenting cognitions (self-perceptions and knowledge), and a social desirability scale. Our first analysis showed that the Five-Factor structure of personality (Openness, Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) could be extracted from the JPI scales when cross-cultural data from mothers in the 7 countries were analyzed; it was also replicable and generalizable in mothers from so-called individualist and collectivist cultures. Our second analysis showed that the five personality factors relate differently to diverse parenting cognitions in those individualist versus collectivist cultures. Maternal personality has significance in studies of normative parenting, child development, and family process across cultural contexts. (Contains 5 tables and 2 figures.)