Although the development and well-being of ethnic and racial minority children have received sustained attention over the past few decades from policymakers, researchers, and practitioners (Cabrera, Beeghly, & Eisenberg, 2012; Crosnoe & Fuligni, 2012; McLloyd, 1990, 2006; Quintana et al., 2006), these efforts have contributed to a body of…

Objective: To examine patterns of variability in social visual engagement and their relationship to standardized measures of social disability in a heterogeneous sample of school-aged children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Method: Eye-tracking measures of visual fixation during free-viewing of dynamic social scenes were obtained for 109…

Self-assertion involves an individual's search for and realization of his own special path in the world, his values and purpose in life in every given moment. It is a process that accompanies a person throughout his life. Self-assertion becomes exceptionally important in adolescence as it marks a turning point in one's attitude toward oneself; one…

Over the past decades, developmental psychopathology has coalesced into a discipline that has made significant contributions toward the understanding of risk, psychopathology, and resilience in individuals across the life course. The overarching goal of the discipline has been to elucidate the interplay among biological, psychological, and…

This article introduces the special issue of the journal on the topic of youth violence as adaptation to community violence. Contrary to the predominant perspective that youth violence is a sign of dysfunction or maladaptation, the articles collected here consider whether some youth violence may have positively adaptive consequences in the face of…

The lack of empirical research relating temperament models and personality hinders conceptual integration and holds back research linking childhood traits to problem behavior or maladjustment. This study evaluates, within a sample of 443 preschoolers, the relationships between children's maladaptation and traits measured by three temperament…

This study examines pathways to adult marijuana and cocaine use in a cohort of African Americans from Woodlawn, an inner city community in Chicago. Assessments were conducted in first grade (age 6), adolescence (age 16), early adulthood (age 32), and in mid-adulthood (age 42). The "social adaptation life course" framework guided the…

This research focused on the school turnaround process in six turnaround elementary schools located in urban and rural areas of the state of North Carolina. The purpose of the study was to learn about the challenges facing the six schools, the process of improving student achievement, and, more specifically, the degree to which adaptive leadership…

Cognitive and emotional processes were examined in maltreated children with a history of physical abuse (n = 76), children with a history of maltreatment other than physical abuse (i.e., sexual abuse, physical neglect, and emotional maltreatment; n = 91), and a group of non-maltreated comparison children (N = 100). Physical abuse was associated…

Investigated relationship between maladaptation and environmental preferences of 33 male prisoners who had engaged in deliberate, self-harm earlier in their incarceration. Found that good and poor adaptors had significantly different environmental preference profiles. Good adaptors were more likely to prefer Activity and Social Stimulation and…

Summarizes literature on identity formation in individuals from socially devalued racial and ethnic groups in U.S. Discusses implications for adolescents in foster care or residential group homes, many of whom are African American or Latino. Postulates that social maladaptation is reflective of identity disturbances created by negative images of…

Research has documented important interplays between the diagnostic characteristics of residents in group care centers and the functioning of staff teams responsible for the delivery of services. Factors that impact on the quality of working life satisfactions and frustrations are variable over time and may originate from within the team, the…

Adopting a person-centered approach, we profiled 5th and 6th grade children's (152 boys and 161 girls) school-related beliefs about perceived task difficulty and agency beliefs in ability and effort. Five clusters were compared across key learning-related dimensions encompassing underlying worldviews (means--ends beliefs, normative difficulty,…

The present study focuses on the validity of questionnaire self-report of psychopathology and parent-child relationship quality for juvenile delinquents with severe behavioural and psychiatric disorders by comparing information derived from questionnaire self-report with information from other sources, including parent report, in-depth…

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of child religiosity in the development of maladaptation among maltreated children. Methods: Data were collected on 188 maltreated and 196 nonmaltreated children from low-income families (ages 6-12 years). Children were assessed on religiosity and depressive symptoms, and were evaluated…