Extensive exposure to nonparental child care during the first 4.5 years of life has been demonstrated in some American studies to negatively affect children's socioemotional functioning. Data from 935 preschool children who averaged 54.9 (SD = 3.0) months of age, from Trondheim, Norway were used to examine whether such negative effects, would…

Data from 508 Caucasian children in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development shows that the DRD4 (but not 5-HTTLPR) polymorphism moderates the effect of child-care quality (but not quantity or type) on caregiver-reported externalizing problems at 54 months and in kindergarten and teacher-reported social skills at kindergarten and…

Relations between nonrelative child care (birth to 4 1/2 years) and functioning at age 15 were examined (N = 1,364). Both quality and quantity of child care were linked to adolescent functioning. Effects were similar in size as those observed at younger ages. Higher quality care predicted higher cognitive-academic achievement at age 15, with…

This study examined early observed parenting and child-care experiences in relation to functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis over the long term. Consistent with the attenuation hypothesis, individuals (n = 863) who experienced: (a) higher levels of maternal insensitivity and (b) more time in child-care centers in the first…

Effects of early child care on children's functioning from 4 1/2 years through the end of 6th grade (M age=12.0 years) were examined in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n=1,364). The results indicated that although parenting was a stronger and more consistent predictor of…

Two general evolutionary hypotheses were tested on 756 White children (397 girls) studied longitudinally: (1) rearing experiences would predict pubertal timing; and (2) children would prove differentially susceptible to rearing. Analysis of pubertal measurements, including some based on repeated physical assessments, showed that mothering and…

More than 200 New Zealand men and women studied repeatedly since age 3 were videotaped interacting with their own 3-year-old children to determine (a) whether childrearing and family climate experienced in 3 distinct developmental periods while growing up (i.e., early childhood, middle childhood, early adolescence) predicted parenting and (b)…

Data from 918 children from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care were examined to test the interrelation of attachment and attentional performance and 2 known risks for poor attentional performance: male gender and social-contextual adversity. Attachment was measured using the Strange…

Used NICHD Early Child Care data to examine effects of attentional persistence on relationship of infant negative emotionality to age 3 outcomes. Found that high negative emotionality related to low social competence only when attentional persistence was poor. Found no moderating effects of attentional persistence for behavior problems. High…

Pooled sibling attachment data to compare attachment relationships to mothers for 138 sibling pairs. Found that sibling relationships were significantly concordant when classified as secure/nonsecure but not when further subcategorized. Maternal insensitivity to both siblings was associated with concordance of sibling nonsecurity. Same gender…

Examined 3-year-old boys' pride and shame reactions to success and failure on a "rigged" achievement situation. Found that pride and shame were related to task difficulty and success versus failure but unrelated to temperament after one year. Children whose parents were more positive in previous parenting displayed less pride and children whose…

Maintains that it is important to distinguish theory testing from effect-size evaluation when considering the impact of mothering on attachment security. Contends that it is possible that the De Wolff and van IJzendoorn meta-analysis both over- and underestimates mothering effects, as would be the case if infants varied in their susceptibility to…

Examined parent-child interaction during toddlers'"terrible twos" stage. Found that families experiencing difficulty could be identified, troubled behavior could be predicted based on family ecology, and families at moderate and high contextual risk were more likely to experience troublesome behavior when the child experienced 20 or more hours per…

A review of the research on the effects of day care shows that high-quality, center-based day care: (1) has neither salutary nor deleterious effects on children's intellectual development; (2) is not disruptive of children's emotional bond with their mothers; and (3) increases children's interaction, both positive and negative, with their peers.…

Suggests that the determinants of individual differences in parental functioning are illuminated by research on the etiology of child maltreatment. Three domains of determinants include parents' personal psychological resources, child characteristics, and contextual sources of stress and support. A process model of competent parental functioning…