Used longitudinal design to assess risks associated with maltreatment in maltreated and nonmaltreated children. Found that heightened difficulties in peer relationships and self-esteem were associated with greater severity and chronicity of maltreatment. The best predictions of specific aspects of adjustment considered timing, type, and severity…

Assessed similarities between 192 target children and their friends and nonfriends. Found that children and friends were more similar to one another than nonfriends across the dataset. Friendship similarities were greater in antisocial behavior than in other domains. Similarities between friends in sociometric status and size of the friendship…

Two studies investigated emotional-display-rule knowledge and its associations with family expressiveness and peer competence. Findings indicated that third graders combined expression regulation with prosocial reasoning, norm-maintenance, and self-protective motives more frequently than kindergartners. Negative expressiveness was related…

Outlines what developmentalists can do with genes associated with behavioral dimensions and disorders once they are found. Suggests that genes can be used to answer questions about developmental continuities, psychopathological patterns such as heterogeneity and comoribidty, and environmental-risk mechanisms informed by studies of gene/environment…

When pioneering longitudinal studies of child development extended into adulthood, they generated issues that could not be addressed satisfactorily by available theories, including the recognition that individual lives are influenced by their ever-changing historical context and that human development concepts should apply to processes across the…

Studied head position preference in 20 newborns differing by Cesarean or vaginal delivery and sex. Found that neither factor accounted for differences. The head turned right more often and was maintained longer in this position during quiet wakefulness, regardless of scoring method. When using global scoring, duration of midline position was…

Compared behavior of 52 Costa Rican 12- to 23-month-olds with iron-deficiency anemia to that of 139 infants with better iron status. Found that iron-deficient infants maintained closer contact with caregivers; showed less pleasure and playfulness; were more wary, hesitant, and easily tired; made fewer attempts at test items; and attended less to…

Presented five- and eight-month olds with silent moving and static video images of self, peer, and doll, and sounds of self and nonsocial objects. Found that recognition of one's image develops through experience with dynamic facial stimulation during first eight months. By five months, infants treat their faces and voices as familiar and social…

Four experiments examined the effects of reenactment on 18-month-olds' event memory. Results indicated that reenacting novel activities in a laboratory playroom improved event memory. Reenactment was more effective after a time delay, and the effects of timing of reenactment were more pronounced after a six-month delay. Reenacting half of the…

Examined the origins of high general cognitive ability (g) in twins who were participating in the MacArthur Longitudinal Twin Study. Formed high g groups from the 19th percentile and above at each age. Results suggested increasing genetic influence and increasing genetic stability from 14 to 36 months and substantial genetic influences with…

Investigated whether fourth-graders' gestures convey knowledge self-recognizable in another context. Identified math problem-solving procedures conveyed gesturally and examined whether the procedures could be accessed by the same child on a task not involving gesture. Children rated higher those solutions derived from procedures they conveyed…

Compared 18 children's and 18 adults' ability to detect information conveyed through the representational hand gestures of videotaped children verbally and gesturally explaining their problem-solving reasoning. Found that children and adults recalled information conveyed through representational gestures. Mismatching gesture negatively affected…

Used a modification of Akhtar, Carpenter, and Tomasello's (1996) task involving interpretation of novel nouns to test whether 18- to 28-month-olds' smart word learning derived from general attention and memory processes rather than knowledge about the communicative intents of others. Findings similar to those of Akhtar and colleagues suggest that…

Evaluated changes in mothers' interactive behaviors with infants from 6 to 40 months who were medically high risk, medically low risk, very low birthweight preterm, or full-term. Found that variations in mothers' responses to children's changing capabilities predicted rates of change in children's social skills. (Author/KB)

Examined whether links between marital relations and six- to nine-year olds' adjustment were mediated by children's emotional security. Latent variable path analysis results supported theoretical pathway whereby marital dysfunction was linked with adjustment problems as mediated by emotional insecurity regarding parental conflicts. Emotional…