Mind-mindedness is associated with positive developmental outcomes. However, much of the literature uses mostly White, middle to high socioeconomic status (SES) samples despite evidence that the benefits of mind-mindedness may vary based on degree of social risk. Additionally, few studies have examined relations between mind-mindedness and…

This study examined whether children’s difficulties with stage-salient tasks served as an explanatory mechanism in the pathway between their insecurity in the interparental relationship and their disruptive behavior problems. Using a multimethod, multi-informant design, 201 two-year-old children and their mothers participated in 3 annual…

Background: Through a process of probabilistic epigenesis, child maltreatment progressively contributes to compromised adaptation on a variety of developmental domains central to successful adjustment. These developmental failures pose significant risk for the emergence of psychopathology across the life course. In addition to the psychological…

Our goal in the present study was to examine the specificity of pathways among interparental violence, maternal emotional unavailability, and children's cortisol reactivity to emotional stressors within interparental and parent-child relationships. The study also tested whether detrimental family contexts were associated, on average, with…

Recent perspectives on social dominance in normative populations have suggested a developmental progression from using primarily coercive strategies to incorporation of more socially competent strategies to attain material and social resources. Parental influences on the resource control strategies children use have been proposed but not…

The authors examined 284 maltreated and nonmaltreated children's (6- to 12-year-olds) ability to inhibit true and false memories for neutral and emotional information using the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Children studied either emotional or neutral DRM lists in a control condition or were given directed-remembering or…

Marital conflict is a distressing context in which children must regulate their emotion and behavior; however, the associations between the multidimensionality of conflict and children's regulatory processes need to be examined. The current study examined differences in children's (N=207, mean age=8.02 years) emotions (mad, sad, scared, and happy)…

Background: The differential susceptibility hypothesis states that some genetic variants that confer risk in adverse environments are beneficial in normal or nurturing environments. The cholinergic system is promising as a source of susceptibility genes because of its involvement in learning and neural plasticity. The cholinergic receptor gene…

Background: Neuroticism is a personality trait reflecting the tendency to experience negative affect. It is a major risk for psychopathology, especially depression and anxiety disorders. Childhood maltreatment is another major risk factor for psychopathology and may influence personality. Maltreatment may interact with genotype to predict…

This investigation examined basic memory processes, cortisol, and dissociation in maltreated children. School-aged children (age range = 6-13), 143 maltreated and 174 nonmaltreated, were administered the California Verbal Learning Test-Children (D. C. Delis, J. H. Kramer, E. Kaplan, & B. A. Ober, 1994) in a week-long camp setting, daily…

Background: This investigation addresses whether there are differences in the form and content of autobiographical memory recall as a function of maltreatment, and examines the roles of self-system functioning and psychopathology in autobiographical memory processes. Methods: Autobiographical memory for positive and negative nontraumatic events…

The impact of early physical and sexual abuse (EPA/SA) occurring in the first 5 years of life was investigated in relation to depressive and internalizing symptomatology and diurnal cortisol regulation. In a summer camp context, school-aged maltreated (n = 265) and nonmaltreated (n = 288) children provided morning and late afternoon saliva samples…

This longitudinal investigation examined the effects of maternal depression and concomitant negative parenting behaviors on children's emotion regulation patterns and socioemotional functioning. One hundred fifty-one mothers and their children were assessed when children were approximately 1 1/2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-years of age. Ninety-three of the…

To date, few studies have sought to investigate the effects of child maltreatment and processes influencing maladaptation and resilience in Latino children. In the current investigation, multiple aspects of functioning, personal resources, and relationship features were examined in school-age maltreated and nonmaltreated Latino children.…

This study used latent growth modeling to investigate longitudinal relationships between self-system processes and depressive symptoms among maltreated (n=142) and nonmaltreated children (n=109) aged 6--11 years. On average, self-esteem and self-agency increased and depressive symptoms decreased over time. Multivariate growth modeling indicated…