Family adversity,positive peer relationships,and children's externalizing behavior: a longitudinal perspective on risk and resilience

Peer acceptance and friendships were examined as moderators in the link between family adversity and child externalizing behavioral problems. Data on family adversity (i.e., ecological disadvantage, violent marital conflict, and harsh discipline) and child temperament and social information processing were collected during home visits from 585 families with 5-year-old children. Children's peer acceptance, friendship, and friends' aggressiveness were assessed with sociometric methods in kindergarten and grade 1. Teachers provided ratings of children's externalizing behavior problems in grade 2. Peer acceptance served as a moderator for all three measures of family adversity, and friendship served as a moderator for harsh discipline. Examination of regression slopes indicated that family adversity was not significantly associated with child externalizing behavior at high levels of positive peer relationships. These moderating effects generally were not qualified by child gender, ethnicity, or friends' aggressiveness, nor were they accounted for by child temperament or social information-processing patterns. The need for process-oriented studies of risk and protective factors is stressed.     

Evaluating a schools' service for children with a facial disfigurement: the views of teaching and support staff

In this article Lindsay O'Dell and Jess Prior present the findings of a small survey, organised as a collaborative project to evaluate a schools’ service, set up in 1998 by the charity Changing Faces 1 to assist pupils with facial disfigurements. Twenty schools responded, each of which had a pupil in their school, aged between 3–16 years, with a facial disfigurement. Qualitative and quantitative questions addressed schools’ expectations of the service, ratings of visits from Changing Faces, helpful/unhelpful aspects of the service and suggestions for improvements, as well as information about the child and school. The data was analysed using both quantitative data and a qualitative thematic analysis. Findings point to reasons for initial contact, and effectiveness of any intervention. Whilst many families and schools seek support in times of crisis, sometimes contact is made to try and prevent future difficulties. Professionals working in education may have much to learn from cases where the child, school and family are all coping well. Future research plans include extending this pilot survey to include the views of a wider range of schools as well as those of the children and families involved.     

Psychosocial development in girls of high ability

Gender differences in young highly able children's psychosocial development were investigated using child and teacher ratings of prosocial behavior and peer acceptance. Developmental patterns were addressed by studying two groups – children in the primary grades (1 and 2) and children in grades 3 to 7. No gender differences were found on teacher or child ratings in the younger group. In the older group, gender differences favoring girls were found on teacher ratings of prosocial behavior and peer acceptance. Comparisons of child and teacher ratings by gender showed that the older boys viewed themselves as demonstrating more social skills and as being more accepted by peers than their teachers did. Implications for education and counselling are discussed.     

Effects of self-evaluation on the independent work skills of preschool children with disabilities

This study examined the effects of a self-evaluation treatment package on the independent work skills of preschool children with disabilities. Children learned to conduct self-assessments and to compare their ratings with those of the teacher. Data were collected on children's percentages of appropriate behavior, the level of teacher prompting, and the match between child and teacher ratings. Results indicated that the treatment produced immediate and substantial improvements in child behavior and that it was possible to systematically withdraw each component while maintaining a high level of appropriate child behavior.     

The Relationship of Family Variables to Head Start Children's Preacademic Competence

This study was conducted with a sample of 93 Head Start children and their mothers. It examined the contribution of family variables (i.e., parenting style, home literacy activities, maternal school involvement, and maternal expectations) to children's preacademic competence as defined by four criteria: (a) performance on a standardized achievement battery; (b) teachers' ratings of children's cognitive competence; (c) children's self-ratings of competence; and (d) maternal reports of children's early school adjustment. In exploring these relationships the study controlled for the influence of variables (i.e., child and maternal cognitive variables, child sex, as well as risk due to daily stress) that have been suggested to influence directly, or indirectly, maternal involvement and child competence. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that educational expectations, home literacy variables, and school involvement were predictive of children's competence even after accounting for the effects of maternal education, child IQ, and daily stress. Specifically, maternal educational expectations were predictive of preacademic achievement and teacher-rated competence. Maternal engagement in educational activities at home was predictive of children's self-efficacy beliefs and school adjustment. Maternal school involvement was also predictive of school adjustment.     

Children's integration of facial and situational cues to emotion

Children at 4 age levels (3-5, 6-7, 8-9, and 10-12 years) were shown a series of pictures in which facial and situational cues were (a) congruent, (b) conflicting, or (c) presented alone. Children rated the type (happy or sad) and intensity of the emotion felt by each character. Developmental changes in the relative weights assigned to facial and situational cues were examined using Anderson's information integration approach. The results showed that children's reliance on situational cues increased with age, but their reliance on facial expression decreased with age. Analysis of individual children's ratings indicated a developmental increase in the tendency to integrate facial and situational cues. Children's ability to resolve the conflicting cues (through stories) also increased with age, but there were no age differences in the types of resolutions used. At all age levels, children were less likely to resolve pictures involving an inconsistent positive expression than pictures showing an inconsistent negative expression.     

Munchausen syndrome by proxy: a survey of professionals' knowledge

This study examined professionals' knowledge of a relatively rare form of child abuse, Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP). Eighty-six professionals representing hospital or other medical settings, community services programs, the state children's service agency, and various law enforcement agencies were surveyed. Results indicated that professionals employed in medical or hospital settings were three times more likely to have heard of the syndrome than those employed by community service agencies. Journal articles and colleagues were the most popular sources of information pertaining to MSBP. Respondents identified 77 possible cases of MSBP in their caseloads over the past year. Findings suggest the need for educating community professionals as well as the possibility that the incidence of MSBP has been grossly underestimated. Implications for future research and preventive efforts are discussed.     

Children's Relationships with Peers: Differential Associations with Aspects of the Teacher-Child Relationship

Associations between children's social competence with peers and differential aspects of their teacher-child relationships were examined in a longitudinal sample of 48 4-year-old children enrolled in child care as infants. Toddler security with teacher was negatively associated with hostile aggression and positively with complex peer play and gregarious behaviors. Prosocial behaviors and withdrawing behaviors were associated with preschool security with teacher. Dependence on teachers as a preschooler was associated with social withdrawal and hostile aggression. Positive toddler teacher socialization was associated with higher perceived peer acceptance. Preschool teacher negative socialization was negatively associated with complex peer play, teacher ratings of hesitancy, friendly enactment, and accidental attribution and positively related to teacher ratings of difficulty.     

The Relation of Parental Affect and Control Behaviors to Children's Classroom Acceptance: A Concurrent and Predictive Analysis

The present study is a longitudinal examination of the relations between parental expressions of affect and parental control behaviors and children's classroom acceptance in kindergarten and first grade. One hundred-sixteen kindergarten-aged children and their parents were videotaped during physical play sessions and parents were rated on global affective and behavioral dimensions. Ratings of classroom social acceptance were provided by teachers and peers. Results indicated that parents' expressed positive and negative affect were related to children's classroom acceptance in kindergarten and in first grade. The most powerful and consistent predictor of children's social acceptance was fathers' expressed negative affect, particularly between father-son dyads. The current study emphasizes the importance of continued examination of linkages between the family and peer systems, especially with respect to the ways in which children's experiences in the family and school environments may mutually influence social development, and points to the need for further examination of the mechanisms by which multiple social contexts may influence children's behavior in the family and in school.     

Child care quality matters: how conclusions may vary with context

Three studies examined associations between early child care and child outcomes among families different from those in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network study. Results suggest that quality is an important influence on children's development and may be an important moderator of the amount of time in care. Thus, the generalizability of the NICHD findings may hinge on the context in which those results were obtained. These studies, conducted in three national contexts, with different regulatory climates, ranges of child care quality, and a diversity of family characteristics, suggest a need for more complete estimates of how both quality and quantity of child care may influence a range of young children's developmental outcomes.     

Depressed mothers' judgments about their children: an examination of the depression-distortion hypothesis

The belief that depressed mothers have distorted perceptions of their children's problems has gained considerable currency in recent years. The empirical basis for this belief at present amounts to little more than reliable demonstrations that depressed mothers tend to report more behavior problems in their children than do nondepressed mothers. An obvious alternative to the distortion interpretation is that depressed mothers are accurate about their children's behavior problems. We examined these competing models by comparing teachers' ratings of children with ratings provided by their mothers, who varied on the dimensions of depressed mood, depressed clinical state, and history of depression. Mothers' and teachers' ratings yielded substantially similar portraits of child behavior problems at the group level, with children of in-remission and in-episode mothers manifesting significantly higher levels of behavior problems than children of control mothers. Moreover, agreement between mothers and teachers was in the moderate range for all index groups and did not differ significantly from the mean level of mother-teacher agreement reported by other investigators based on unselected samples. The limitations of these findings and of earlier reports for assessing a depression----distortion influence on mothers' ratings of their children are considered.     

Parenting and child behavioral adjustment in early childhood: a quantitative genetic approach to studying family processes

The aim of this study was to examine environmental and gene-environment processes linking parenting (i.e., affect, control, responsiveness) and preschool children's behavioral adjustment difficulties (e.g., noncompliance, conduct problems) by using bivariate genetic analyses of parents' and observers' ratings. The sample included 120 identical and same-sex fraternal twin pairs (M age = 43 months). Data sources included in-home observations, interviews, and parents' reports. Observers' ratings of children's difficult behaviors included shared and nonshared environmental variance. In contrast, parents' ratings of children's conduct problems showed genetic and nonshared environmental variance. Observer-rated maternal behavior included shared and nonshared environmental variance, although maternal responsiveness also included child genetic variance. Parent self-reported negative and positive affect included shared and nonshared environment as well as child genetic variance. There was no evidence for gene-environment interaction or dominance. Higher levels of difficult behavior and conduct problems covaried with higher levels of maternal negative affect and control and lower levels of maternal positive affect and control. Shared environmental mediation of these correlations was found for observations, whereas genetic and nonshared environmental mediation was found for parents' ratings. In general, estimates of shared environmental variance and mediation were greatest for observational data, and estimates of child genetic variance and mediation were greatest for parent-rated data. The implications of this pattern of findings for genetic research on family processes are discussed.     

Economic well-being and children's social adjustment: the role of family process in an ethnically diverse low-income sample

Using latent variable structural equation modeling, a family economic stress model that links economic well-being to child well-being in an ethnically diverse, low-income sample of 419 elementary school-age children was evaluated. The sample was 57% African American and 28% Hispanic, and most families were headed by single mothers. The results provided support for the position that family process is a critical mediator of the effects of economic hardship on children's social adjustment. Lower levels of economic well-being, and the corollary elevated perceptions of economic pressure indirectly affected parenting behavior through an adverse impact on parental psychological well-being. Distressed parents reported feeling less effective and capable in disciplinary interactions with their child and were observed to be less affectionate in parent-child interactions. In turn, less than optimal parenting predicted lower teacher ratings of children's positive social behavior and higher ratings of behavior problems. Multiple-group analyses revealed that the pathways by which economic hardship influences children's behavior appear to operate similarly for boys and girls, and for African American and Hispanic families.     

Parental Psychological Distress,Parent - Child Relationship Qualities,and Child Adjustment: Direct,Mediating, and Reciprocal Pathways

Objective. The purpose of this study was to explicate the role of parenting qualities of acceptance, psychological autonomy, and firm control in the link between maternal and paternal psychological distress and youth adjustment problems. Design. A community sample of 277 families provided information about parental psychological distress, parenting qualities, and child adjustment via mother, father, and child questionnaire ratings. Results. Direct associations among the variables were consistent with predictions. Mediation processes were identified using structural equation modeling. Specifically, parental acceptance and psychological autonomy served as mediators of the association between parental psychological distress and child problems, whereas firm control did not mediate the direct associations. Conclusions. Drawing on a developmental psychopathology perspective, this study's results indicate that the link between mother and father psychological distress and child adjustment problems is accounted for, in part, by parental acceptance and psychological autonomy than by behavioral control. Alternative pathways among these family processes also received empirical support.     

Judging a Book by Its Cover: Children's Facial Trustworthiness as Judged by Strangers Predicts Their Real-World Trustworthiness and Peer Relationships

This longitudinal research examined whether children's facial trustworthiness as judged by strangers can predict their real-world trustworthiness and peer acceptance. Adults (Study 1) and children (Study 2) judged the facial trustworthiness of 8- to 12-year-old children (N = 100) solely based on their photographs. The children's classmates were asked to report their real-world trustworthiness and peer acceptance. Children's facial trustworthiness reliably predicted these outcomes both initially when the photographs were taken, as well as 1 year later, and this effect was mediated by the initial ratings of real-world trustworthiness and peer acceptance. These results provide evidence for a long-lasting linkage between children's facial and real-world trustworthiness.     

Do Children's Advocacy Centers improve families' experiences of child sexual abuse investigations?

OBJECTIVE: The Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) model of child abuse investigation is designed to be more child and family-friendly than traditional methods, but there have been no rigorous studies of their effect on children's and caregivers' experience. Data collected as part of the Multi-Site Evaluation of Children's Advocacy Centers were used to examine whether CACs improve caregivers' and children's satisfaction with investigations. METHODS: Nonoffending caregiver and child satisfaction were assessed during research interviews, including the administration of a 14-item Investigation Satisfaction Scale (ISS) for caregivers. Two hundred and twenty-nine sexual abuse cases investigated through a CAC were compared to 55 cases investigated in communities with no CAC. RESULTS: Hierarchical linear regression results indicated that caregivers in CAC cases were more satisfied with the investigation than those from comparison sites, even after controlling for a number of relevant variables. There were few differences between CAC and comparison samples on children's satisfaction. Children described moderate to high satisfaction with the investigation, while a minority expressed concerns about their experience. CONCLUSIONS: The CAC model shows promise for improving families' experiences, but to build upon this promise, agencies will need to systematize procedures for refining and adapting the model as new research becomes available.     

Research priorities for a multi-center child abuse pediatrics network − CAPNET

Although child maltreatment medical research has benefited from several multi-center studies, the new specialty of child abuse pediatrics has not had a sustainable network capable of pursuing multiple, prospective, clinically-oriented studies. The Child Abuse Pediatrics Network (CAPNET) is a new multi-center research network dedicated to child maltreatment medical research. In order to establish a relevant, practical research agenda, we conducted a modified Delphi process to determine the topic areas with highest priority for such a network. Research questions were solicited from members of the Ray E. Helfer Society and study authors and were sorted into topic areas. These topic areas were rated for priority using iterative rounds of ratings and in-person meetings. The topics rated with the highest priority were missed diagnosis and selected/indicated prevention. This agenda can be used to target future multi-center child maltreatment medical research.