Individual differences in emotional reactivity emerge early in development and predict important child outcomes. Unfortunately, methods used to assess these often fail to tap dynamic changes in emotion, obscuring nuanced relationships between maladaptive emotional reactivity and early internalizing psychopathology. We therefore explored the…

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…

Because parents of children with cerebral palsy encounter many challenges, the quality of their parenting varies substantially across time. To understand how and why their parenting behaviors change across time, we examined the contributions of child behavior and parents' psychological needs to explanations of yearly variation in responsive,…

Anger is a central characteristic of negative affect and is relatively stable from infancy onward. Absolute levels of anger typically peak in early childhood and diminish as children become socialized and better able to regulate emotions. From infancy to school age, however, there are also individual differences in rank-order levels of anger. For…

The current study examines the extent to which associations between internalizing problems, body mass index (BMI), and language skills from early (36 months) to late childhood (fifth grade) are due to relatively stable between-child differences, time-specific correlations, or cross-lagged paths. Data from the NICHD study, Early Child Care and…

Tenets of the Boivin et al. (1995) social process model were reexamined with two longitudinal samples using both the original and contemporary analytic strategies. Study goals included reconstructing (e.g., quasireplicating) Boivin et al.'s (1995) original findings and evaluating hypothesized relations across both comparable and longer…

This exploratory study examined associations between the therapist-client bond and outcomes in individual and group art therapy in the Israeli school system. Children (n = 77; aged 7-13) and art therapists (n = 50) reported on the therapist-client bond at three time points. At the onset and conclusion of art therapy, children also reported on…

Background: Evocative gene-environment correlation (rGE) describes a process through which children's heritable characteristics influence their rearing environments. The current study examined if heritable influences on parenting and children's behavioral outcomes operate through child negative emotionality. Method: Using data from the Early…

Internationally, reviews of educational outcomes of children in care reveal consistent findings highlighting the need for considerable policy attention to be paid to their education to ensure they achieve optimal economic and psychosocial life outcomes. Important to enhancing the educational achievement of children in care are support, stability…

Within a theoretical framework of cognitive dissonance, this phenomenological study explored Australian intellectually gifted pre-adolescent/early adolescents' experiences of asynchrony. The study focuses on mothers and sons. Eleven boys aged 10 to 14 years, and nine of their mothers, participated in semi-structured interviews. Seven boys reported…

Emotion development processes have long been linked to social competence in early childhood but rarely have these associations been examined in middle childhood or with relational outcomes. Guided by theories of interpersonal relationships and emotion socialization, the current study was designed to fill these gaps by examining a longitudinal…

Constructive parent-child conflict interactions that teach children to problem-solve and negotiate can enhance children's social adjustment. This paper identifies constructive and destructive qualities of mother-child conflict and explores whether child temperament moderated associations with changes in externalizing problems over time. One…

Objective: Although oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is usually considered the mildest of the disruptive behavior disorders, it is a key factor in predicting young adult anxiety and depression and is distinguishable from normal childhood behavior. In an effort to understand possible subsets of oppositional defiant behavior (ODB) that may…

Studies examining the link between parental socialization and child functioning in varying cultural contexts are scarce. Focusing on early adolescents in suburban middle-class families in India, the present study examined interrelations among reports of mothers' socialization goals, socialization behaviors in response to child emotion, child…

Although experiencing childhood sexual abuse (CSA) puts youth at risk for involvement in relationship violence, research is limited on the potential pathways from CSA to subsequent dating aggression. The current study examined prospective pathways from externalizing behavior problems and stigmatization (abuse-specific shame and self-blame…