Biopsychosocial models of children's socioemotional development highlight the joint influences of physiological regulation and parenting practices. Both high and low levels of children's baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) have been associated with children's maladjustment, indicative of nonlinear associations. Negative or unsupportive…

Play and playfulness have a key role in children's development. Not enough is known about the playfulness of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and its relationship to children's behavioural problems, as well as the role of caregiver behaviours during play in this relationship. The present study examines the moderating role of teachers'…

We examined the prediction that the interaction between Glucocorticoid Receptor Gene ("NR3C1") methylation, stress, and experienced maternal support predicts anxious and avoidant attachment development. This was tested in a general population sample of 487 children and adolescents (44% boys, M[subscript age] = 11.84, SD[subscript age] =…

The current study aimed to substantiate and extend our understanding regarding the existence and developmental pathways of 3 distinct temperament profiles--exuberant, inhibited, and average approach--in a sample of 3.5-year-old children (n = 121). The interactions between temperamental styles and specific types of effortful control, inhibitory…

Variability within the literature investigating typically-developing siblings of children with an autism spectrum disorder suggests that the quality of sibling outcomes may depend on specific factors. For this study, 42 parents of a child with an autism spectrum disorder and a typically-developing sibling provided data via online questionnaires.…

Mothers of children with autism report higher levels of depression than mothers of children with other developmental disabilities. We explored the relations between child characteristics of diagnostic severity and problem behaviors, parenting stress, relationship quality, and depressive symptoms in 70 mothers of young children with autism. We…

Research Findings: In this examination of associations between sibling interaction patterns and later social outcomes in single- and 2-parent families, 113 kindergarteners took part in naturalistic observations at home with siblings, classmates participated in sociometric interviews, and teachers completed behavior ratings. Sibling interactions…

There is very little known about how sibling characteristics may influence the social functioning of a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study utilized data from the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC; n=1355 children with ASD and 1351 siblings) to investigate this relationship. Phenotypic measures included (a) the "Autism…

Both Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) and divorce are very prevalent in western societies, and they may occur together. AD/HD is generally viewed as a neurobiological disorder, which has led to a commonly held belief that social-environmental factors play little role in the symptom profile of children diagnosed with the disorder.…

The current study examined the role of maternal behaviour and toddlers' emotion regulation strategies in the development of children's sustained attention abilities. Participants for this study included 447 children (232 girls) obtained from three different cohorts participating in a larger ongoing longitudinal study. When the children were 2…

The study examines the agreement among raters on children's problematic behaviors. A multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) matrix was applied to a normative sample of elementary school-aged children (N = 841). The participants were rated by their physical educators, using the Motor Behavior Checklist for children (MBC; Efstratopoulou, Janssen, &…

This article examined the effects of maternal depression during the postpartum period (Time 1) on the later behavior problems of toddlers (Time 3) and tested if this relationship was moderated by paternal psychopathology during toddlers' lives and/or mediated by maternal parenting behavior observed during mother-child interaction (Time 2). Of the…

This study examined the influences of problem behaviors on kindergarten reading outcomes and investigated the extent to which explicit, code-based reading instruction moderated those relations among 206 children identified as being at risk of reading difficulty. Children from the classrooms of 57 kindergarten teachers in 12 schools were randomly…

The present study aimed to determine the potential moderating effects of temperamental traits on the relation between parenting and toddlers' externalizing behaviours. For that purpose, this study examined the interplay between temperament and maternal parenting behaviours in predicting the level as well as the development of toddlers'…

This study examined the longitudinal relationship of early elementary predictors to adolescent depression 7 years later. The sample consisted of 938 students who have been part of a larger longitudinal study that started in 1993. Data collected from parents, teachers, and youth self-reports on early risk factors when students were in 1st and 2nd…