Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is a social plight that affects the lives of roughly 400,000 children annually within the United States. However, while a significant body of research exists conceptualizing the impacts of CSA on adolescent-aged children, little research is available to synthesize the impacts of CSA on preschool-aged children, particularly…

Peer relations constitute a main developmental context for adolescents. Peers offer an instance for identity definition and set the norms of acceptable and valued characteristics, behaviors, and attitudes, representing a societal model that allows and restrains avenues for adolescents' socioemotional development. The present article departs from…

Identity development and separation-individuation in parent-child relationships are widely perceived as related tasks of psychosocial maturation. However, a dynamic, developmental perspective that explains how intra-personal change in identity evolves from transactions between parents and children is not sufficiently represented in the literature.…

The purpose of this paper is to present a review of literature on internationally adopted children in the U.S. that provides context, references for normal development, and describes traumatic stress with children. This gives counselors and other professionals who work with young children and families of international adoption a conceptual…

This book examines children's many connections to animals and their developmental significance, exploring the growth of the human animal connection, and showing how children's innate interest in animals is shaped by their families and their social worlds, and may in turn shape the kind of people they will become. Chapter 1 documents how theory and…

Discusses the stage theory of early child development of French theorist Henri Wallon. Describes Wallon's efforts (in contrast to contemporary Piaget) to describe emotional development and the role emotions play in establishing the child-caregiver bond. Argues that Wallon's theory is unique in its focus, influenced theorists such as Vygotsky, and…

Study examines attachment organization and dimensions of commitment in 101 females and 30 males with the use of an attachment questionnaire and the Commitment Inventory. Persons in a relationship who endorsed a secure or preoccupied attachment prototype reported stronger personal dedication than those endorsing a fearful-avoidant or…

Conclusions from research in the areas of maternal deprivation, institutionalization, and parent-child relations are used to conceptualize and hypothesize about dimensions of daily separation experiences relevant to attachment. (SS)

In an effort to understand the emotional impact of abuse, many studies have been conducted to investigate the type of emotional problems suffered by abused children and to identify variables which may make them susceptible to damage. For example, studies have correlated emotional problems with age at which abuse occurred and with the type and…

The second of a four-part series on the development of infants and toddlers, this article reviews current research on social and emotional development during the first two years and provides a selected list of activities designed to promote infants' optimal development. Attachment behavior and affective behavior are two major topics explored. (EV)

Discusses the application of emotionally focused marital therapy (EFT) with couples for which one or both of the partners have experienced significant trauma. EFT, in the context of trauma, incorporates the nine steps of conventional EFT and the three stages of the constructivist self-development theory of trauma treatment. (Author/MKA)

Examines the factor pattern of parental attachment measures as well as the relationship of the resultant oblique factors to emotional functioning and perceived stress. Results reveal that individuals who reported higher levels of parental attachment reported lower levels of perceived stress and greater confidence in their ability to attend to and…

Initial research on maternal reminiscing style established clear and consistent individual differences that vary along a dimension of maternal elaboration and that are related to children's developing autobiographical skills. More recent research has linked maternal elaborative reminiscing to strategic memory development, language and literacy…

School completion and dropping out of school are developmental processes with strong social and emotional antecedents. The early development of attachment bonds, and subsequent positive and negative behaviors and relationships set an early path toward school completion or drop out. Discusses ways to enhance emotional bonds before and during the…

Clinicians and researchers are beginning to acknowledge the importance of integrating a developmental perspective into the understanding of clinical disorders. Major gaps still exist between basic research on attachment processes and clinical issues regarding mental disorders. Reflecting growth in this direction, National Institute of Mental…