This study examined the specific relations and processes underlying the association between marital disturbance and child maladjustment. Data were gathered on 51 9- through 12-year-olds, along with their parents, on specific dimensions of marital discord, children's coping responses to conflict, and child adjustment. Parent reports, child reports…

The Adolescent Coping Scale (E. Frydenberg and R. Lewis, 1993) (ACS), developed in the Australian context, has been used widely since 1993 as an instrument to measure coping. Studies to date have published data highlighting the relationship between variables such as age, ethnicity, gender, attitudes and achievement, and coping. In doing so, they…

Thos paper discusses myths about adolescent psychopathology, including the beliefs that psychopathology is a normal state in adolescence; that adolescents grow out of their psychopathology; and that with regard to psychopathology, adolescents are either like adults or like children. Key features of adolescent development are summarized, the life…

This symposium contains reports on two studies on the following topics: (1) ways of helping children manage stress, by Jayne G. Garside, (2) psychological stress and coping in adolescent victims of sexual abuse in Singapore, by Colleen Ward, and (3) an abstract of a study on estrangement, by Jaya Nagaraja. The article on stress management…

This essay asserts that clinical conceptualizations of emotion that stress its disruptive influences and functional models of emotion that emphasize its adaptive aspects can be integrated into a developmental psychopathology framework. Under certain conditions, emotion regulation may develop dysregulatory aspects that can become a characteristic…

This study was undertaken to assess the impact of children's behaviors on employed parents' adjustment and to test a specific model of how spouse support may facilitate coping with the stress of a difficult child. It was hypothesized that child behavioral difficulty and spouse support would affect maternal depression through the mediation of…

One of the best predictors of aggression among schoolchildren is their social environment and relationships with peer and teachers. This study investigated the association between classroom climate and level of classroom aggression. The study population comprised over 9,000 fifth and sixth graders in 97 schools and 360 classrooms in Israel. It was…

The Madison (Minneapolis, MN) school program provides intensive instructional and treatment services to students 12 to 16 years old with serious emotional and behavioral problems. The primary goal of the program is to aid individual students to develop sufficient coping skills and self based behavioral controls so they can successfully return to…

This paper discuses the findings of a research study that compared 191 families of children with spina bifida and 145 families of children with mental retardation. Findings include: (1) mothers of children with developmental disabilities (DD) perceived that they experienced more poor health/mood problems than the mothers of children with Spina…

This paper reviews recent empirical and conceptual studies pertaining to stress in childhood and offers an integrative, cognitive-developmental theory for understanding childhood stress and coping. The theory builds upon Hunt's (1979) view of the epigenesis of intrinsic motivation and Block's (1982) formulation of assimilation and accommodation…

James E. Gilliam is the author of a book entitled "Autism," published in 1981 by Charles C. Thomas Company. This brochure records an interview with Mr. Gilliam conducted by Burt Smith and later converted to narrative form for publication by Charlene Warren. Adapted from a series of radio broadcasts entitled "The Human…

There is a current trend towards maintaining dementia patients at home and postponing institutionalization as long as possible. Previous research has suggested that frequency of help and support received by the caregiver is more predictive of burden than memory or behavior problems of the patient. Burden and distress were investigated using a…

This study tracked parental stress among 115 mothers of infants and toddlers with disabilities to evaluate patterns of stability and change in parental adaptation during the early childhood period. Parents were given the Parenting Stress Index three times: upon entry into an early intervention program, 1 year later, and when the child reached age…

This study compared the coping strategies used by children residing with single caregivers to those used by children residing with dual caregivers. Participating were 30 children in grades 4 through 6: 15 children living in families with 1 adult present and 15 children living in families with at least 2 adults present. Measures of anxiety,…

One goal of a longitudinal study of stepfamilies, divorced maternal custody families, and nondivorced families was to assess the response of children to the experiences associated with stepfamily formation and to identify factors that may buffer children against adverse life experiences or make them more vulnerable to negative outcomes. Children's…