Preterm birth and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) stay are early adverse stressful experiences, which may result in an altered temperamental profile. The serotonin transporter gene ("SLC6A4"), which has been linked to infant temperament, is susceptible to epigenetic regulation associated with early stressful experience. This study…

Observed 193 children at 4.5 years who had been classified at 4 months as high or low reactive to stimulation for signs of inhibited or uninhibited behavior. Children classified as high reactive were less spontaneous and less sociable than low-reactive children, but only a small proportion maintained a consistently inhibited or uninhibited…

Personality and attitudinal correlates of father absence early (before age 5) or late (between 5 and 11) in childhood were studied in a sample of college- aged women. Father absence was due to either death or divorce. Results showed few differences between father-absent subjects and father-present controls. (Author/JMB)

In the studies, subjects from different age groups (5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 18-22 years) observed vignettes designed to reveal an actor's abilities or personality traits, and were told about one instance of an actor's behavior, respectively. The subjects were then asked to predict the actor's behavior in related situations. Results focused differences in…

Findings indicated that zygosity was not related to behavioral scores during the neonatal period, and that environment substantially influenced neonatal temperament. Specific perinatal indicators of risk were found to account for some of the intrapair differences in behavioral variables. (RH)

Investigated effects of a year-long home intervention with a sample of preterm infants randomly assigned to one of three groups: developmental intervention, parent/infant intervention, and a no-treatment control. A full-term no-treatment control was also used. Findings confirm earlier studies and demonstrate changes in behavior and behavioral…

Investigated emotional responses to the still-face paradigm in preterm and full-term black infants. Preterm infants spent less time than full-term infants displaying big smiles in one episode, and showed a less pronounced decrease in big smiles in a second episode. Results confirm the robustness of the still-face paradigm. (HTH)

Observers and mothers rated infant behavior in the home on dimensions of temperament once a week for eight weeks. Although week-to-week correlations were modest, aggregates of the eight observations had high reliability for both observers and mothers. When direct observations were compared with mother reports, little evidence of mother-observer…

Temperament and attachment, as defined by Bowlby and his followers, are fundamentally different constructs, and research guided by the attachment perspective cannot meaningfully be assimilated to the temperament construct. Qualitative aspects of relationships simply cannot be reduced to individual behavioral dimensions. (RH)

Temperament ratings of infants, toddlers, and preschool children were made by their parents and their all-day nursery school teachers to determine whether low parent-observer reliabilities previously reported may relate to differential experiences with children. Despite the teachers' extensive contact with these children, convergence coefficients…

Examined interrelations among behavioral inhibition (BI), cardiac activity, and attachment status in 4.5-year olds. Found that only Secure children showed predicted relationship between low BI and high heart period (HP) or respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Increases in HP from assessment during separation from mother to assessment three minutes after…

Using extensive, multifaceted observational and interview data from the Family Socialization and Developmental Competence Project (FSP), this paper examines the claims that androgynes, by comparison with sex-typed individuals, are more effective persons and parents. (Author/RH)

The dyadic interaction of popular and unpopular children was compared. Analysis revealed that unpopular children were more disagreeable and less likely to provide a general reason or rule for their disagreement or to suggest a constructive alternative when criticizing a peer. (Author/MP)

Experimental group mothers reported significantly greater self-confidence and satisfaction with mothering and more favorable perception of infant temperament than did control group mothers. Differences between children on cognitive scores became significant at 36 and 48 months of age, when the experimental group caught up with normal children. (RH)

Convergence between temperament ratings from two different sources (mothers and observers) and observer codings of peer-peer interaction was assessed. (Author/MP)