Findings indicated that attachment-related affect may reflect an affect continuum that underlies certain mother- and stranger-directed behaviors in the Strange Situation. However, not all aspects of reunion behavior can be predicted by prior separation reactions. (Author/RH)

Regardless of birthweight, ventilated infants received the lowest ratings for overall performance on the Infant Behavior Record. Ventilated newborns of very low birthweight were more likely to receive ratings characterizing an overly active infant with a short attention span, and never-ventilated infants of very low birthweight were most likely to…

Measures of limit setting and control in a toy cleanup situation were developed as part of a longitudinal study of lower-SES mothers and children through the first five years of life. Several findings suggest a distinction between mothers' seductive behavior and warmth or affection. Developmental implications are discussed. (Author/RH)

Examined relationship of emotion regulation and emotionality to social functioning in 77 children followed from age 4 to age 10. Found that high-quality social functioning was predicted by high emotion regulation and low nonconstructive coping, negative emotionality, and emotional intensity. Measures of regulation and emotionality frequently…

This study examined individual differences in 4-year-old children's expression of the self-conscious emotions of embarrassment and shame and their relation to differences in cortisol response to stress. Results indicated the presence of two different types of embarrassment--one that reflected negative evaluation of the self, and the other a…

Forty-eight four-year-olds grouped in quartets of same-sex unfamiliar peers were observed during five play and activity tasks. Found that, although solitary-passive, solitary-active, and reticent behaviors were nonsignificantly intercorrelated, reticence was associated with demonstrations of anxiety and hovering near others; maternal ratings of…

Evaluated the extent to which infants' expressive modalities of face, gaze, voice, gesture, and posture form coherent affective configurations and whether these modalities are related to specific interactive contexts. Found four distinct affective configurations: social engagement, object engagement, passive withdrawal, and active protest. (MDM)

Investigated genetic change and continuity within the domains of temperament, emotion, and cognition and language for 200 pairs of twins assessed at 14 and 20 months of age. Correlations of measures at the two ages indicated that individual differences in the second year of life showed greater change than continuity on most measures. (MDM)

Examined whether young infants produced differentially organized hand and arm actions in relation to affective expressions when the infants were presented with social and nonsocial stimuli. (PCB)

Examined relationship of regulatory control to preschoolers' peer interactions. Found that children high in effortful control were relatively unlikely to experience high levels of negative emotional arousal in response to peer interactions, but this relationship held only for moderate to high intense interactions. Socially competent responding was…

Examined whether putative regulatory behaviors widely assumed to be conceptually associated with certain behavioral strategies were associated with the changes in fearful and angry distress in 6-, 12-, and 18-month-olds. The key finding was that the use of some putative regulatory behaviors (distraction and approach) reduced the observable…

Evaluated emotional expressiveness, empathy, and prosocial behavior in 9-, and 13-year-olds. As expected, emotional expressiveness, emotional insight, and role taking were strong predictors of latent empathy. Boys' empathy was a strong predictor of prosocial behavior, whereas girls' empathy was related to prosocial behaviors with friends but not…

In this study, 126 children were observed at 6 months, 12 months, and 2 years. During infancy, latencies to reach for novel objects were measured. At 2 years, positive and negative affect, and behavioral approach-inhibition to low- and high-intensity situations were coded, and mothers assessed behavior problems. Confirmatory factor analysis…

Presents a description and analysis of group glee (joyful screaming, laughing and intense physical acts occurring in simultaneous bursts or in a contagious fashion), studied by means of videotapes of 596 formal lessons in a preschool. Information collected concerned occurrence, location, frequency and duration, teachers' responses, incidence of…

When children with Down's syndrome and normally developing children of comparable mental age were compared in their ability to find things they saw in a mirror, it was found that the ability of children with Down's syndrome paralleled that of normally developing children, but that motivational, attentional, and exploratory differences may exist.…