This longitudinal study investigated the relation between negative reactivity and attachmentin children with Down syndrome (DS). Specifically, we examined whether extremely lownegative reactivity is associated with the enactment and organization of attachment behaviors. Toaddress this issue 30 infants with DS (13 female, 17 male) were observed in Ainsworth'sStrange Situation at 19 and 27 months. The intensity and duration of distress reactions werecoded in 15-s intervals throughout each Strange Situation episode. Children's distressintensity during separations from caregivers was used to place children into Low versusModerate/High Negative Reactivity groups. In addition, ratings of infants' socialinteractive behaviors (contact maintenance, proximity seeking, distance interaction, resistance,and avoidance) were made for each episode and used to assess the quality of infants'attachment relationships. The data indicated that there are high rates of Type A and D insecureattachments within the DS population at each age studied. However, low negative reactivity wasnot consistently related to the activation of the attachment behavioral system, or associated withinsecure attachment relationships. Alternative explanations for the high rate of insecureattachments are discussed.

Parental emotions and behaviors that contribute to continuity and change in preschoolchildren's externalizing problems were examined. Mothers and fathers were observedinteracting with their children, and child-rearing styles were reported. Teachers, mothers, andchildren reported children's antisocial, oppositional behavior. Externalizing problemsshowed strong continuity 2 and 4 years later. Proactive parenting (i.e., supportive presence, clearinstruction, and limit setting) predicted fewer behavior problems over time, after controlling forinitial problems; the converse was true for parental anger. In contrast, the hypothesizedameliorative contribution of parents' positive emotion was not found. Parentalcontributions were most influential for children whose initial problems were in the clinical range.In particular, parental anger predicted continuation of problems over time. Paternal, as well asmaternal, influences were identified. Examination of parental emotions and inclusion of fathers isimportant to research and intervention with young antisocial children.

Research has demonstrated that children who experience familial sexual maltreatment are atrisk for developing psychological difficulties characterized by emotional and behavioraldysregulation. Surprisingly, however, little attention has been directed toward identifyingprocesses in emotional development that differ in maltreated and nonmaltreated children. From adevelopmental psychopathology perspective, the present study examined emotion managementskills (i.e., emotional understanding, emotion regulation) in 21 sexually maltreated girls and theirnonmaltreated peers to determine how the experience of sexual maltreatment may interfere withnormative emotional development. Findings indicated that sexually maltreated girls, incomparison to their nonmaltreated peers, demonstrate lower emotional understanding anddecreased ability to regulate their emotions in accordance with cultural expectations. Further,maltreated girls expected less emotional support and more relational conflict from parents inresponse to sadness displays and from parents and peers in response to anger displays. Thesefindings will be discussed from the functionalist approach to emotional development,emphasizing the importance of social context (e.g., maltreating, nonmaltreating) in thedevelopment of children's emotion management skills.

Internal representations of self and primary attachment figures may be one mechanism bywhich maltreatment affects children's interpersonal behavior and relationships with others.Research on the continuity and influence of maltreated children's attachmentrepresentations, however, has not included youngsters removed from abusive or neglectful homeenvironments. This paper examines the influence of maltreated children's maternal andself-representations on subsequent relationships with foster mothers and behavioral adjustment infoster care. Participants included 32 children, ages 9–13 years, who entered fosterplacement for the first time after a sustained relationship with a maltreating biological mother.Upon initially entering foster care, children's maternal and self-representations weresignificantly related to each other and to severity of maltreatment history but not to other factorsbelieved to influence the quality of parent–child relationship (e.g., maternal mental health,partner stability). In addition, these representations significantly predicted children'ssubsequent views of their relationships with foster mothers. Finally, children's behavior intheir foster homes was associated with maltreatment severity, internal representations assessed atentry into foster care, and to concurrent perceptions of their new foster mothers. These findingsadvance our understanding of foster placement's role in maltreated children'sdevelopment and provide preliminary insight into the processes associated with the formation ofpotentially compensatory relationships.

The uneven profile of performance on standard assessments of intelligence and the highincidence of savant skills have prompted interest in the nature of intelligence in autism. Thepresent paper reports the first group study of speed of processing in children with autism (IQ 1SD below average) using an inspection time task. The children with autism showedinspection times as fast as an age-matched group of young normally developing children (IQ 1SD above average). They were also significantly faster than mentally handicappedchildren without autism of the same age, even when these groups were pairwise matched onWechsler IQ. To the extent that IT tasks tap individual differences in basic processing efficiency,children with autism in this study appear to have preserved information processing capacitydespite poor measured IQ. These findings have implications for the role of general and specificcognitive systems in knowledge and skill acquisition: far from showing that children with autismare unimpaired, we suggest that our data may demonstrate the vital role of social insight in thedevelopment of manifest “intelligence.”

We hypothesized that hyperactivity defines the first stage and that antisocial problems definea second stage in a progression that leads eventually to early-onset delinquency. As expected, astructural equation model (SEM) showed that a latent construct for hyperactivity wassignificantly related to a latent construct for antisocial problems. We hypothesized that this pathreflected a shared mechanism, disrupted parental discipline. A second SEM showed that therelation between hyperactivity and antisocial behavior really reflected a shared disruption inparental discipline. A third SEM showed that having antisocial parents was uniquely correlatedwith antisocial children but not with hyperactivity. A fourth SEM showed that early-onsetdelinquency was predicted by a latent construct for antisocial child; but when this was partialedout, the contribution for hyperactivity was nonsignificant.

The number of children was incorrect in the original article published in 1998. Theparagraphs (pp. 169 and 170) that contain the values are here reprinted. We regret the errors andany problems they may have caused.