Past research highlights the importance of considering the sequelae of physical abuse in the context of other risk factors and possible exacerbating circumstances. The present research examines the relative, unique, and interactive effects of physical abuse, sociocultural disadvantage, and cumulative negative life events. Multiple measures and data sources were used to assess the socioeconomic circumstances, exposure to recent negative events, and social, cognitive, and affective adjustment of 19 physically abused and 49 nonabused elementary school-age children. Results indicated that abuse strongly independently predicted problems in children's adjustment with peers, self-perceptions, and depression. Abuse was also related to increased behavioral problems at home and at school, though this relation abated and even reversed itself as social disadvantage increased. Cumulative negative events independently predicted negative self-perceptions and, for girls, increased depression. Socioeconomic hardship was independently related to children's cognitive maturity. In addition, socioeconomic disadvantage qualified the relation between negative events and children's adjustment to peers, such that increased negative events were related to lower peer adjustment among less disadvantaged children but increased peer adjustment of children with more disadvantage. These results support calls for a more contextualized approach to examining the developmental outcomes of physical abuse, one that considers multiple risk factors simultaneously.

This study examined multiple paths that can explain the co-occurrence of behaviors comprising a problem behavior syndrome in adolescence. Two hundred sixteen 15–18-year-olds in service programs for at-risk adolescents were assessed twice over a 6–12-month period to examine predictors of changes in levels of their delinquency, unprotected sexual intercourse, and use of soft and of hard drugs. This study considered (a) potential common predictors of multiple behaviors, (b) predictive links among behaviors over time, and (c) whether or not important unique aspects of individual behaviors remain in spite of their co-occurrence. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that the co-occurrence of problem behaviors results from multiple pathways of influence. The future occurrence of several problem behaviors was predicted by adolescents' initial negative expectations in social interactions. In addition, alcohol and marijuana use predicted increases in several other problem behaviors over time. Finally, individual problem behaviors retained important unique characteristics, suggesting the need for further research examining both their syndromal and unique aspects.

This paper explores the development of cortical plasticity and cognitive representations in light of temperamental differences in basic motivational systems. Motivational systems related to reward/approach and punishment/avoidance begin to function early in life. By controlling the child's behavioral and emotional reactions, these systems provide exteroceptive and interoceptive information capable of stabilizing cortical synapses through use-dependent processes. By controlling attention, the motivational systems further contribute to synaptic stabilization through modulatory processes. As a result, children with strong reward/approach systems are likely to develop representations that emphasize potential rewards and frustrations and may become vulnerable to impulsive disorders. Children with strong punishment/avoidance systems may develop representations emphasizing punishment and relief, along with a vulnerability to anxiety disorders. These motivationally constructed representations differentiate in varied ways across domains involving the physical world, moral rules, and the self and, thus, contribute to the various forms of impulsive and anxious psychopathology.

This article is about the course of depressive symptoms during a classroom-based randomized preventive field trial aimed at improving reading achievement among first-grade children in an urban population of mixed ethnicity and lower middle to low socioeconomic status. In the fall, children reported high levels of depressive symptoms, a risk factor for major depressive disorder. There was a linear relationship in the fall between depressive symptoms and achievement test scores. Among male children in intervention classrooms whose gain in achievement was at least the national average, depression from fall to spring was decreased, compared to those whose achievement gain was lower. Among female children both in the control and in the intervention classrooms, there was also a significant relationship between gain in achievement and the course of depression.

Three models that can be used to investigate the effects of different environmental events on brain development and organization are explored. The insult model argues against brain plasticity, and the environmental model regards the brain as infinitely plastic. Our work is guided by the transactional model, which views brain development and organization as an interaction between (a) genetically coded programs for the formation and connectivity of brain structures and (b) environmental modifiers of these codes. Data are reported from our cognitive and socioemotional research studies that support the notion of plasticity during the first 2 years of life. From our work with normal developmental processes, we draw parallels to abnormal development and speculate how the transactional model can be used to explain abnormal brain organization and development.

In this 6-month prospective study, interactions between intelligence and emotional distress were examined in predicting social competence among 138 inner-city adolescents. The attempt was to extend previous cross-sectional findings obtained with a similar sample of disadvantaged youth. Intelligence was assessed via a nonverbal test of cognitive abilities, and social competence was operationalized based on teacher and peer ratings and school grades. Distress variables examined in interaction with intelligence included internalizing and externalizing symptomatology as well as the more specific internalizing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Interaction effects obtained indicated that intelligent youth who reported high depression and anxiety at Time I showed decreases in social competence over time, whereas those low on initial distress showed improvements in social competence levels. No such associations between initial distress and subsequent social competence were seen among the less intelligent children. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical issues and empirical evidence in developmental psychopathology, and implications for future research are noted.

Children who participate in the Mother-Child Project, a longitudinal study of high-risk children, were giver projective storytelling task during their sixth-grade year. Story sets were coded for relationship themes like peer acceptance and problem solving, and responses were compared between groups identified based on pas maltreatment. The maltreatment group included 43 children who were identified as having been physically abused, sexually abused, or neglected or having psychologically unavailable care. A control group of 53 children from this high-risk sample was identified as having received adequate care. The remaining participants whose care was questionable were not included in this study. Based on quantitative analyses using a factor measuring relationship expectations and controlling for IQ and socioeconoraic status, the maltreate group told stories significantly more negative compared to the control group. Findings are introduced and discussed in terms of attachment theory and related work addressing the mental representations of maltreated children. In particular, it is proposed that, based on early maltreatment experiences, children acquire internal working models of themselves as unworthy and of others as unavailable. In subsequent relationship situations they would be constricted in cognitively processing events, have difficulty regulating their own emotions, an employ processes of defensive exclusion (e.g. projection, introjection, displacement, splitting, preoccupatioi idealization) to manage their distress feelings.

The purpose of the present study was to compare the depression profile of four subtypes of peer-rejected children and a group of neglected children to a normative sample and evaluate whether or not these subgroups showed distinctive patterns. A total of 140 children were selected on the basis of peer status and peer assessment of social behavior. Depressed mood was evaluated by self-reports and peer assessments. As expected, withdrawn-rejected children expressed stronger feelings of depression, both generally (i.e., higher Child Depression Inventory [CDI] scores) and specifically (i.e., energy/interest), as well as more loneliness and social dissatisfaction than the normative group. They were also seen by their peers as being sadder. The aggressive-withdrawn-rejected children displayed results that were very similar to those of withdrawn-rejected children. They manifested stronger feelings of depression both generally (i.e., higher CDI scores) and specifically (i.e., mood/affect) and expressed more loneliness and social dissatisfaction than the normative group. They were also nominated more often as getting their feelings hurt easily and as being usually sad. Contrary to expectations, aggressive-rejected children were also found to differ from the normative children but only on a general index of depression, not on the more specific measures nor on loneliness and social dissatisfaction. Also, they did not differ from the normative sample on the peer assessment items. The neglected children did not differ from the normative sample on any of the self-report or peer assessment measures. The results concerning withdrawn-rejected and aggressive-withdrawn-rejected children suggest that peer rejection could play a mediating role with respect to feelings of distress and confirm that these children are at risk for internalizing problems. The pattern of results for aggressive-rejected children suggests that peer rejection may not play such a role.

Based on findings that, like schizophrenic children, children with complex partial seizure disorder have illogical thinking, this study examined whether or not these same epileptic subjects had other thought processing impairments found in schizophrenic children. Compared to normal children (N = 38), both the epileptic (N = 27) and schizophrenic children (N = 31) underutilized discourse (cohesive) devices that make speech coherent. The severity of the discourse deficits and formal thought disorder of the schizophrenic children was associated with age, but not with IQ scores. Age, IQ, and seizure-related, not behavioral variables, were associated, however, with the severity of the discourse deficits of the epileptic subjects. The study' findings suggest that measures of impaired thought processing and communication in schizophrenic children could be a model to study the developmental impact of complex partial seizure disorder in middle childhood. The clinical implications of the study's findings are discussed.

This investigation examined the impact of dimensions within maltreatment such as the severity, frequency, chronicity, and subtypes of maltreatment and their relationship with child outcome. Children between the ages of 5 and 11 who participated in a summer camp program were assessed on their social competence, behavior problems, and peers ratings of cooperation, disruption, and initiation of aggression. The 235 participants were all from low-socioeconomic status families; 145 children were from families with documented histories of child maltreatment, whereas 90 of the children had no record of maltreatment. The study found that severity of the maltreatment, the frequency of Child Protective Services reports, and the interaction between severity and frequency were significant predictors of children's functioning. Additionally, the chronicity of the maltreatment in the family significantly predicted peer ratings of aggression. Subtype differences emerged as well, with children in the sexual abuse group being more socially competent than other maltreated children, and children in the physical abuse group having more behavior problems than nonmaltreated children. Regression analyses with cooccurrence of multiple subtypes of maltreatment indicated that physical neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse made significant unique contributions in predicting child outcomes. The advantages of exploring multiple dimensions within maltreatment, the necessity of developing better operational definitions of these dimensions, and social policy implications of the findings are discussed.

In this paper we discuss the contribution of neural activity-dependent factors to shaping the brain in normal and pathologic development, and we discuss factors that determine the likelihood of recovery from the experience of abnormal neural activity during development.

The secure working model classification of adult attachment, as derived from Main and Goldwyn's (in press) Adult Attachment Interview scoring system, was considered in terms of earned-security and continuous-security. Earned-security was a classification given to adults who described difficult, early relationships with parents, but who also had current secure working models as indicated by high coherency scores; continuous-security referred to a classification in which individuals described secure early attachment relationship with parents and current secure working models. Working models of attachment were classified as earned-secure, continuous-secure, or insecure in a sample of 40 parents of preschool children. Comparisons among the classifications were conducted on a measure of depressive symptoms and two sets of ratings of observed parenting styles. Adults with earned-secure classifications had comparable depressive symptomatology to insecures, with 30% of the insecures, 40% of the earned-secures, and only 10% of the continuous-secures having scores exceeding the clinical cut-off. The rate of depressive symptomatology in the earned-secure group suggests that reconstructions of past difficulties may remain emotional liabilities despite a current secure working model. With regard to parenting styles with their preschoolers, the behavior of earned-secure parents was comparable to that of the continuous-secures. This refinement in conceptualizing secure working models suggests ways for understanding variation in pathways to competent parenting as well as a possible perspective on how adults' adverse early experiences may continue to place them and their children at risk.

As modern neuroscience seeks to understand the neural bases for mental illness, it is becoming increasingly important to define how and when complex neural circuits may be altered in individuals who carry the genetic vulnerability for psychopathology. One factor that could potentially play a contributory role in mental illness is the stress response. A variety of studies suggest that stress can alter the activity of several key cortical neurotransmitters, including glutamate, γ-aminobutyric acid, dopamine, and serotonin. Specifically, exposure to neurotoxic levels of adrenal steroid hormone, particularly if this occurs early in life, could potentially induce permanent changes of these transmitter systems in corticolimbic regions, such as the hippocampal formation and cingulate gyrus, that have a high density of glucocorticoid receptors. Overall, exposure to severe stress during the perinatal period could potentially induce alterations in the circuitry of the anterior cingulate cortex and hippocampal formation and interfere with the normal mechanisms underlying attention and learning.

Controversy surrounds the role of early social experience in the development of personality disorder. In particular, little is known of the means by which continuities from infancy through adulthood might be mediated. One suggestion is that a person's mental representations of relations between him- or herself and other people, either in the form of “internal working models” or “internal object relations,” provide the essential link. We report on an investigation of this issue in which we focused on the formal qualities of accounts of childhood offered by adults who were drawn from two contrasting clinical groups; borderline personality disorder and dysthymia. The results lend support to the claims made by attachment theory and the object relations school of psychoanalysis, that at least in certain groups of individuals, adults' modes of representing early experience are intimately related to styles of interpersonal functioning. More specifically, the form of interpersonal Psychopathology characteristic of borderline personality disorder may be associated with enmeshed and unresolved patterns of responding to the Adult Attachment Interview of George, Kaplan, and Main (1985) and with reports of low maternal care and high maternal overprotection on the Parental Bonding Instrument of Parker, Tupling, and Brown (1979).

Although maltreatment is known to have detrimental effects on socioemotional development, the relation of those effects to type of maltreatment and child age is not clear. Most studies either focus solely on physical abuse or do not differentiate among types of maltreatment. Furthermore, most concentrate on young children. Studies of psychological maltreatment in young children indicate that physical abuse and psychological maltreatment tend to co-occur, severity of injury is not related to severity of psychological maltreatment or to developmental problems, and severity of psychological maltreatment is related to developmental outcomes. The present study investigated (a) relations among types of physical and psychological maltreatment and (b) their effect on development in an ethnically diverse sample of maltreated school-age children and adolescents. The results indicated that, as in young children, physical and psychological maltreatment co-occurred in most cases. As with young children, severity of emotional abuse was related to severity of physical neglect in school-age children; among adolescents, however, it was related to severity of physical injury. Moreover, severity of emotional abuse was related to both behavior problems and depression. The differences between the patterns of effects for school-age children and those for adolescents are discussed, as are implications of the findings for intervention.

This study examined the relationship of psychiatric diagnoses to gender, IQ, and ego development level in an inpatient sample of 269 adolescents. It was found that adolescents with an affective disorder diagnosis, in contrast to those with a diagnosis of conduct or mixed affective-conduct disorder, were more likely to (a) be female, (b) have higher IQ scores, and (c) have higher ego development levels. No significant age differences were found between groups. Comparisons between the single diagnosis and mixed disorder groups indicated that the mixed disorder group is characterized by the most severe symptoms found in each of the pure affective and conduct disordered groups. A relationship between type of DSM-III diagnosis and ego development level in adolescence was demonstrated after controlling for the effects of age, gender, and IQ. These results are offered as an explication of the developmental dimensions inherent in DSM-III psychiatric diagnoses.

A model of asymmetric contributions to the control of different subcomponents of approach- and withdrawal-related emotion and psychopathology is presented. Two major forms of positive affect are distinguished. An approach-related form arises prior to goal attainment, and another form follows goal attainment. The former is hypothesized to be associated with activation of the left prefrontal cortex. Individual differences in patterns of prefrontal activation are stable over time. Hypoactivation in this region is proposed to result in approach-related deficits and increase an individual's vulnerability to depression. Data in support of these proposals are presented. The issue of plasticity is then considered from several perspectives. Contextual factors are superimposed upon tonic individual differences and modulate the magnitude of asymmetry. Pharmacological challenges also alter patterns of frontal asymmetry. A diverse array of evidence was then reviewed that lends support to the notion that these patterns of asymmetry may be importantly influenced by early environmental factors that result in enduring changes in brain function and structure.

Research in the broad area of child maltreatment has investigated the effects of these phenomena globally and without much attempt to distinguish the nature and extent of such experiences. This study sought to examine the underlying structure of child maltreatment and relate this structure to current adolescent adjustment. A principal components analysis was conducted with 162 adolescents who had backgrounds of child maltreatment, using a comprehensive measure of such experiences at two developmental time periods (birth to 6 years, and 7–12 years). This analysis resulted in interpretable factors that were used to create scales measuring maltreatment in a continuous, nonredundant manner. These scales were used to test main and interaction effects of each type of maltreatment on current adjustment of adolescent males and females. For males (N = 71), the relationship between early maltreatment and adjustment was significantly enhanced when interactions between physical and psychological abuse and between partner abuse and neglect were entered into the equation. For females (N = 91), current adjustment was significantly related to the developmental period in which neglect or psychological abuse had occurred. Results are discussed in relation to measurement and theoretical issues.