This is a theoretical paper about differences in quality of attachment in preschool-aged children with emphasis on the development of the goal-corrected partnership. Inferences are made about the processes underlying preschoolers' attachment behavior. Specifically, the notion of quality of attachment is expanded to explicitly include strategy, regulation of affect, negotiation, secure base behavior, and response to maternal behavior. The classificatory system is expanded by adding two additional defended patterns, that is, compulsive caregiving and compulsive compliance, to the infant avoidant pattern. Furthermore, at the preschool age, the infant ambivalent pattern is identified as having a coercive strategy. In addition, the disorganized infant category is reconceptualized in terms of complex organization, reorganization, and disorganization. Finally, the process of generating new theories and hypotheses through a “participant observer” methodology is considered from the perspective of developmental psychopathology.

Children exposed to alcohol prenatally have been found to be at risk for developmental and behavioral problems; however, the relation between maternal alcohol consumption and other environmental factors has not been fully explored in the literature. In this study, subjects were 44 firstborn infants of women over 30 years of age. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis that maternal alcohol use during pregnancy was related to infant negative affect. Furthermore, negative affect was assumed to influence the mother-infant relationship. It was hypothesized that mothers of infants exhibiting negative affect would be less positive in interaction and that insecure infant attachment behavior would be more prevalent in these infants. Results of model testing confirmed the hypothesis. In addition, maternal alcohol consumption following pregnancy was not found to influence significantly either maternal interaction or infant attachment behavior.

This study investigates maternal interactive styles and their relation to children's play and nonplay behaviors. Fifteen maltreated and 15 nonmaltreated preschool-aged children and their mothers were observed during a laboratory play session and during problem-solving situations. Children's play behaviors were later videotaped in the classroom and analyzed for the level of social participation and cognitive complexity. Results indicated that maltreated mothers were less involved with their children, used fewer physical and verbal strategies to direct their children's attention, and were more negative compared with nonmaltreated mothers. Higher levels of cognitive play were positively related to both maternal physical and verbal attention-directing behaviors, high maternal involvement, and positive affective tone. The role of maternal stimulation in children's play development and implications for intervention programs are discussed.

Tourette syndrome (TS), a neuropsychiatric disorder that presents in childhood and is characterized by recurrent tics, is often associated with a variety of psychological problems. Most studies of concomitant problems have focused on psychiatric comorbidity, with less attention paid to nonsyndrome-specific or subsyndromal emotional and behavioral difficulties. Moreover, little is known about the factors that influence the specificity or severity of psychological problems. We hypothesized that level and type of psychological problem would be influenced by both severity of illness and developmental period. Children with severe tics were predicted to show increased levels of externalizing (undercontrolled) behavior, whereas adolescents with severe tics were predicted to show increased levels of internalizing (overcontrolled) behavior. Forty-one boys with TS were rated by their parents for tic severity (simple and complex motor tics) and psychological symptoms (Connors Parent Symptom Questionnaire and the Child Behavior Checklist). Results partially confirmed the hypothesis, indicating that greater illness severity was associated with greater psychological disturbance, but only in the younger subjects. Among the adolescents, even those with mild tics demonstrated relatively high levels of psychological symptoms. However, there was no indication that developmental period was related to the specific type of problem manifested. Regardless of age, patients with severe tics domonstrated high levels of externalizing behavior, and relatively high levels of internalizing behavior were also seen. Results are discussed in terms of the developmental factors that might influence the relationship between psychological and physical symptoms in children with TS.

Interactions between intelligence and psychosocial factors were examined in terms of influences on social competence among 144 inner-city ninth-grade students. Psychosocial variables examined included ego development, locus of control, and positive and negative life events. Definitions of social competence were based on peer ratings, teacher ratings, and school grades. Results indicated that, unlike their less intelligent peers, intelligent youngsters showed higher competence levels at high versus low levels of both ego development and internal locus of control. Findings were interpreted in the context of sociocultural influences on academic achievement among disadvantaged adolescents.

Four studies are reported in which an interview or questionnaire is used to measure the relation between behavioral inhibition, defined as consistent restraint in response to unfamiliar social or nonsocial stimuli, and adult mental health. In Study 1, undergraduates were tested using a retrospective self-report questionnaire. Those who reported more behaviors suggesting childhood inhibition also reported more mental health problems. Study 2 was an attempt to establish the postdictive validity of the measurement of childhood inhibition. College students and their parents completed the questionnaire independently and were in extremely strong agreement regarding the student's inhibited behaviors as a child. In Study 3, self-reported contemporary behaviors suggesting inhibition correlated with the retrospective self-report of inhibition. Both measures correlated with the State Anxiety Subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and both accounted for unique variance in anxiety, but only contemporary inhibition accounted for unique variance in depression. In Study 4, adults who had been treated for panic disorder or depression were interviewed and reported more behaviors indicative of inhibition during childhood than did control subjects. These four studies support the usefulness of retrospective self-report as a measure of childhood inhibition and are compatible with the hypothesis that a tendency toward inhibited behavior in childhood or adulthood may be a risk factor for mental health problems.

This study addressed the role of deficits in the organization of the self, or narcissistic pathology, among widows who evidenced depressive outcomes following the loss of their husbands. The significance of object representations and self-regulatory capacities (introjects) within the self-representation in predicting psychiatric status in a sample of 77 widows 1 year after spousal loss was examined. In addition, the link between functional deficits within the self and observable state markers of such deficits as they related to depression was investigated. A combination of projective and self-report measures were used to assess self and object representation. The General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg & Hillier, 1979) and the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed.) (Spitzer & Williams, 1985) were employed as measures of psychiatric disorder. Analyses revealed that functional aspects of self representations, or introjects, differentiated clinically depressed widows from those experiencing “normal” mourning. However, object representations were relatively weak predictors of depression following bereavement and evidenced little association with self representation. Observable markers of self-pathology were strongly related to functional impairments in the self but did not operate causally to predict depressive outcome. Theoretical and clinical implications of the linkage between functional deficits in the self and depression are discussed.