Maternal cocaine use during pregnancy can affect the infant directly through toxic effects or indirectly through cocaine's influence on maternal psychological status. We followed 160 cocaine exposed and 56 nonexposed infants and their mothers identified at birth through interview and/or urine screen. Although cocaine exposure defined the groups, infant exposure to alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco was allowed to vary. Infants were 99% African American and poor. All mothers completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and infants were given the Bayley Scales of Mental (MDI) and Motor (PDI) Development at a mean corrected age of 17 ± 8 months. Both MDIs (94 ± 17 vs. 103 ± 16) and PDIs (101 ± 16 vs. 108 ± 12) were lower for cocaine exposed infants. Psychological distress was greater in cocaine using mothers. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to assess the relative effects of gestational age, maternal psychological distress, and cocaine and polydrug exposure on infant outcomes. Both psychological distress and cocaine and alcohol exposure predicted lower MDIs after controlling for prematurity. Neither psychological distress nor alcohol exposure predicted motor outcome, while cocaine had a significant effect. Tobacco and marijuana exposure were unrelated to outcome. These findings provide further support for direct effects of cocaine and alcohol on infant development, as well as highlight the need for studies to document maternal psychological factors, which may increase child risk for poorer outcomes.

Previous research has documented differences in the pattern of EEG activation between 3-month-old infants of depressed mothers and infants of nondepressed mothers. In the present study, EEG was recorded in even younger 1-month-old infants of depressed and nondepressed mothers. The infants of depressed mothers exhibited greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry (due to reduced left frontal activation), and this pattern at 1 month was significantly related to 3-month EEG asymmetry. Right frontal EEG asymmetry was also related to more frequent negative facial expressions (sad and pre-cry faces) during the Brazelton exam. Finally, the infants of depressed mothers showed more indeterminate sleep, were less active, and cried less than infants of nondepressed mothers.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of maternal interaction styles to the development of a sample of 56 toddlers (19 low risk, 37 high risk) seen at 12 and 24 months of age. At 12 months, videotapes of mother–child interaction were coded for directiveness, sensitivity, and elaborativeness. At 12 and 24 months, cognitive and language measures were collected. A directive maternal style was negatively correlated with sensitivity and elaborativeness, whereas sensitive and elaborative ratings were positively correlated, suggesting a facilitative style. Regression models significantly predicted receptive language and cognitive development at 24 months but not expressive language. Maternal directiveness at 12 months was negatively related to later receptive language skills, whereas elaborativeness at 12 months was positively predictive of later cognitive development. Child status variables and maternal interactional styles contributed about equally to the prediction of later cognitive and language outcomes.

Construct validity of the newly developed Preschool Assessment of Attachment (PAA) was examined in a sample of depressed and nondepressed mothers and their preschoolers, focusing on attachment related differences in children's general caregiving environments, maternal psychosocial functioning, and child behavior during interactions with mother. Mothers of secure children were more emotionally and verbally responsive to their children than were mothers of insecure children, and secure children were emotionally more positive to their mothers than were insecure children. Mothers of secure children also reported higher levels of social supports than did mothers of insecure children. Finally, dyads with children who lacked unitary, coherent attachment strategies (i.e., anxious depressed, defended/coercive, and insecure other) showed the worst functioning in all domains relative to all other attachment groups. Similar but slightly less robust findings were obtained with socioeconomic variables statistically controlled. These results lend support to the PAA as a valid system for the conceptualization and measurement of quality of attachment among preschoolers. Future research applications with the PAA are discussed.

Interactive coordination was observed in laboratory play interactions of pairs of 29 clinically depressed and 14 nondepressed mothers and their 13–29-month-old children (M = 18.9 months). Nondepressed mothers and their children displayed more interactive coordination than depressed-mother dyads (p < .001). Depressed mothers were less likely to repair interrupted interactions, and their toddlers were less likely to maintain interactions than nondepressed controls. Toddlers matched their nondepressed but not their depressed mothers' negative behavior rates. Results suggested that early interventions focus on training mothers to attend to, maintain, and repair mother–child interactions to more closely approximate normal levels of interactive coordination.

An indicated preventive intervention research program integrating attachment, attributional, and behaviorist perspectives was conducted to test the hypothesis that parent–child relationship disturbances directly effect the child's adjustment to the preschool. Anxious-withdrawn preschool children and their mothers were divided equally into treatment and control groups, and assessed on maternal self-report of parenting stress, behavioral ratings of mother–child interaction, and teacher ratings of the children in the preschool classroom. Results showed significant changes in the treatment group: mothers in the treatment group moderated their level of control to a more appropriate, less intrusive level, while children in the treatment group showed an increase in cooperation and enthusiasm during a problem solving task with mother. Teacher-rated social competence and anxious-withdrawn behavior indicated improvement, although only the former was significant. The demonstration of effects of this home intervention for the mother on the child's behavior in the preschool confirm the transactional model underlying this study and demonstrate the utility of a parent–child interaction training component for the prevention of behavioral–emotional problems in young children.

Reports follow-up study of 181 young highly stressed urban children, classified as stress-resilient (SR) and stress-affected (SA) 1½–2 years earlier. At follow-up (T2), children were retested on five initial (T1) test measures: self-rated adjustment, perceived competence, social problem solving, realistic control attributions, and empathy; parents and teachers did new child adjustment ratings, and parents participated in a phone interview focusing on the T1–T2 interval. Child test and adjustment measures and parent interview responses at T2 sensitively differentiated children classified as SR and SA at T1. Test and interview variables used at T1 and T2 correlated moderately across time periods. At T2, four child test indicators (i.e., rule conformity, global self-worth, social problem solving, and realistic control attributions) and four parent interview variables (positive future expectations for the child, absence of predelinquency indicators, good parent mental health in the past year, and adaptive parent coping strategies) sensitively differentiated children classified as SR and SA at T1. No relationship was found between family stress experienced in the T1–T2 interval and changes in children's adjustment during that period.

This study examined the roles of verbal and nonverbal sources of information in the ability of persons with and without autism to recognize emotion. Child, adolescent, and young adult participants in four groups [Lower Functioning Autism (LFA) (n = 17), High Functioning Autism (HFA) (n = 18), Lower Functioning Comparison (LFC) (n = 18), and High Functioning Comparison (HFC) (n = 23)] identified emotions shown (happy, angry, sad, surprised, or neutral) in video clips of individuals expressing emotion verbally, nonverbally, or both. Verbal expressions of emotion were either Explicit, Implicit, or Neutral, whereas nonverbal expressions were Animate or Flat (3 × 2). Pairwise ANCOVAs indicated no group differences between HFA and HFC groups or between the LFA and LFC groups, and indicated instead group differences between higher and lower functioning persons. With groups collapsed into High Functioning (HF) and Lower Functioning (LF), significant group differences were found. Performance of LF individuals suggested they had difficulty inferring how a person felt based on what the person said, if the emotion was not explicitly named. Performance of HF individuals suggested they relied more on nonverbal than on verbal information to determine a speaker's emotion, except where the emotion was explicitly named. Results suggested that persons with autistic spectrum disorders can use affective information from multiple sources in much the same ways as persons of comparable developmental level without autism.