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.

The population-based Seattle Longitudinal Prospective Study on Alcohol and Pregnancy unites the fields of developmental psychopathology and behavioral teratology. Examining prenatal biological influences on childhood learning problems, this report is the first to extend earlier findings of alcohol-related deficits into late childhood. This follow-up study of 458 singletons assesses the degree to which children's classroom behavior and achievement difficulties at age 11 are predicted by prenatal alcohol exposure across the full spectrum of maternal use. Partial least squares statistical techniques are used to summarize complex multiple measures of exposure and outcome as latent variables. Accounting for many factors potentially important in development, analyses reveal a significant and subtle dose-response relationship between prenatal alcohol exposure and children's school performance a decade later. Maternal binge drinking (five or more drinks per occasion) and drinking during very early pregnancy are particularly salient for children's poorer school performance. A wide variety of problematic classroom behaviors, including attentional, activity, information-processing, and academic difficulties, are salient for prenatal alcohol exposure. Considered within the body of data on alcohol teratogenesis, these findings suggest that prenatal alcohol exposure has an enduring and predictable relationship with developmental difficulties through late childhood. Clinical, research, and public health implications are discussed.

This special issue of Development and Psychopathology is devoted to developmental approaches to the study of depression. Because the developmental perspective has only recently begun to be applied to the study of the mood disorders, it is hardly surprising that relatively little work exists that focuses on the relation between developmental processes and the affective disorders.

Early attempts to view depression from a developmental perspective primarily involved targeting a particular psychological or psychobiological mechanism known to occur in adult depression in order to discern the possible operation of this process throughout the course of ontogenesis (Cicchetti & Schneider-Rosen, 1986; Rutter, 1986). Even within the limits of these earlier efforts to consider the implications of the developmental perspective for elucidating the understanding of the affective disorders, it became apparent that there were many domains of development that needed to be taken into account (most notably, socioemotional, cognitive, linguistic, social-cognitive, neurobiological, and neurochemical; see Cicchetti & Schneider-Rosen, 1986; Puig-Antich, 1986; Radke-Yarrow & Zahn-Waxler, 1990; Zahn-Waxler & Kochanska, 1990).

Moreover, from the integrative perspective of developmental psychopathology, it is argued that it is essential to engage in a comprehensive evaluation of those factors (e.g., biological, psychological, environmental, social, intrafamilial; cf. Cicchetti & Aber, 1986) that may influence the nature of individual differences, the continuity of adaptive or maladaptive behavioral patterns, and the different pathways by which the same developmental outcomes may be achieved (Cicchetti & Schneider-Rosen, 1986; Kovacs, 1986; Rutter, 1986; Sroufe & Rutter, 1984). In practice, this entails a comprehension of and appreciation for the developmental transformations and reorganizations that occur over time; an analysis of the risk and protective factors and mechanisms operating in the child and his or her environment; the investigation of how emergent functions, competencies, and developmental tasks modify the expression of a disorder or lead to new symptoms and difficulties; and the recognition that a particular stress or underlying mechanism may result in different behavioral difficulties, at different times in the developmental process and in different contexts (Cicchetti & Aber, 1986; Cicchetti & Schneider-Rosen, 1984; Garber, 1984; Garber & Dodge, 1991; Kovacs, Feinberg, Crouse-Novak, Paulauskas, & Finkelstein, 1984; Kovacs, Feinberg, Crouse-Novak, Paulauskas, Pollack, & Finkelstein, 1984; Nurcombe, in press; Rutter, 1986).

Results are reported for a 3-year prospective longitudinal study of behavior problems in a group of children born at very low birthweight (<1,500 g) and a full-term control. Behavior problems were assessed with the Behavior Screening Questionnaire (BSQ) at 3 years and with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the hyperactivity index from the Conners parent and teacher scales at 6 years. The findings indicate that the preterms manifested more behavior problems than full-terms at both ages and that the overall prevalence of clinically significant problems increased with age. Although cross-age continuity on parent rating scales was similar and modest for both groups (r = .24–.35), the persistence of significant problems was quite high (50%). Early BSQ scores predicted later externalizing problems, even after the effects of prematurity, socioeconomic status, and family stress were removed, but not later internalizing problems. The latter were more strongly influenced by low SES and family stress. Findings for the full-terms, who had received the CBCL as well as the BSQ at 3 years, suggest that these two instruments may tap somewhat different dimensions of behavior disturbance at age 3.

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.

The rate of depression rises overall between childhood and adolescence, and by early adulthood depression is twice as common in women as in men. However, study results are conflicting as to the relative rates of depression in prepubertal boys and girls, and it is not clear whether the rates in adolescent boys rise, fall, or remain steady. It is also uncertain when in adolescence the female preponderance emerges. A number of studies point to effects of the biological developments of puberty as having an important place in these changes. From a developmental point of view, the fact that the hormonal and physical changes of puberty differ in boys and girls, mean that a “biological explanation” fits in well with the gender differentiation in rates of depression across puberty. In a sample of 3,519 8–16-year-old psychiatric patients, both boys and girls shared increasing levels of depression across this age range, but the rate of increase was faster in girls. There was no difference in the rates of depression between boys and girls before the age of 11, but by the age of 16 girls were twice as likely as boys to have significant depressive symptomatology. When age was controlled for, pubertal status had no effect on depression scores. Thus, these results did not support the idea that the biological changes of puberty are a primary motive force in producing the changes in the sex ratio in depression in adolescence. Therefore, further research on this topic needs not only to address the etiology of depression in young people, but also to search for etiologic factors with differential distributions or effects on boys and girls.

Theory and research on parent-infant attachment and on adult representations of past relationships suggest several possible themes and approaches for therapeutic intervention with parent-infant dyads. These include strategies aimed at increasing the parent's insight into the connection between past and present relationships and enhancing the parent's understanding of the child's needs and feelings, as well as the use of the therapeutic alliance to help the parent move toward more positive working models of self and others. Project STEEP (Steps Toward Effective, Enjoyable Parenting), an ongoing study of the effectiveness of preventive intervention with new mothers, provides one model of therapeutic intervention built on attachment theory and research.

The transition to parenthood marks a major milestone in family development that is especially difficult for roughly 10% of postpartum women who develop clinical depressions serious enough to interfere with daily functioning. Relatively little is known about the course of postpartum depression, the factors associated with its onset or severity, or its impact on the quality of mother-infant interaction. We studied 70 depressed women and 59 demographically matched nondepressed women delivering their first child and then followed them longitudinally through 24 months. Although the majority of depressions had remitted by 6 months postpartum, some women were depressed throughout the follow-up period, and others continued to evidence subclinical symptoms, indicating that depression in postpartum women can be relatively chronic. Depressed women differed from comparison women on measures of personal and family history, their adaptation to pregnancy, and minor pregnancy and delivery complications. They also perceived their infants as more difficult to care for and their husbands as less supportive. A combination of these variables accounted for 49% of the variance in depression severity scores at 2 months. Depressed women also showed less positive engagement and more negative affect when observed with their infants at 2 months. Spouse support and maternal positive engagement with the baby at 2 months differentiated between those with more chronic versus short-lived depressions. The implications of these findings for the woman's and her infant's development are discussed.

One reason for looking at a person's eyes may be to diagnose their goal, because a person's eye direction reliably specifies what they are likely to act upon next. We report an experiment that investigates whether or not young normal infants use eye contact for this function. We placed them in situations in which the adult's action toward them was either ambiguous or unambiguous in its goal. Results showed that the majority of normal infants and young children with mental handicap made instant eye contact immediately following the ambiguous action but rarely after the unambiguous action. Young children with autism, in contrast, made eye contact equally (little) in both conditions. These results are discussed in relation to the function of eye contact, to our understanding of infant cognition, and to the theory of mind hypothesis of autism.

This paper presents a developmental and a clinical model for the treatment of conduct disorder through the strategy of preventive intervention. The theoretical principles and clinical strategies utilized in the FAST Track (Families and Schools Together) Program are described. We indicate how the clinical model is derived from both our developmental model and previous findings from prevention trials. The FAST Track Program integrates five intervention components designed to promote competence in the family, child, and school and thus prevent conduct problems, poor social relations, and school failure. It is our belief that testing the effects of such a comprehensive approach is a necessary step in developing new intervention models for this population.

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.

Literature is reviewed demonstrating the impact of maternal depression on early infant interactions and development. Infants of depressed mothers (a) develop a depressed mood style as early as 3 months; (b) this mood generalizes to interactions with nondepressed women; (c) it persists over the first year if the mother's depression persists; and (d) it affects growth and Bayley developmental scores by the end of the first year. Other data are reviewed on individual differences including maternal depression styles of withdrawal and intrusion, negative behavior matching, and distorted perceptions of behavior. Finally, genetic, intrauterine, and extrauterine environment effects are discussed and interventions are suggested for altering the mother's depressed behavior and distorted perceptions. The review concludes that a developmental psychopathology perspective is needed to better understand the development of early depression.

This article describes the evolution of a psychosocial intervention, pairing, from its initial utilization as an interpersonally oriented therapy for severely emotionally disturbed pre- and early adolescents in a special needs school, to its current usage as a public school prevention technique for at-risk youngsters, both aggressive and withdrawn, who are living under conditions of poverty and limited community supports. The evolution of the intervention is described parallel to both the evolution of its theoretical foundations and its associated empirical analysis and evaluation. Given that our approach to both intervention and basic research is clinical-developmental (each part of the discipline influencing the other), the facilitation of greater social competence through the intervention provides the impetus for our research inquiry into the nature of psychosocial development. A generic evaluation model that integrates both outcome behavior and psychosocial development is described as it is applied to the evaluation of this specific intervention's effectiveness.

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.

The Preschool Socio-affective Profile, an 80-item teacher rating scale, was used to classify 126 French-Canadian children into three equal groups: socially competent (SC), average (AV), and anxious-withdrawn (AW). Mother-child interactions during a problem-solving task were observed. Base rates and conditional probabilities were calculated to assess the extent to which subjects responded contingently to each other's behaviors and affect. Children in all three groups exhibited a high degree of positive and negative reciprocity. SC children expressed more positive affect than AV or AW children and were more cooperative than AW children, who expressed more negative affect than either the SC or AV children. Mothers of the SC children displayed more positive behaviors and affect, were more contingent, and were more coherent in their discipline than all other mothers. Mothers of AV children were both less reciprocal with their child and less coherent than SC mothers. Failing to reciprocate positive affect or behavior, AW mothers engaged in a high degree of negative reciprocity and superfluous control and were aversive in response to compliance and noncompliance. These results are discussed from a developmental, transactional perspective, and their implications for an intervention strategy are considered.

Evidence suggests that the left frontal region is specialized for the expression of positive emotions, such as joy, whereas the right frontal region is specialized for certain negative emotions, such as distress. We previously reported that infants of mothers with depressive symptoms exhibited atypical patterns of frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) activity. We now extend these findings by examining the combined influence of maternal depression and attachment security on the infant's behavior and brain activity. Participants were 26 infants, 11–17 months of age, and their mothers. Twelve mothers reported elevated levels of depressive symptoms. Attachment behavior was observed in the traditional Strange Situation. While left and right, frontal and parietal EEG was recorded, infants were exposed to a baseline and three emotion-eliciting conditions (play with mother, stranger approach, maternal separation). During baseline and the condition designed to elicit positive emotion (play with mother), securely attached infants of symptomatic mothers exhibited reduced left frontal brain activity, compared to securely attached infants of nonsymptomatic mothers. During maternal separation, the most robust finding was that infants of symptomatic mothers, regardless of their attachment classification, exhibited reduced right frontal activity and lower levels of behavioral distress. The results suggest that both the mother's emotional well-being and her attachment relationship with her infant can influence infant frontal brain activity and affective behavior.

This study examined the relation between maternal and filial attributions and the aggressiveness of their interactions. We also examined whether or not certain setting conditions (e.g., maternal and child depression, maternal and child negative life events, marital conflict, socioeconomic status) predispose some mothers and children to make negative attributions and interact coercively. One hundred four mothers and sons (age 7–9 years) from married and divorced families participated. They completed questionnaire and interview data and were observed while participating in two gamelike tasks (e.g., Trouble, Etch-a-Sketch). Both maternal and child attributions were significantly related to their coercive interactions. The most aggressive dyads were those in which both mothers and sons perceived hostile intent in the other. The relations between attributions and coercive interactions were found to be moderated by marital conflict, and maternal education, such that the association between attributions and coercive behavior, was stronger when marital conflict was low and the mothers were better educated.

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.

Infant-parent psychotherapy in the second year of life presents specific challenges related to the child's developmental characteristics. The concept of projective identification is discussed as a mechanism for understanding the toddler's specific contribution to attachment disorders with the parent. A versatile clinical format is recommended including joint parent-child sessions, individual work with the toddler and the parents, and the use of therapeutic modes of communication specifically geared to the toddler's needs (“toddlerese”). Clinical examples and research applications are given to illustrate these points.