Few students of psychopathology and mental health would argue that the period between adolescence and adulthood is simply a passive medium through which individuals pass untouched, a segment of the life span that has no unique impact on ongoing trajectories of functioning and adjustment. Yet the relative lack of attention given to this period in theoretical conceptualizations and empirical investigations suggests an assumption that the events and experiences constituting the transition to adulthood are relatively inconsequential to the course of psychopathology and mental health. In comparison, far more attention has been given to childhood effects on adult psychopathology. Early experiences may be critical, and deserve all the attention they are given; however, their influences on later psychopathology and mental health are likely mediated and sometimes reversed by later experiences (Cicchetti & Tucker, 1994; Curtis & Cicchetti, 2003; Sroufe, 1997; Sroufe, Carlson, Levy, & Egeland, 1999; Sroufe, Egeland, & Kreutzer, 1990). There is a clear need to devote equal attention to more developmentally proximal influences (Cairns, 2000; Lewis, 1999; Schulenberg, Maggs, & O'Malley, 2003). This is especially true from a systems perspective, where development is viewed as a function of strong person–context interactions with a temporal course given to fits and starts that correspond, at least in part, to shifts in the individual, the context, and the interaction between the two (Cicchetti & Rogosch, 2002; Sameroff, 2000). More specifically, developmental transitions, representing major life changes within individuals and in social roles and contexts, can contribute to alterations in the course of mental health and psychopathology.John Schulenberg's work on this Special Issue was supported, in part, by grants from the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH, MH59396) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA, DA01411), Arnold Sameroff's work was supported by a grant from NIMH (MH59396), and Dante Cicchetti's work was supported by grants from NIDA (DA12903) and the Spunk Fund, Inc. This Special Issue is based, in part, on the Michigan Symposium on Development and Psychopathology: Continuity and Discontinuity during the Transition to Adulthood, held at the University of Michigan in June 2002, chaired by John Schulenberg and Arnold Sameroff, and sponsored by the NIMH-funded Center for Development and Mental Health, the Institute for Social Research, Office of the Vice President for Research, and Center for Human Growth and Development.

Developmental psychopathology and family systems theory are distinct approaches that have flourished in relative isolation from each other. Contributing to their distinctiveness, important differences exist between the approaches in the primary unit of analysis. Whereas developmental psychopathology commonly focuses on individual development as the main unit of analysis, the whole family unit is the central object of study in family systems approaches. Accordingly, the primary objective of developmental psychopathology is to understand the nature, origins, and sequelae of individual patterns of adaptation and maladaptation over time (Cicchetti, 1993; Sroufe & Rutter, 1984). In contrast, the principal goal in the family systems approach is to achieve a rich characterization of the interplay among relationships and individuals in the whole family unit, with a specific focus on identifying relationship structures, interpersonal boundaries, power distributions, and communication patterns (Cox & Paley, 1997; Minuchin, 1985).Work on this special issue was supported, in part, by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 57318) awarded to Patrick Davies and grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 45027-01 and MH 45027-06) and the Spunk Fund, Inc. awarded to Dante Cicchetti.

A representative community sample of primiparous depressed women and a nondepressed control group were assessed while in interaction with their infants at 2 months postpartum. At 3 months, infants were assessed on the Still-face perturbation of face to face interaction, and a subsample completed an Instrumental Learning paradigm. Compared to nondepressed women, depressed mothers' interactions were both less contingent and less affectively attuned to infant behavior. Postnatal depression did not adversely affect the infant's performance in either the Still-face perturbation or the Instrumental Learning assessment. Maternal responsiveness in interactions at 2 months predicted the infant's performance in the Instrumental Learning assessment but not in the Still-face perturbation. The implications of these findings for theories of infant cognitive and emotional development are discussed.This research was supported by the award of a Medical Research Council Training Fellowship to Charles Stanley. Lynne Murray was supported by a Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship. Alan Stein was supported by the Tedworth Trust and the Wellcome Trust. The authors would like to thank Anji West and Agnese Fiori\NCowley for their help with the coding of the assessments, Robbie Paterson for administrative assistance, Richard Hooper for assistance with the statistical analyses and Peter Cooper for collaboration in the planning of the study.

We examined the course of maternal depressive symptoms and children's attachment security at 36 months in a large sample of mother–child pairs from 10 sites across the country participating in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (N = 1077). Maternal depressive symptoms predicted higher rates of insecure attachment. Women who reported intermittent symptoms across the first 36 months had preschoolers who were more likely to be classified as insecure C or D; women with chronic symptoms were more likely to have preschoolers who were classified as insecure D. Symptoms reported only during the first 15 months were not associated with elevated rates of later insecurity. After controlling for potentially confounding demographic variables, maternal sensitivity (observed at 6, 15, 24, and 36 months) did not meaningfully account for links between attachment security and patterns of depressive symptoms. However, the course and timing of maternal depressive symptoms interacted with maternal sensitivity to predict insecurity. Women with late, intermittent, or chronic symptoms who were also low in sensitivity were more likely to have preschoolers who were insecure, in contrast to symptomatic women who were high in sensitivity. These data have implications for understanding the combined impact of maternal depressive symptoms and maternal sensitivity on children's socioemotional development.These data were collected under the auspices of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Susan B. Campbell, Celia A. Brownell, and Susan J. Spieker are investigators in this multisite study. We acknowledge the generous support of the NICHD (Grants HD25420 and HD25447). The study is directed by a Steering Committee and supported by NICHD through a cooperative agreement (U10) that calls for a scientific collaboration between the grantees and the NICHD staff. The authors thank their coinvestigators who worked with them on the design of the larger study, the site coordinators and research assistants who collected the data, and the children and families who continue to participate in this longitudinal study. Our appreciation is also expressed to Dr. Carey Ryan for statistical advice. We also thank the coders who scored the maternal sensitivity and preschool attachment videotapes.

Despite the intuitive richness of family systems theory, relatively little research has sought to test the validity of constructs theorized to be critical in the development of children's adjustment. One such cornerstone of structural and strategic family therapy is the family hierarchy. The present study investigated both the development of hierarchical structure in families from infancy to late middle childhood and relations between strong hierarchical structure and children's conduct problems. Using structural equation modeling, direct pathways to low hierarchical structure were evident for early caregiving behavior and parent–child conflict, with indirect associations present for parental adjustment, marital functioning, negative child behavior, and ecological disadvantage. In turn, family hierarchies were associated with youth antisocial behavior, an effect that was moderated by ethnic and neighborhood context. The results are discussed in reference to family systems' theory and implications for prevention and intervention.The research reported in this article was supported by grants to the first author from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 50907 and MH 01666). We are grateful to the staff of the Pitt Mother & Child Project for their years of service and to our study families for making the research possible. We also thank Miles Gilliom and Robert Laird for their assistance on this article.

This study investigated the development of attachment relationships in 38 foster infant–caregiver dyads over the first 2 months of placement. We used the Parent Attachment Diary to measure foster infants' daily attachment behaviors, the Adult Attachment Interview to examine foster parents' attachment states of mind, and Ainsworth's Strange Situation to capture attachment classifications. We examined differences in diary scales (secure, avoidant, resistant, and coherence) as they related to age at placement and foster parent attachment, using hierarchical linear modeling and analyses of variance. The results indicated infants with autonomous foster parents and infants placed at younger ages showed higher early and overall levels of secure behavior, less avoidant behavior, and more coherent attachment strategies compared to infants placed with nonautonomous foster parents. Changes in attachment behaviors over time were not predicted by the models; however, there was a significant decrease in the daily coherence of attachment behaviors associated with Strange Situation disorganization. Finally, we found significant concordance between the diary and Strange Situation scales for secure and avoidant behaviors.This research is part of an ongoing study of infants in foster care conducted at the University of Delaware in collaboration with the Baltimore City Department of Social Services and Delaware Department of Family Services. This study was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (R0152135) to the second author. We acknowledge the help of Kathleen Albus and Brady Bates with this project. Thanks are also due to Doris Loftin, Beverly Williams, and Gerri Robinson of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, as well as John Bates, Darlene Lantz, and Kathy Way of the Delaware Division of Children, Youth, and Their Families. Our deepest gratitude is expressed to the caseworkers, foster families, and children at both agencies.

Normal adolescent development is often accompanied by transient emotional and behavioral problems. For most individuals with postpubertal-onset adjustment problems, there is a resolution by early adulthood and relative stability through the adult life span. But for a minority, adjustment problems escalate during adolescence and portend the development of serious mental illness in adulthood. In this article, we explore adolescent behavioral changes and neurodevelopmental processes that might contribute to stress sensitivity and vulnerability for the emergence of the mental disorders. Of particular interest is the role that hormonal changes might play in the expression of genetic vulnerabilities for psychopathology. Drawing on recent findings from clinical research and behavioral neuroscience, we describe the ways in which postpubertal hormones might alter brain function and, thereby, behavior. It is concluded that there are both activational and organization effects of hormones on the adolescent brain, and these contribute to developmental discontinuities in behavioral adjustment. Implications for adult psychopathology and preventive intervention are discussed.

Few studies have examined the associations between environmental conditions and developing infant emotionality or the differential susceptibility to those conditions. The present longitudinal study aims to make a contribution to close that gap. We analyzed whether positive emotionality, negative emotionality/irritability, and withdrawal/fear at the end of the first year of life are predictable from preceding caregiver's depression/anxiety, social support, and sensitivity in the interaction with the infant while controlling for antecedent states of emotionality. Furthermore, the question of whether associations between maternal characteristics and subsequent fear are stronger in the subgroup of infants high in irritability as opposed to those who are low in irritability was investigated. Subjects were 101 healthy firstborn infants and their primary caregivers. Assessments were conducted at infant ages of 4, 8, and 12 months. Depression, anxiety, and the social support of the caregiver were assessed by questionnaire. Sensitivity in the caregiver–infant interaction was assessed by behavior observations within the scope of home visits. Temperament characteristics were observed in standardized laboratory episodes. Whereas negative emotionality and withdrawal/fear were significantly predictable from the maternal characteristics, no predictability could be shown for developing positive emotionality. There were indications of a stronger association between the maternal characteristics and developing withdrawal/fear in irritable infants.The research for this article was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) to U. Pauli–Pott and D. Beckmann (Grant PA 543/2-1, 2-2, 2-3). The sample was recruited from the maternity wards of two hospitals in Giessen. The authors thank PD Dr. C. Schubring, Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Evangelical Hospital, and Dr. A. Esch, Dr. K. D. Fleck, and Dr. H. J. Meier of St. Josef's Hospital, as well as the neonatal nurses in both hospitals for the friendly cooperation with which they supported the present study. Finally, special thanks are given to the families who participated in the study.

To identify types of families, latent-class analysis was applied to (reported) marriage and (observed) parenting measures obtained during the infancy, toddler, and/or preschool years for 828 two-parent families participating in the NICHD Study of Child Care. Five types of families were identified: Consistently Supportive (i.e., good parenting, good marriage, 15% of sample), Consistently Moderate (i.e., moderate marriage, moderate parenting, 43%), Consistently Risky (i.e., poor parenting, poor marriage, 16%), Good Parenting/Poor Marriage (19%), and Poor Parenting/Good Marriage (7%). When groups were compared in terms of contextual antecedents (measured at child age 1 month) and child cognitive–academic and socioemotional functioning in first grade, results indicated (a) that contextual risks increased linearly and children's functioning decreased linearly as one moved across the first three aforementioned groups; and after controlling for group differences in background factors (b) that children in the Good-Parenting/Poor-Marriage families outperformed those in the Poor Parenting/Good Marriage; (c) that there was evidence of “added value” developmentally when children experienced two sources of support (i.e., good marriage and good parenting) rather than just one (i.e., good marriage or good parenting); but (d) that there was only modest evidence of protective buffering whereby children experiencing just good parenting (but not just good marriages) outperformed children experiencing poor parenting and poor marriages. Results are discussed in terms of the relative influence of marriage and parenting on child development and the potential benefits of applying typological approaches to the study of marriage–parenting family subsystems.The research described herein was supported by a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U10-HD25420). The authors express their appreciation to all collaborating investigators of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care.

Developmental psychopathologists are increasingly focused on characterizing heterogeneity of trajectories of psychological disorders across the life course (e.g., developmentally limited vs. chronic forms of disorder). Although the developmental significance of trajectories has been highlighted, there has been little attention to relations between trajectories and their etiologically and clinically relevant time-varying covariates (dynamic predictors). Depending upon the functional relation between a disorder and a dynamic predictor, we expect to see different trajectories of dynamic predictors. Thus, we propose a taxonomy of trajectories of dynamic predictors of course of disorder and provide an initial investigation into its validity. Using a mixed-gender, high-risk sample of young adults followed over 7 years, we identified dynamic predictors that covary with the course of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Based on a logically derived classification to facilitate interpretation of findings, three comparison groups were examined: persons whose AUD “remitted” (n = 33), those with a chronic AUD (n = 29), and nondiagnosers (n = 274). We hypothesized seven patterns of dynamic prediction (stable vulnerability indicators, course trackers, deterioration markers, developmentally specific variables, developmental lag markers, course-referenced variables, and recovery behaviors) and found evidence for five of them. The interpretation of markers of risk for development and course of AUDs and their implications for prevention, early intervention and formal/self-change treatments are discussed.Preparation of this article was supported by NIH Grants R37AA07231 and R01AA013987 to Kenneth J. Sher and P50 AA11998 to Andrew Heath from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Portions of this research were presented at the annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism, Denver, CO, June 2000; the biennial meeting for the Society for Research on Adolescence, April 2000; and the Michigan Symposium on Developmental Discontinuities, June 2002. We gratefully acknowledge Laurie Chassin, Patrick Curran, Andrea Hussong, Kristina M. Jackson, Jenny Larkins, Terrie Moffitt, and Susan O'Neill for providing numerous, helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.

The purpose of this study was to examine child, maternal, and family antecedents of children's early affect dysregulation within the mother–child relationship and later cognitive and socioemotional correlates of affect dysregulation. Children's affect dysregulation at 24 and 36 months was defined in the context of mother–child interactions in semistructured play and toy cleanup. Dyads were classified as dysregulated at each age based on high negative affect. Affect dysregulation was associated with less maternal sensitivity and stimulation, more maternal depressive symptoms, and lower family income over the first 36 months of life. Children with early negative mood, lower Bayley Mental Development Index scores and insecure-avoidant (15 months) or insecure-resistant attachment classifications (36 months) were more likely to be in an affect-dysregulated group. Controlling for family and child variables, affect-dysregulated children had more problematic cognitive, social, and behavioral outcomes at 54 months, kindergarten, and first grade. The findings are discussed in terms of the early role played by parents in assisting children with affect regulation, the reciprocal nature of parent–child interactions, and the contribution of affect regulation to children's later cognitive, social, and behavioral competence.This study is directed by a Steering Committee and supported by NICHD through a cooperative agreement (U10), which calls for scientific collaboration between the grantees and the NICHD staff. Participating investigators, listed in alphabetical order, are Virginia Allhusen, University of California, Irvine; Jay Belsky, University of London; Cathryn L. Booth, University of Washington; Robert Bradley, University of Arkansas, Little Rock; Celia A. Brownell, University of Pittsburgh; Margaret Burchinal, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Susan B. Campbell, University of Pittsburgh; K. Alison Clarke–Stewart, University of California, Irvine; Martha Cox, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Sarah L. Friedman, NICHD, Bethesda, Maryland; Kathyrn Hirsh–Pasek, Temple University; Aletha Huston, University of Texas, Austin; Elizabeth Jaeger, Temple University; Jean F. Kelly, University of Washington; Bonnie Knoke, Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle, North Carolina; Nancy Marshall, Wellesley College; Kathleen McCartney, Harvard University; Marion O'Brien, University of Kansas; Margaret Tresch Owen, University of Texas, Dallas; Chris Payne, University of North Carolina, Greensboro; Deborah Phillips, National Research Council, Washington, DC; Robert Pianta, University of Virginia; Wendy Robeson, Wellesley College; Susan Spieker, University of Washington; Deborah Lowe Vandell, University of Wisconsin, Madison; and Marsha Weinraub, Temple University. The authors express appreciation to the study coordinators at each site who supervised the data collection, the research assistants who collected the data, and especially the families and child care providers who welcomed the authors into their homes and workplaces and cooperated willingly with repeated requests for information.

This study examined whether infant joint attention (JA) skills predicted social behaviors in a sample of at-risk preschool children (n = 30) with a history of prenatal exposure to cocaine. JA behaviors were assessed with the Early Social and Communication Scales at 12, 15, and 18 months of age. Three classes of JA were measured: Initiating JA (IJA), Responding to JA (RJA), and Requests. Behavioral outcomes were measured at 36 months and included ratings of disruptive and withdrawn behaviors and social competence. JA behaviors were related to behavioral outcomes after controlling for language and cognitive ability. The functionally distinct uses of JA were differentially related to behavioral outcome. IJA negatively predicted disruptive behaviors, whereas Requests positively predicted disruptive behaviors. Infant RJA negatively predicted withdrawn behaviors and positively predicted social competence. These results are interpreted in the context of competing theories that attempt to explain variability in the expression of JA skills in the second year of life.This research was partially supported by the Florida Department of Education and by a National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (1 F32 DA05971-01). Portions of this paper, which was based on a dissertation submitted by the first author at the University of Miami, were presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development in Albuquerque, NM, April 1999. The authors acknowledge the efforts of Joycelyn Lee for videotape coding and the teachers and staff at the Linda Ray Intervention Center, without whose commitment and efforts this research would not have been possible.

Attachment classifications were obtained from the Strange Situation at 15 months and at 4 years for a sample of 82 low socioeconomic status rural Appalachian children. The rate of secure attachment in infancy was 50.5%, and the majority of insecure infants were disorganized. At 4 years of age 61.2% of children were secure; early secure relationships were likely to be maintained, and about half of the insecure infants changed to a secure classification by 4 years. Overall, there was low but significant stability in attachment at the level of secure/insecure. Comparisons of (a) children who changed from insecure to secure with those who were stable insecure and (b) stable secure children with those who changed from secure to insecure identified contextual, child, and maternal interaction factors associated with attaining secure attachment. Assessments of cognitive and socioemotional competence at 4 years and kindergarten age suggested a protective effect of secure infant attachment but little benefit from secure preschool attachment.This study was supported by Grants MCJ-540615 and R40 MC 00091 from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (Title V, Social Security Act), Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services and by Grant MH48395 from the National Institute of Mental Health, Department of Health and Human Services. Thanks to the families who participated and the Lincoln Primary Care Center Board of Directors and staff.

Although the turning points theory posits that the successful engagement of the romantic and work domains in young adulthood represents an important opportunity for disrupting antisocial pathways, others have recently speculated that such turning points may be most applicable to the majority of antisocial youth who begin offending in adolescence (Adolescence-Onset [AO]), rather than those who begin early in childhood and persist (Early-Onset/Persistent [EOP]). This study was designed (a) to attempt replication of recent evidence that AOs demonstrate problem behaviors intermediate to EOP and Never Antisocial youth in young adulthood, which was confirmed; and (b) to examine the correlates of lower levels of antisocial offending among AOs and EOPs in the transition to adulthood. As expected, AOs were more likely than EOPs to desist by age 23. Nonetheless, positive work and romantic involvement between the ages of 21 and 23 were significantly associated with less externalizing problems for EOPs, but not AOs. In addition, illicit substance use and deviant peer association proved to be associated with externalizing problems at age 23, irrespective of the patterning of young adults' antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence. Results suggest that the unique opportunities available in the transition to adulthood may hold particular promise for youth with persistently troubled early histories.The authors acknowledge financial support for this research from the National Institutes of Mental Health to Byron Egeland, L. Alan Sroufe, and W. Andrew Collins (MH40864).

This study was designed to delineate pathways between systems profiles of family functioning, children's emotional insecurity in the interparental relationship, and their psychological adjustment in a sample of 221 children and their parents. Consistent with family systems theory, cluster analyses conducted with assessments of marital, coparental, and parent–child functioning indicated that families fit into one of four profiles: (a) cohesive families, characterized by warmth, affection, and flexible well-defined boundaries in family relationships; (b) disengaged families, reflected in high levels of adversity and low levels of support across family subsystems; (c) enmeshed families, evidenced by high levels of discord and weak maintenance of relationship boundaries in the family unit; and (d) adequate families, defined by elevated parental psychological control within a larger family context of low discord and high warmth. In comparison to children in cohesive families, children in enmeshed and disengaged families exhibited greater signs of insecurity in the interparental relationship concurrently and internalizing and externalizing symptoms both concurrently and 1 year later. Structural equation models revealed that a latent, multimethod measure of insecurity in the interparental relationship partially mediated associations between family enmeshment and disengagement and children's psychological symptoms 1 year later. Results are discussed in relation to how they inform and refine a family-wide model of the emotional security hypothesis.This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (Project R01 MH57318) awarded to Patrick T. Davies and E. Mark Cummings. Marcia A. Winter was supported by a predoctoral National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (F31 MH068058). The authors are grateful to the children, parents, teachers, and school administrators who participated in this project and to the staff who assisted on various stages of the project, including Courtney Forbes, Marcie Goeke–Morey, Amy Keller, Michelle Sutton, and the graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Rochester and University of Notre Dame. We also thank Harry Reis for his valuable statistical advice.

An integrative model of the neurophysiology of aggression and social withdrawal is proposed. A detailed overview of the limbic–hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (LHPA) axis is presented first, because we consider it to be a critical system that interacts with a variety of physiological processes to modulate affect-related behaviors. This detailed analysis of the LHPA axis is then used to clarify the research literature that links aggression and social withdrawal to LHPA functioning. We then review the role of amygdala and prefrontal cortex functioning in modulating aggression and social withdrawal. Particular attention is paid to how the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex interact with the LHPA system and the environment to produce specific behavioral tendencies throughout development. A brief overview of the implied methodological and theoretical model is provided. We explain how a detailed understanding of specific physiological processes is essential in order to develop appropriate research protocols. In addition, we suggest that future research should focus on the mapping of distinct integrative biosocial profiles that are related to specific behaviors during different developmental stages.The authors would like to thank Sarah Dunphy–Lelii and Michael MacKenzie for their comments and suggestions during the preparation of this manuscript. This research was partially supported by Research Grants MH59396, HD/DK37431, and MH42251.

Changes in conduct problems from middle school through early adulthood were examined in a sample of 1191 African American and White males and females. Predictors were selected from a number of ecological contexts to examine the relative contribution of family, peer, school, and neighborhood factors to conduct problems during the 7th, 8th, and 11th grade and across transitions in middle school, into high school, and into young adulthood. Almost all contexts made a unique contribution to conduct problems except for the neighborhood setting. The variables that had the most regular influences during each of these periods were Family Consistent Control, Family Discipline Harshness, and Negative Peers. Positive family and positive peer variables had less consistent relations to outcomes. School variables were more influential in middle school than later. Few gender or race differences were found in the patterning of predictors across time. Studies using only one or two settings as predictors of conduct problems, may provide a misleading picture of their impact by excluding other contextual influences.The authors acknowledge the Russell Sage Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the following individuals (listed alphabetically) for support during the preparation of this article: Elaine Belansky, Todd Bartko, Heather Bouchey, Nick Butler, Celina Chatman, Diane Early, Kari Fraser, Leslie Gutman, Katie Jodl, Ariel Kalil, Linda Kuhn, Sarah Lord, Karen McCarthy, Oksana Malanchuk, Alice Michael, Melanie Overby, Robert Roeser, Sherri Steele, Erika Taylor, Janice Templeton, Cindy Winston, and Carol Wong.

Marvin and Stewart and Byng–Hall proposed that effective family collaboration requires family members to construct “shared family working models,” and that the renegotiation of these working models during family transitions is facilitated by family members' “interactional awareness” (ability to be perceptive observers of family relationships). We apply these constructs to data collected from 71 mothers and their 4.5- to 5.0-year-old preschool children, 2 years after parental divorce. Maternal representations of the father as coparent and ex-spouse, and of father– and mother–child relationships were assessed via two interviews. A family story completion task captured child representations of mother–child and father–child, coparental and ex-spousal interactions. Maternal accounts of mother–child conversations illustrated the negotiation of shared working models. Primarily qualitative analyses contrasting maternal and child perspectives are presented in the first section. Then we use regression analyses to predict children's story themes from maternal representations of flexible, sensitive, and effective discipline-related interactions; maternal depressive symptoms; and perception of the child's father. Finally, we identify gender differences in children's enactments of divorce-related and child-empathy themes. We conclude by considering how our findings could be used to assist postdivorce families in constructing shared rather than conflicting working models of family relations.This research was funded by Grant R01 HD267766 awarded to the first author by the NICHD. Additional support was received from the University of Wisconsin Graduate School Research Committee, the Waisman Center, and the Vilas Trust. We express our deep appreciation to the mothers and children who participated in this study. We also thank Barbara Golby, Angel Gullon–Rivera, Patti Herman, Chris Halvorsen, Vicky Lenzlinger, Kristine Munholland, Reghan Walsh, and Laura Winn for assisting with data collection and analysis and acknowledge helpful advice from John Byng–Hall, Robert Emery, Paul Amato, and Daniel Veroff.

Using cross-domain latent growth modeling, we examined trajectories of externalizing and internalizing problems in disadvantaged boys followed from ages 2 to 6 years (N = 303). On average, externalizing problems gradually decreased and internalizing problems gradually increased. However, we found significant variability in individual-level trajectories. Higher levels of externalizing problems were associated with higher levels of internalizing problems; rates of change were also positively correlated across domains. In addition, high levels of externalizing problems predicted rapid increases in internalizing problems. In follow-up analyses involving child and parenting factors, the combination of high negative emotionality, low fearfulness, and high negative maternal control preceded high, nondecreasing externalizing trajectories. The combination of high negative emotionality, high fearfulness, and high negative maternal control preceded high, increasing internalizing trajectories. Taken together, the results indicate both general and specific processes in the development of early externalizing and internalizing problems.This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Grants MH50907 and MH01666 to the second author and NIMH National Research Service Award 1F31MH12226 to the first author. We thank Emily Winslow and Elizabeth Owens for developing the Early Parenting Coding System and the Negative Emotionality Coding System, respectively. We also thank the study participants for teaching us about child development.

This study examined the abilities of 40 Latina mothers and their 6- to 11-year-old children (20 girls, 20 boys) to recognize and produce emotion expressions and how these abilities differed as a function of maternal depressive symptoms. The results indicated that depressively symptomatic mothers were less accurate at recognizing basic emotions (e.g., happy, sad, etc.) and some mixed emotions (e.g., scared/ok combinations) than nonsymptomatic mothers, but there were no group differences for emotion production. In contrast, children of symptomatic mothers posed fewer recognizable sad expressions than their peers. Error pattern analyses also revealed that children of symptomatic mothers were more likely to mistakenly recognize happiness and to avoid posing sadness (across all basic emotions). Children's ability to pose emotions was related to their mothers' emotion production, and this was not moderated by maternal depressive symptoms. The discussion focuses on the possible interpersonal consequences of these biases and deficits in the emotion-related abilities of symptomatic mothers and their children and on the need to conduct research on the familial and cultural processes that might underlie these findings.Portions of this article are based on a dissertation by Maria Sesin submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctoral degree at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University. We would like to thank the mothers and children who made this research possible, as well as Marjorie Melendez and Craig Indellicati for their help in preparing the emotion recognition stimuli.