Byron Egeland

Resilience as process

Resilience, the development of competence despite severe or pervasive adversity, is examined using data from a longitudinal study of high-risk children and families. The study is guided by an organizationaldevelopmental perspective. Resilience is conceived not as a childhood given, but as a capacity that develops over time in the context of person-environment interactions. Factors related to resilience in our study are examined in terms of this transactional process. From our studies, we have found emotionally responsive caregiving to mediate the effects of high-risk environments and to promote positive change for children who have experienced poverty, family stress, and maltreatment. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Implications of attachment theory for developmental psychopathology

Bowlbys attachment theory is a theory of psychopathology as well as a theory of normal development. It contains clear and specific propositions regarding the role of early experience in developmental psychopathology, the importance of ongoing context, and the nature of the developmental process underlying pathology. In particular, Bowlby argued that adaptation is always the joint product of developmental history and current circumstances (never either alone). Early experience does not cause later pathology in a linear way; yet, it has special significance due to the complex, systemic, transactional nature of development. Prior history is part of current context, playing a role in selection, engagement, and interpretation of subsequent experience and in the use of available environmental supports. Finally, except in very extreme cases, early anxious attachment is not viewed as psychopathology itself or as a direct cause of psychopathology but as an initiator of pathways probabilistically associated with later pathology.

Development and the fragmented self: Longitudinal study of dissociative symptomatology in a nonclinical sample

Dissociative behaviors and their relation to both the self and self-organization were examined using the developmental psychopathology perspective in a prospective longitudinal study of high-risk children. Participants were 168 young adults (n = 79 females, n = 89 males, age = 18-19 years) considered high-risk for poor developmental outcomes at birth due to poverty. The present study investigated whether trauma, sense of self, quality of early mother-child relationship, temperament, and intelligence were related to dissociative symptomatology measured at four times across 19 years. Findings were (a) age of onset, chronicity and severity of trauma were highly correlated and predicted level of dissociation; (b) both the avoidant and disorganized patterns of attachment were strong predictors of dissociation; (c) dissociation in childhood may be a more normative response to disruption and stress, while dissociation in adolescence and young adulthood may be more indicative of psychopathology; (d) preliminary support was found for a model proposed by G. Liotti that links disorganized attachment, later trauma, and dissociation in adulthood; and (e) strong support was found for N. Waller, F. W. Putnam, and E. B. Carlsons contention that psychopathological dissociation should not be viewed as the top end of a continuum of dissociative symptomatology, but as a separate taxon that represents an extreme deviation from normal development.

Attachment from infancy to early adulthood in a high-risk sample: continuity, discontinuity, and their correlates.

This study explores the stability of attachment security and representations from infancy to early adulthood in a sample chosen originally for poverty and high risk for poor developmental outcomes. Participants for this study were 57 young adults who are part of an ongoing prospective study of development and adaptation in a high-risk sample. Attachment was assessed during infancy by using the Ainsworth Strange Situation (Ainsworth & Wittig) and at age 19 by using the Berkeley Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, & Main). Possible correlates of continuity and discontinuity in attachment were drawn from assessments of the participants and their mothers over the course of the study. Results provided no evidence for significant continuity between infant and adult attachment in this sample, with many participants transitioning to insecurity. The evidence, however, indicated that there might be lawful discontinuity. Analyses of correlates of continuity and discontinuity in attachment classification from infancy to adulthood indicated that the continuous and discontinuous groups were differentiated on the basis of child maltreatment, maternal depression, and family functioning in early adolescence. These results provide evidence that although attachment has been found to be stable over time in other samples, attachment representations are vulnerable to difficult and chaotic life experiences.

A Prospective Longitudinal Study of High School Dropouts Examining Multiple Predictors Across Development

Prior studies report a variety of demographic, school, individual, and family characteristics that are related to high school drop out. This study utilizes data from a 19-year prospective longitudinal study of “at-risk” children to explore multiple predictors of high school dropouts across development. The proposed model of dropping out emphasizes the importance of the early home environment and the quality of early caregiving influencing subsequent development. The results of this study demonstrate the association of the early home environment, the quality of early caregiving, socioeconomic status, IQ, behavior problems, academic achievement, peer relations, and parent involvement with dropping out of high school at age 19. These results are consistent with the view of dropping out as a dynamic developmental process that begins before children enter elementary school. Psychosocial variables prior to school entry predicted dropping out with power equal to later IQ and school achievement test scores. In our efforts to better understand processes influencing dropping out prior to high school graduation, early developmental features warrant further emphasis.

Distinguishing the early-onset/persistent and adolescence-onset antisocial behavior types: from birth to 16 years.

Moffitts theory regarding two types of adolescent antisocial behavior was investigated using a prospective, longitudinal study of normal and abnormal development in a primarily low socioeconomic status, ethnically diverse sample. Results supported the presence of an early-onset/persistent (EOP) group and an adolescence-onset (AO) group. Groups were most reliably and significantly distinguished by indices of socioemotional history within the first 3 years, but no significant differences were found on early measures of temperament or neuropsychological functioning. EOPs scored significantly lower than other groups on measures of neuropsychological functioning only during late childhood and adolescence, suggesting that the declines in verbal functioning that have been so reliably found in this and other samples of early-starting antisocial adolescents are progressive and consequent to adverse experience. In adolescence, AOs were significantly more likely to report high levels of internalizing symptoms and life stress, suggesting that AO antisocial behavior is not a benign phenomenon. Implications of these findings for etiologic theories of adolescent antisocial behavior are discussed.

A longitudinal study of achievement trajectories : Factors associated with change

Using data from a longitudinal study of high-risk children (N = 174), the authors examined deflections from predicted achievement scores on the basis of the discrepancy of observed scores from an established regression line (from first to sixth grade and first grade to age 16 years). Years in special education and socioeconomic status (SES) were related to changes in math achievement between first and sixth grade, whereas SES, child behavior problems, and quality of home environment were related to deflections in achievement from first grade to age 16 years. The environmental factors, quality of home environment, parent involvement in the childs education, and SES were related to improved achievement across time. These results suggest that early school, family, home environment, and child factors are important predictors of academic achievement deflections in late elementary and high school.

The development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms from infancy through adolescence in a longitudinal sample

This study examined the etiology and course of anxiety symptoms from infancy through adolescence in a longitudinal high-risk community sample. One hundred fifty-five subjects were assessed using a variety of observational, projective, and objective measures. Results of path analyses revealed the following: (a) anxiety symptoms showed moderate stability during childhood and adolescence; (b) heightened neonatal biobehavioral reactivity and poor regulation predicted emotion regulation difficulties in preschool, which predicted anxiety symptoms in childhood; (c) developmental incompetence in childhood predicted anxiety symptoms in preadolescence, and anxiety symptoms in preadolescence predicted incompetence in adolescence; (d) insecure attachment relationships in infancy predicted negative peer relationship representations in preadolescence, and these representations predicted anxiety symptoms in adolescence; (e) compared to males, females showed similar rates of anxiety symptoms in childhood but greater and more stable rates in adolescence; however, males and females showed similar patterns of association between risk factors and anxiety symptoms across childhood and adolescence; and (f) the model tested was specific in predicting anxiety symptoms and not psychopathology in general. The results support a developmental model of the etiology and maintenance of anxiety symptoms in childhood and highlight factors to consider in efforts to prevent and treat childhood anxiety.

A prospective, longitudinal study of the correlates and consequences of early grade retention ☆

Abstract The characteristics of children retained in early elementary school and the effects of retention on achievement and adjustment were examined throughout the elementary years and again at age 16 years. When compared to a group of nonretained children who displayed similar levels of early achievement and were comparable on two measures of intelligence, the retained subjects were more likely to be males with significantly poorer adjustment. Parents of comparison children were higher on IQ and were more involved with the school than parents of retained children. Controlling for initial levels of achievement and adjustment, little evidence was found supporting retention as an intervention for improving educational outcomes. The retained group showed a temporary advantage in math achievement, but this disappeared as both groups faced new material. Moreover, the retained group exhibited significantly lower emotional health in the sixth grade. It is concluded that elementary grade retention was an ineffective intervention for both achievement and adjustment.

The impact of foster care on development

Foster care is a protective intervention designed to provide out of home placement to children living in at-risk home environments. This study employs prospective longitudinal data (N = 189) to investigate the effects of foster care on the development of child behavior and psychological functioning taking into account baseline adaptation prior to placement and socioeconomic status at the time of placement. Comparisons were made among three groups: children who experienced foster care, those who were maltreated but remained in the home, and children who had not experienced foster care or maltreatment despite their similarly at-risk demographic characteristics. In the current sample, children placed in out of home care exhibited significant behavior problems in comparison to children who received adequate care, and using the same pre- and postplacement measure of adaptation, foster care children showed elevated levels of behavior problems following release from care. Similarly, children placed into unfamiliar foster care showed higher levels of internalizing problems compared with children reared by maltreating caregivers, children in familiar care, and children who received adequate caregiving. Findings suggest that outcomes related to foster care may vary with type of care and beyond the effects associated with maltreatment history, baseline adaptation, and socioeconomic status.