David S. Bennett

Child-Care History and Kindergarten Adjustment.

Parents gave histories of 589 children just before kindergarten. Children were later assessed with teacher, peer, and observer measures of social adjustment in school. Children with higher day-care amounts in each of 3 eras (0-1, 1-4, and 4-5 years) scored higher on the composite negative adjustment and lower on positive adjustment (however, they also scored lower on teacher-rated internalizing problems). Day care predicted even after statistical control for measures representing alternative explanations, such as family stress and socioeconomic status, accounting for 2.7% of variance in negative adjustment and 2.9% of positive adjustment. Interactions between day care and other variables did not add to predictions of the molar adjustment composites

Young children's adjustment as a function of maltreatment, shame, and anger.

Maltreated children are at increased risk for behavior problems. This study examines a model in which shame mediates the potential relation between maltreatment and anger, and anger mediates the potential relation between shame and behavior problems. Participants were 177 children (ages 3 to 7 years) and their mothers, 90 of whom had histories of perpetrating neglect and/or physical abuse. Physical abuse, but not neglect, was related to increased shame during an evaluative task; shame was related to increased anger; and anger to teacher ratings of total behavior problems and externalizing problems. Age moderated the relation between physical abuse and adjustment, as abuse was related to more total problems only among the younger children. Anger was a significant mediator of shame and both behavior problems and externalizing problems. Shame, anger, age, and type of maltreatment appear to be important factors in explaining variance in behavioral adjustment following a history of maltreatment.

Children’s Intellectual and Emotional–Behavioral Adjustment at 4 Years as a Function of Cocaine Exposure, Maternal Characteristics, and Environmental Risk

The authors examined 223 children at age 4 years for the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure, exposure to other substances, maternal and environmental risk factors, and neonatal medical problems on IQ, externalizing problems, and internalizing problems. Regression analyses showed that maternal verbal IQ and low environmental risk predicted child IQ. Cocaine exposure negatively predicted childrens overall IQ and verbal reasoning scores, but only for boys. Cocaine exposure also predicted poorer short-term memory. Maternal harsh discipline, maternal depressive symptoms, and increased environmental risk predicted externalizing problems. In contrast, only maternal depressive symptoms predicted internalizing problems. These findings indicate that early exposure to substances is largely unrelated to subsequent IQ or adjustment, particularly for girls.

Efficacy of Child Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions for Antisocial Behavior: A Meta-Analysis.

ABSTRACT The present meta-analysis reviewed 30 studies comparing child-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for antisocial behavior with no-treatment, attention or wait-list control groups. The mean effect size d of CBT interventions was 0.48 (median = 0.26) unweighted and 0.23 weighted at post-treatment. The mean effect size at follow-up was 0.66 (median = 0.32) unweighted and 0.51 weighted. Hence, child-based CBT interventions have a small to moderate effect in decreasing antisocial behavior. Study quality was negatively correlated with post-treatment effect size. A trend was found for child age to correlate positively with post-treatment effect size, suggesting that current child-based CBT interventions for antisocial behavior are more effective for adolescents and older elementary-school aged children than for younger elementary-school aged children. Treatment components, number of treatment sessions, session length, sessions per week, use of a clinical vs. nonclinical sample, type of control group, source of outcome ratings and publication year were unrelated to treatment efficacy. Future research directions, including the integration of individual training into group therapy and the examination of antisocial behavior subtypes (i.e., reactive vs. proactive), are discussed.

Antecedents of emotion knowledge: Predictors of individual differences in young children

Individual differences in emotion knowledge were examined among 188 4‐year‐old, predominantly African American children. Cognitive ability and negative emotionality, maternal characteristics (parenting, verbal intelligence, and depressive symptoms), environmental risk, and child sex were examined as predictors of emotion knowledge. Regression analyses indicated that cognitively skilled children who resided in relatively low risk environments with verbally intelligent mothers possessed greater emotion knowledge. Proximal (4‐year) child cognitive ability was a stronger predictor than distal (2‐year) cognitive ability. Positive parenting at 4 years was correlated with child emotion knowledge, but this relation disappeared when parenting was examined in the context of other predictors. These findings highlight the potential role of child cognitive ability, along with environmental risk and maternal verbal intelligence, in childrens emotion knowledge and demonstrate the importance of examining a variety of predictors for their unique contribution to emotion knowledge.

Prospective Models of Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence: Attributional Style, Stress, and Support.

Models of depressive symptoms were compared in a 6-month prospective study of 95 nonreferred 11- to 13-year-olds. Maladaptive attributional style and social support correlated with multiple measures of concurrent depressive symptoms. Life stress generally failed to correlate with concurrent depressive symptoms. Prospectively, attribution style failed to predict depressive symptoms, whereas social support predicted mother, but not self-, ratings of depressive symptoms. The interaction between attributional style and subsequent life stress generally failed to predict future depressive symptoms. Limited specificity was found in that risk factors correlated similarly with depressive symptoms and aggressive behaviors. Findings showed that attributional style was primarily a concomitant of depressive symptoms in the present sample, although length of follow-up and age need to be considered when testing the temporal relationships posited by causal attributional style models. In addition, future research should examine further the etiological role of social support in models of early adolescent depression.

Children's cognitive ability from 4 to 9 years old as a function of prenatal cocaine exposure, environmental risk, and maternal verbal intelligence.

This study examined the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure, environmental risk, and maternal verbal intelligence on childrens cognitive ability. Gender and age were examined as moderators of potential cocaine exposure effects. The Stanford-Binet IV intelligence test was administered to 231 children (91 cocaine exposed, 140 unexposed) at ages 4, 6, and 9 years. Neonatal medical risk and other prenatal exposures (alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana) were also examined for their unique effects on child IQ. Mixed models analysis indicated that prenatal cocaine exposure interacted with gender, as cocaine-exposed boys had lower composite IQ scores. Age at assessment did not moderate this relation, indicating that cocaine-exposed boys had lower IQs across this age period. A stimulating home environment and high maternal verbal IQ also predicted higher composite IQ scores. Cocaine-exposed boys had lower scores on the Abstract/Visual Reasoning subscale, with trends for lower scores on the Short-Term Memory and Verbal Reasoning subscales, as exposure effects were observed across domains. The findings indicate that cocaine exposure continues to place children at risk for mild cognitive deficits into preadolescence. Possible mechanisms for the Exposure x Gender interaction are discussed.

Relations of parental report and observation of parenting to maltreatment history

Parenting assessments (the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale, CTSPC; and a mother-child observation) were examined for their ability to identify mothers with a history of physically abusing or neglecting their child. Participants were mothers of 139 children (age 3 to 6 years; 58 with a history of maltreatment). Mothers with a history of maltreatment reported higher scores on the Neglect, Nonviolent Discipline, and Psychological Aggression subscales of the CTSPC. These group differences, however, were limited to mothers who acknowledged a history of maltreatment, as mothers who concealed their maltreatment history rated themselves similar to controls. Observation of parental behaviors during a brief, nonstressful task did not discriminate mothers who maltreated from mothers who did not maltreat. The findings suggest that parental report using the CTSPC may be useful in assessing parenting behaviors among mothers with a history of maltreatment, although socially desirable responding is a significant problem.

Preadolescent health risk behavior as a function of prenatal cocaine exposure and gender.

Objective: To examine the effect of prenatal cocaine exposure on health risk behaviors during preadolescence. Methods: The present study examined prenatal cocaine exposure, gender, and environmental risk as predictors of self-reported substance use, aggression, and a disregard for safety precautions on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey in a sample of 10.5 year olds (n = 154, including 60 who were prenatally exposed to cocaine). Results: Gender tended to moderate the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure because exposure effects were found for boys but not girls. Boys who were prenatally exposed to cocaine reported engaging in more high-risk behavior. In examining individual outcomes, cocaine exposed boys had the highest scores for aggression, substance use, and a disregard for safety precautions, although these differences were significant only for the composite health risk behavior measure. Conclusions: The findings extend earlier work showing that prenatal cocaine exposure places boys at risk for problems of inhibitory control, emotional regulation, and antisocial behavior. Research is needed to examine whether the effects of prenatal cocaine on health risk behaviors persist into adolescence, when such behaviors tend to increase.

Neglected children, shame-proneness, and depressive symptoms.

Neglected children may be at increased risk for depressive symptoms. This study examines shame-proneness as an outcome of child neglect and as a potential explanatory variable in the relation between neglect and depressive symptoms. Participants were 111 children (52 with a Child Protective Services [CPS] allegation of neglect) seen at age 7. Neglected children reported more shame-proneness and more depressive symptoms than comparison children. Guilt-proneness, in contrast, was unrelated to neglect and depressive symptoms, indicating specificity for shame-proneness. The potential role of shame as a process variable that can help explain how some neglected children exhibit depressive symptoms is discussed.