In this paper we outline our hypothesis that human intersubjective engagement entails identifying with other people. We tested a prediction derived from this hypothesis that concerned the relation between a component of joint attention and a specific form of imitation. The empirical investigation involved “blind” ratings of videotapes from a recent study in which we tested matched children with and without autism for their propensity to imitate the self-/other-orientated aspects of another person's actions. The results were in keeping with three a priori predictions, as follows: (a) children with autism contrasted with control participants in spending more time looking at the objects acted upon and less time looking at the tester; (b) participants with autism showed fewer “sharing” looks toward the tester, and although they also showed fewer “checking” and “orientating” looks, they were specifically less likely to show any sharing looks; and, critically, (c) within each group, individual differences in sharing looks (only) were associated with imitation of self–other orientation. We suggest that the propensity to adopt the bodily anchored psychological stance of another person is essential to certain forms of joint attention and imitation, and that a weak tendency to identify with others is pivotal for the developmental psychopathology of autism.This research was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (award reference R000239355), the Baily Thomas Charitable Foundation, and the Tavistock Clinic, London (with NHS R&D funding). The manuscript was completed while the authors were at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford. We are grateful to the staff, students, and parents at Edith Borthwick School, Helen Allison School, Springhallow School, and Swiss Cottage School for their generous involvement in this project; Dave Williams, Valentina Levi, and Susana Caló for their assistance with ratings of joint attention; and Tony Lee and Rosa García Pérez for their many contributions to the research.

Behavioral inhibition is reported to be one of the most stable temperamental characteristics in childhood. However, there is also evidence for discontinuity of this trait, with infants and toddlers who were extremely inhibited displaying less withdrawn social behavior as school-age children or adolescents. There are many possible explanations for the discontinuity in this temperament over time. They include the development of adaptive attention and regulatory skills, the influence of particular styles of parenting or caregiving contexts, and individual characteristics of the child such as their level of approach–withdrawal motivation or their gender. These discontinuous trajectories of behaviorally inhibited children and the factors that form them are discussed as examples of the resilience process.

As studies of measured gene–environment interactions (G × E) in developmental psychopathology gain momentum, methods for systematically and quantitatively summarizing effects across multiple studies are urgently needed. Meta-analyses of G × E findings are critical for evaluating the overall statistical and theoretical significance of any given G × E based on cumulative and systematically combined knowledge. Although meta-analytic methods for the combination of study findings based on single effect measures such as odds ratios and mean differences are well established, equivalent methods for the meta-analysis of studies investigating interactions are not well developed. This article describes one simple approach to the meta-analysis of G × E effects using, as a contemporaneous example, the interaction of the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene and the impact of childhood maltreatment on risk for developing antisocial behavior.

Williams syndrome is a rare genetic disorder in which, it is claimed, language abilities are relatively strong despite mild to moderate mental retardation. Such claims have, in turn, been interpreted as evidence either for modular preservation of language or for atypical constraints on cognitive development. However, this review demonstrates that there is, in fact, little evidence that syntax, morphology, phonology, or pragmatics are any better than predicted by nonverbal ability, although performance on receptive vocabulary tests is relatively good. Similarly, claims of an imbalance between good phonology and impaired or atypical lexical semantics are without strong support. There is, nevertheless, consistent evidence for specific deficits in spatial language that mirror difficulties in nonverbal spatial cognition, as well as some tentative evidence that early language acquisition proceeds atypically. Implications for modular and neuroconstructivist accounts of language development are discussed.The preparation of this paper was supported by the Williams Syndrome Foundation (United Kingdom) and the Medical Research Council. I thank Courtenay Norbury and Kate Nation for comments on the manuscript and Chris Jarrold, Jill Boucher, and Teresa McCormack for many useful discussions.

Using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the rate and type of behavior problems associated with being reared in an institution prior to adoption were examined in 1,948, 4- through 18-year-old internationally adopted children, 899 of whom had experienced prolonged institutional care prior to adoption. The children's adoptions were decreed between 1990 and 1998 in Minnesota. Binomial logistic regression analyses revealed that early institutional rearing was associated with increased rates of attention and social problems, but not problems in either the internalizing or externalizing domains. Independent of institutional history, children who were adopted ≥24 months had higher rates of behavior problems across many CBCL scales, including internalizing and externalizing problems. In general, time in the adoptive home, which also reflected age at testing, was positively associated with rates of problem behavior. Thus, there was little evidence that the likelihood of behavior problems wane with time postadoption. Finally, children adopted from Russia/Eastern Europe appeared at greater risk of developing behavior problems in several domains compared to children adopted from other areas of the world.Members of the International Adoption Project (IAP) Team, all of whom are from the University of Minnesota, are H. Grotevant (Family Social Science); R. Lee (Psychology); W. Hellerstedt (Epidemiology); N. Madsen and M. Bale (Institute of Child Development); and D. Johnson, K. Dole, and S. Iverson (Pediatrics). This research was supported by an NIMH grant (MH59848) and K05 award (MH66208) to M. R. Gunnar. The authors thank the IAP parent board, the Minnesota Adoption Unit and its director, Robert DeNardo, and the adoption agencies that encouraged this work: Children's Home Society, Lutheran Social Services, Crossroads, Hope International, Bethany International, Child Link International, European Children Adoption Services, International Adoption Services, Great Wall China Adoption, and New Horizons. Special thanks are due to the many parents who completed the IAP survey.

This article summarizes the results of an intervention study with approximately 4,000 Zambian children, in which risk of helminth infection and related health problems were ameliorated with medication and micronutrient and vitamin supplementation. The results of this intervention were tracked with a newly developed cognitive assessment battery for Zambian school children in Grades 3–7. The quantification of cognitive functioning manifested after the intervention indicated treatment-related improvements in the cognitive skill of following instructions. This skill is fundamental to success in school. It constitutes an important indicator of resilience in overcoming difficulties related to growing up and being educated under the pressure of the multiple risk factors characteristic of the developing world.

This study examined whether peer rejection and affiliation with deviant friends throughout childhood could mediate the link between early disruptiveness and two aspects of delinquent behaviors (i.e., violence and substance use) in a sample of 375 children. Furthermore, we tested whether the two putative mediators operated in a sequential manner or in a parallel manner. Participants' disruptiveness, peer rejection, and friends' deviancy were assessed throughout childhood (ages 7 to 13). Delinquency-related outcomes were assessed at ages 14 and 15 years. Results indicate that the sequential mediational model was supported when delinquency-related violence was the outcome, but not when substance use was the outcome. The discussion stresses the differential role of peer rejection and affiliation with deviant friends in regard to the two outcomes considered in this study and in regard to the time frame when they were measured.This research was made possible by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. We thank the authorities and directors of schools in the Val d'Or School Board as well as the teachers and children for their first-rate collaboration.

We examined the influence of a common allelic variation in the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene and caregiver quality on temperament in early childhood. Children 18–21 months of age were genotyped for the DRD4 48 base pair tandem repeat polymorphism, which has been implicated in the development of attention, sensation seeking, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The children also interacted with their caregiver for 10 min in a laboratory setting, and these videotaped interactions were coded for parenting quality using an observational rating procedure. The presence of the DRD4 7-repeat allele was associated with differences in the influence of parenting on a measure of temperamental sensation seeking constructed from caregiver reports on children's activity level, impulsivity, and high-intensity pleasure. Children with the 7-repeat allele were influenced by parenting quality, with lower quality parenting associated with higher levels of sensation seeking; children without the 7-repeat allele were uninfluenced by parenting quality. Differences between alleles were not related to the child's self-regulation as assessed by the effortful control measure. Previous studies have indicated that the 7-repeat allele is under positive selective pressure, and our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the DRD4 7-repeat allele increased children's sensitivity to environmental factors such as parenting. This study shows that genes influence the relation between parenting and temperament in ways that are important to normal development and psychopathology.

This paper utilizes a national longitudinal probability sample of children to demonstrate how important exposure to multiple forms of victimization (polyvictimization) is in accounting for increases in children's symptomatic behavior. The study is based on two annual waves of the Developmental Victimization Survey that began with a nationally representative sample of children and youth ages 2 to 17. A broad range of victimization experiences were assessed using the 34-item Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire. Eighteen percent of the children experienced four or more different kinds of victimization (polyvictims) in the most recent year. Polyvictimization in the most recent year was highly predictive of trauma symptoms at the end of the year, controlling for prior victimization and prior mental health status. When polyvictimization was taken into account, it greatly reduced or eliminated the association between most other individual victimizations and symptomatology scores.For the purposes of compliance with Section 507 of PL 104-208 (the “Stevens Amendment”), readers are advised that 100% of the funds for this program are derived from federal sources (US Department of Justice). The total amount of federal funding involved is $353,233.

Whereas child personality, IQ, and family factors have been identified as enabling a resilient response to psychosocial adversity, more direct biological resilience factors have been less well delineated. This is particularly so for child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which has received less attention from a resilience perspective than have associated externalizing disorders. Children from two independent samples were classified as resilient if they avoided developing ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), or conduct disorder (CD) in the face of family adversity. Two protective factors were examined for their potential relevance to prefrontal brain development: neuropsychological response inhibition, as assessed by the Stop task, and a composite catecholamine genotype risk score. Resilient children were characterized in both samples by more effective response inhibition, although the effect in the second sample was very small. Genotype was measured in Sample 1, and a composite high risk genotype index was developed by summing presence of risk across markers on three genes expressed in prefrontal cortex: dopamine transporter, dopamine D4 receptor, and noradrenergic alpha-2 receptor. Genotype was a reliable resilience indicator against development of ADHD and CD, but not ODD, in the face of psychosocial adversity. Results illustrate potential neurobiological protective factors related to development of prefrontal cortex that may enable children to avoid developing ADHD and CD in the presence of psychosocial adversity.

Children referred for externalizing behavior problems may not represent a homogeneous population. Our objective was to assess neural mechanisms of emotion regulation that might distinguish subtypes of externalizing children from each other and from their normal age mates. Children with pure externalizing (EXT) problems were compared with children comorbid for externalizing and internalizing (MIXED) problems and with age-matched controls. Only boys were included in the analysis because so few girls were referred for treatment. We used a go/no-go task with a negative emotion induction, and we examined dense-array EEG data together with behavioral measures of performance. We investigated two event-related potential (ERP) components tapping inhibitory control or self-monitoring—the inhibitory N2 and error-related negativity (ERN)—and we constructed source models estimating their cortical generators. The MIXED children's N2s increased in response to the emotion induction, resulting in greater amplitudes than EXT children in the following trial block. ERN amplitudes were greatest for control children and smallest for EXT children with MIXED children in between, but only prior to the emotion induction. These results were paralleled by behavioral differences in response time and performance monitoring. ERP activity was localized to cortical sources suggestive of the dorsal anterior cingulate for control children, posterior cingulate areas for the EXT children, and both posterior cingulate and ventral cingulate/prefrontal regions for the MIXED children. These findings highlight different mechanisms of self-regulation underlying externalizing subtypes and point toward distinct developmental pathways and treatment strategies.We gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by Grant 1 R21 MH67357-01 from the Developmental Psychopathology and Prevention Research branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), as well as support from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR). We are also grateful for support provided (to P.D.Z.) by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

Few studies have investigated the role of gene × environment interactions (G × E) in speech, language, and literacy disorders. Currently, there are two theoretical models, the diathesis–stress model and the bioecological model, that make opposite predictions about the expected direction of G × E, because environmental risk factors may either strengthen or weaken the effect of genes on phenotypes. The purpose of the current study was to test for G × E at two speech sound disorder and reading disability linkage peaks using a sib-pair linkage design and continuous measures of socioeconomic status, home language/literacy environment, and number of ear infections. The interactions were tested using composite speech, language, and preliteracy phenotypes and previously identified linkage peaks on 6p22 and 15q21. Results showed five G × E at both the 6p22 and 15q21 locations across several phenotypes and environmental measures. Four of the five interactions were consistent with the bioecological model of G × E. Each of these four interactions involved environmental measures of the home language/literacy environment. The only interaction that was consistent with the diathesis–stress model was one involving the number of ear infections as the environmental risk variable. The direction of these interactions and possible interpretations are explored in the discussion.

In this multilevel investigation, resilience in adaptive functioning among maltreated and nonmaltreated low-income children (N = 677) was examined in relation to the regulation of two stress-responsive adrenal steroid hormones, cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), as well as the personality constructs of ego resiliency and ego control. Maltreatment status was not related to differences in average levels of morning or afternoon cortisol or DHEA. However, lower morning cortisol was related to higher resilient functioning, but only in nonmaltreated children. In contrast, among physically abused children, high morning cortisol was related to higher resilient functioning. Morning and afternoon DHEA was negatively related to resilient functioning. Although diurnal change in cortisol was not related to resilience, for DHEA, maltreated children with high resilience showed an atypical rise in DHEA from morning to afternoon. Morning and afternoon cortisol/DHEA ratios were positively related to resilient functioning, but did not interact with maltreatment status. Ego resiliency and ego control strongly differentiated maltreated and nonmaltreated children, and the personality variables were substantially predictive of resilience. When considered together, demonstrated effects of personality, cortisol, and DHEA maintained independent contributions in predicting resilience among high-risk youth.

The relationship between children's anxiety and cognitive biases was examined in two tasks. A group of 50 children aged 10 to 11 years (mean = 11 years, SD = 3.71 months) was given two tasks. The first tested children's selective attention (SA) to threat in an emotional Stroop task. The second explored facial processing biases using morphed angry-neutral and happy-neutral emotional expressions that varied in intensity. Faces with varying levels of emotion (25% emotion–75% neutral, 50% emotion–50% neutral, 100% emotion–0% neutral [prototype] and 150% emotion–0% neutral [caricature]) were judged as being angry or happy. Results support previous work highlighting a link between anxiety and SA to threat. In addition, increased anxiety in late childhood is associated with decreased ability to discriminate facial expression. Finally, lack of discrimination in the emotional expression task was related to lack of inhibition to threat in the Stroop task.

Predictors and concurrent correlates of childhood-onset and adolescent-onset antisocial behavior were studied in a sample of 165 boys and 151 girls, followed from age 6 to age 15. An integrated general growth mixture model was used to determine the number and shape of developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior exhibited by boys and girls. Associations of these trajectories with trajectories of attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADH) problems and deviant peer affiliation were examined. A childhood-onset, an adolescent-onset, and a low antisocial behavior trajectory were identified. A minority of the sample (11%), mostly males, followed the childhood-onset trajectory. This trajectory was predicted by prior membership in the high ADH trajectory in childhood. The adolescent-onset trajectory (46%) was associated with increases in friends' antisocial behavior but not with ADH problems. Most females (60%) followed the low antisocial trajectory. A substantial proportion of females, however, followed the childhood (5%) and adolescent-onset trajectories (35%). The male–female ratios in the childhood and adolescent-onset trajectories were similar. The results largely supported theories that distinguish between childhood and adolescent onsets of antisocial behavior, but they did not suggest that boys and girls differ in the age of onset of antisocial behavior.This study was supported by grants from the Conseil Québécois de la Recherche Sociale and the Canada Social Sciences Research Council. We thank Ted Barker and Sara Pedersen for their helpful comments and suggestions on this manuscript.

Family systems theory proposes that an individual's functioning depends on interactive processes within the self and within the context of dyadic family subsystems. Previous research on these processes has focused largely on behavioral, cognitive, and psychophysiological properties of the individual and the dyad. The goals of this study were to explore genetic and environmental interactions within the family system by examining how the dopamine receptor D2 gene (DRD2) A1+ polymorphism in mothers and children relates to maternal sensitivity, how maternal and child characteristics might mediate those effects, and whether maternal sensitivity moderates the association between DRD2 A1+ and child affective problems. Evidence is found for an evocative effect of child polymorphism on parenting behavior, and for a moderating effect of child polymorphism on the association between maternal sensitivity and later child affective problems. Findings are discussed from a family systems perspective, highlighting the role of the family as a context for gene expression in both mothers and children.

The current study was a multilevel investigation of resilience, emotion regulation, and hemispheric electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry in a sample of maltreated and nonmaltreated school age children. It was predicted that the positive emotionality and increased emotion regulatory ability associated with resilient functioning would be associated with relatively greater left frontal EEG activity. The study also investigated differences in pathways to resilience between maltreated and nonmaltreated children. The findings indicated that EEG asymmetry across central cortical regions distinguished between resilient and nonresilient children, with greater left hemisphere activity characterizing those who were resilient. In addition, nonmaltreated children showed greater left hemisphere EEG activity across parietal cortical regions. There was also a significant interaction between resilience, maltreatment status, and gender for asymmetry at anterior frontal electrodes, where nonmaltreated resilient females had greater relative left frontal activity compared to more right frontal activity exhibited by resilient maltreated females. An observational measure of emotion regulation significantly contributed to the prediction of resilience in the maltreated and nonmaltreated children, but EEG asymmetry in central cortical regions independently predicted resilience only in the maltreated group. The findings are discussed in terms of their meaning for the development of resilient functioning.

Trajectories of relational aggression were examined in a large, diverse sample of fourth-grade students. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine relational aggression over 1 calendar year. The results indicated that relational aggression increased in a linear fashion for girls over the course of the study. In addition, increases in friend intimate exchange were associated with time-dependent increases in relational aggression among girls only. Relational aggression and internalizing “tracked” together across the course of the study. Overall, the findings suggest relational aggression becomes increasingly common among elementary school girls, and girls' close, dyadic relationships may fuel relationally aggressive behavior in some contexts. Finally, the results indicate that relational aggression trajectories are dynamically associated with maladjustment.This study was funded by grants from NIMH (MH63684) and NSF (BCS-0126521) to N. C. Crick. Preparation of this manuscript was supported by a NIMH Traineeship (MH-15755) to D. Murray-Close and J. M. Ostrov. Portions of this manuscript were presented at the 2004 Biennial Meeting of The Society for Research on Adolescence, Baltimore, MD. We thank Kathleen E. Woods for her assistance and comments on an earlier draft, Dr. Jeff Long for his statistical consultation and assistance with this study, and Peter Ralston and the entire School Buddies Project team for assistance with the collection of this data. Finally, we thank the principals, teachers, parents, and children for their participation.

This research examined three possible models to explain how childhood social adversity and recent stress interact to predict depression in youth: stress sensitization, stress amplification, and stress inoculation. Drawing from a stress-sensitization theory of depression, we hypothesized that exposure to childhood adversity, in the form of disruptions in critical interpersonal relationships, would lower youths' threshold for depressive reactions to recent interpersonal stress. We expected that this pattern of stress sensitization would be most salient for girls negotiating the pubertal transition. These hypotheses were examined in two studies: a longitudinal, questionnaire-based investigation of 399 youth (M = 11.66 years) and a concurrent, interview-based investigation of 147 youth (M = 12.39 years). Findings supported the role of stress-sensitization processes in pubertal girls and prepubertal boys, and stress-amplification processes in prepubertal girls. Childhood social adversity specifically predicted sensitization to recent interpersonal, but not noninterpersonal, stress. These findings build on prior theory and research by suggesting that early adversity exerts context-specific effects that vary across gender and development. Future research will need to identify the specific mechanisms underlying this stress-sensitization process.We express our appreciation to the students, teachers, and principals of the participating schools for their facilitation of this study. We also thank Constance Hammen, Kate Harkness, and Eva Pomerantz for their helpful comments; Melissa Caldwell, Alyssa Clark, Colleen Conley, Alison Dupre, Heidi Gazelle, and Kathryn Kurlakowsky for their assistance in data collection and management; and Shannon Daley for consultation on statistical analyses. This research was supported by a University of Illinois Research Board Beckman Award, a William T. Grant Foundation Faculty Scholars Award, and National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH59711 awarded to Karen D. Rudolph.

It is established that reading and reading-related processes are heritable; genes thus play an important role in the foundation of individual differences in reading. In this article, we focus on one facet of reading–comprehension. Comprehension is a higher order cognitive skill that requires many other cognitive processes for it to unfold completely and successfully. One such process is executive functioning, which has been associated with genetic variation in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene. Genotypes and haplotypes of four single nucleotide polymorphisms in COMT were investigated in 179 incarcerated adolescent delinquents. Four hierarchical logistic regression models predicting the presence/absence of comprehension difficulties were fitted to the data; genetic variation in COMT and the presence/absence of maternal rejection were investigated as main effects and as effects acting interactively. Three out of four interaction terms were found to be important predictors of individual differences in comprehension. These findings were supported by the results of the haplotype analyses, in which the four investigated polymorphisms were considered simultaneously.