presents examples of recently published reports from both areas of the laboratory's work. Program I: The Child, the Parent, and the Family Across the First 2+ Decades In a four-wave prospective longitudinal study, we evaluated stability of language in children (N = 324) from toddlerhood to adolescence. Structural equation modeling supported loadings of multiple age-appropriate multi-source measures of child language on single latent variables of core language skill at 20 months and 4, 10, and 14 years. A large stability coefficient (standardized indirect effect = .46) was obtained between language latent variables from toddlerhood to adolescence (standardized indirect effect = .33 accounting for child nonverbal intelligence and social competence and maternal verbal intelligence, education, speech, and social desirability). Stability coefficients did not differ between girls and boys. The ontogeny of core language skill shows strong long-term stability from near the beginning of language acquisition into early adolescence in typically developing children. Stability in this core language skill was stronger from 4 to 10 to 14 years than from 20 months to 4 years, so early intervention to improve lagging language is recommended. In another longitudinal study, a 3-wave multivariate design and developmental cascade analysis were used to investigate pathways among adaptive functioning and externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems in a community sample of 134 children seen at 4, 10, and 14 years. Adaptive functioning in early adolescence was predicted by early childhood adaptive functioning and externalizing behavioral problems, with both effects mediated by late childhood adaptive functioning and internalizing behavioral problems;externalizing behavioral problems in early adolescence were predicted by early childhood internalizing behavioral problems with the effect mediated by late childhood externalizing behavioral problems. These developmental cascades were obtained independent of child intelligence. Strategically timed and targeted interventions designed to address young children's behavioral problems may return investment in terms of an enhanced epidemiology of adaptively functioning teens. Among a community sample of families (n = 128), a third study examined how family members shared and unique perspectives of family dysfunction relate to dyad members shared views of dyad adjustment within adolescent-mother, adolescent-father, and mother-father dyads. Independent of a familys family perspective (shared perspective of family dysfunction), the adolescents unique perspective was associated with lower security and higher conflict with both mother and father, the fathers unique perspective was associated with lower security and higher conflict with the adolescent as well as lower marital quality with mother, and the mother unique perspective was associated with lower marital quality with the father. Moreover, for adolescent-parent dyads, compared to the parent unique perspective, the adolescent unique perspective was more strongly associated with dyad adjustment. These findings indicate that both shared and unique views of the family system the adolescents unique view in particular - independently relate to the health of family subsystems. They also suggest that research as well as therapeutic interventions that focus on just the shared view of the family may miss important elements of family dysfunction. Program II: Child Development and Parenting in Multicultural Perspective It is often assumed that young bilinguals are lexically delayed in comparison to monolinguals. A comprehensive comparison of comprehension and production vocabulary in 31 firstborn bilingual and 30 matched monolingual children fails to find empirical foundation for this assumption. Several raters completed Dutch and French adaptations of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories for children aged 13 and 20 months. At 13 months, bilinguals understood more words than monolinguals;at 20 months, monolinguals knew more Dutch words than bilinguals (combining comprehension and production). There were no group differences for word production or for Dutch word comprehension. Both groups understood and produced the same number of lexicalized meanings;ratios of word comprehension to word production did not differ;inter-individual variation was similar. This study underscores the importance of conducting bilingual-monolingual comparisons with matched groups and suggests that if individual bilingual children appear to be slow in early vocabulary development, reasons other than their bilingualism should be investigated. A second study tests the hypothesis that involvement with a new culture instigates changes in personality of immigrants that result in (a) better fit with the norms of the culture of destination and (b) reduced fit with the norms of the culture of origin. Participants were 40 Japanese first-generation immigrants to the United States, 57 Japanese monoculturals, and 60 U.S. monoculturals. All participants completed the Jackson Personality Inventory (JPI) as a measure of the Big Five;immigrants completed the Japanese American Acculturation Scale. Immigrants fits with the cultures of destination and origin were calculated by correlating Japanese American mothers patterns of ratings on the Big Five with the average patterns of ratings of European Americans and Japanese on the same personality dimensions. Japanese Americans became more American and less Japanese in their personality as they reported higher participation in the U.S. culture. The results support the view that personality can be subject to cultural influence. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has prompted countries to protect children from abuse and exploitation. Exposure to domestic violence and corporal punishment are risk factors in childrens development. This study investigated how womens attitudes about domestic violence are related to attitudes about corporal punishment, how their attitudes are related to harsh behaviors toward children, and whether country-wide norms regarding domestic violence and corporal punishment are related to psychological aggression and physical violence toward children. Data were drawn from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, a nationally representative and internationally comparable household survey developed by UNICEF. Measures of domestic violence and discipline were completed by 85,999 female caregivers of children between the ages of 2 and 14 years from families in 25 low- and middle-income countries. Mothers who believed that husbands were justified in hitting their wives were more likely to believe that corporal punishment is necessary to rear children. Mothers who believed that husbands were justified in hitting their wives and that corporal punishment is necessary to rear children were more likely to report that their child had experienced psychological aggression and physical violence. Country-wide norms regarding the acceptability of husbands hitting wives and advisability of corporal punishment moderated the links between mothers attitudes and their behaviors toward children. Pediatricians can address parents psychological aggression and physical violence toward children by discussing parents attitudes and behaviors within a framework that incorporates social norms regarding the acceptability of domestic violence and corporal punishment.
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