Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J Belsky

Publications and source records attributed to J Belsky.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Why are children born to teen mothers at risk for adverse outcomes in young adulthood? Results from a 20-year longitudinal study.

This 20-year longitudinal study showed that the young adult offspring of teen mothers are at risk for a range of adverse outcomes including early school leaving, unemployment, early parenthood, and violent offending. We tested how much the effect of teen childbearing on offspring outcomes could be accounted for by social selection (in which a woman's characteristics that make her an inadequate parent also make her likely to bear children in her teens) versus social influence (in which the consequences of becoming a teen mother also bring harm to her children, apart from any characteristics of her own). The results provided support for both mechanisms. Across outcomes, maternal characteristics and family circumstances together accounted for approximately 39% of the effect of teen childbearing on offspring outcomes. Consistent with a social-selection hypothesis, maternal characteristics accounted for approximately 18% of the effect of teen childbearing on offspring outcomes; consistent with a social-influence hypothesis, family circumstances accounted for 21% of the teen childbearing effect after controlling for maternal characteristics. These results suggest that public policy initiatives should be targeted not only at delaying childbearing in the population but at supporting individual at-risk mothers and their children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Child-rearing antecedents of intergenerational relations in young adulthood: a prospective study.

Data gathered from mothers on parenting and family climate when almost 1,000 children in the Dunedin, New Zealand, longitudinal study were 3, 5, 7, 9, 13, and 15 years of age were used to predict intergenerational relations between young adult children (age 26) and their middle-aged parents. Analyses focused on distinct developmental epochs revealed greater prediction from the middle-childhood and early-adolescent periods than from the early-childhood years: most indicated that more supportive family environments and child-rearing experiences in the family of origin forecasted more positive and less negative parent-child relationships (in terms of contact, closeness, conflict, reciprocal assistance) in young adulthood, though associations were modest in magnitude. Some evidence indicated that (modestly) deleterious effects on intergenerational relations of experiencing relatively unsupportive child-rearing environments in 1 but not 2 (of 3) developmental periods studied could be offset by relatively supportive family environments in the remaining developmental periods.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Emanuel Miller lecture developmental risks (still) associated with early child care.

In the mid to late 1980s a major controversy erupted when Belsky's (1986, 1988. 1990) analysis of research produced the conclusion that early and extensive nonmaternal care carried risks in terms of increasing the probability of insecure infant-parent attachment relationships and promoting aggression and noncompliance during the toddler, preschool, and early primary school years. Widespread critiques of Belsky's analysis called attention to problems associated with the Strange Situation procedure for measuring attachment security in the case of day-care reared children and to the failure of much of the cited research to take into consideration child-care quality and control for background factors likely to make children with varying child-care experiences developmentally different in the first place. In this lecture, research concerning the developmental effects of child care and maternal employment initiated in the first year of life that has emerged since the controversy broke is reviewed. Evidence indicating that early, extensive, and continuous nonmaternal care is associated with less harmonious parent-child relations and elevated levels of aggression and noncompliance suggests that concerns raised about early and extensive child care 15 years ago remain valid and that alternative explanations of Belsky's originally controversial conclusion do not account for seemingly adverse effects of routine nonmaternal care that continue to be reported in the literature.

Aggression↗
PubMed1999

Individual traits and family contexts predict sons' externalizing behavior and preliminary relative risk ratios for conduct disorder and substance use disorder outcomes.

An ontogenetic framework for elucidating the etiology of substance use disorders (SUD) requires identifying how individual traits and family contexts combine to increase risk for SUD outcomes. In this study, we examine individual traits in family context to identify processes that account for the relationship between fathers' SUD + status and sons' externalizing behaviors. Results obtained from SUD + (n = 89) and SUD - (n = 139) families show that fathers' abusive propensities toward their sons mediated the relationship between fathers' SUD + status and sons' externalizing behavior scale (EBS) scores 2 years later. Moreover, individual traits, family contextual variables and deviant peer affiliations accounted for 58% of the variance on sons' EBS scores. Also, high risk cluster (HRC) and low risk cluster (LRC) memberships were derived from cluster analyses of the continuous risk factor scores that predicted sons' EBS scores. Preliminary relative risk ratios show that sons classified into the HRC at age 10-12 were at greater risk for DSM-III-R conduct disorder and SUD outcomes at age 16 than sons assigned to the LRC, SUD + or SUD - groups. Implications for selected family-based prevention initiatives are presented.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Mothers' representations of their relationships with their toddlers: links to adult attachment and observed mothering.

Mothers (N = 125) and their firstborn sons were studied over an 11-month period to examine relations between mothers' representations of their relationships with their children (measured at 15 months by using the Parent Development Interview [PDI]), adult representations of attachment (measured at 12 months by using the Adult Attachment Interview [AAI]), and observed mothering (measured at 15 and 21 months). Results indicate (a) that mothers classified as autonomous on the AAI scored highest on the joy-pleasure/coherence dimension of the PDI and mothers classified as dismissing on the AAI scored highest on the anger dimension of the PDI and (b) that mothers scoring higher on the joy-pleasure/coherence dimension of the PDI engaged in less negative and more positive mothering.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Stability and change in mothers' representations of their relationship with their toddlers.

This study examined several issues in the developmental dynamics of parents' representations of their relationship with their toddlers. The authors studied 125 mothers and their firstborn toddler sons over a 13-month period. Mothers took the Parent Development Interview twice, when children were 15 and 28 months of age. Home observations of parent-child interactions and maternal ratings of daily hassles were collected when children were 21 and 27 months of age. The 3 factors that characterized mothers' representations of their 15-month-old firstborn sons (Joy-Pleasure/Coherence, Anger, Guilt-Separation Distress) also fit the data very well for their 28-month-old sons. Although there were no changes in average levels of mothers' (a) joy, pleasure, and coherence and (b) guilt and separation distress from 15 to 28 months, there was a significant increase in mothers' levels of anger. Stability analyses suggested a dynamic relationship between mothers' representations of joy, pleasure, and coherence and of anger over the 13-month period. Finally, changes in mothers' representations were predictable by positive mothering (which led to increased joy, pleasure, and coherence) and by parenting daily hassles (which led to more anger).

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Quantity of nonmaternal care and boys' problem behavior/adjustment at ages 3 and 5: exploring the mediating role of parenting.

To examine the effects of quantity of nonmaternal care across the first 3 and 5 years of life on problem behavior and affective-cognitive indices of adjustment, and to test the hypotheses that parenting mediates effects of nonmaternal care, 120 working- and middle-class, two-parent Caucasian families rearing firstborn sons were studied. More time in nonmaternal care across the first 3 and 5 years predicted more mother-reported externalizing problems when children were ages 3 and 5 (and somewhat more father-reported externalizing problems at age 5), as well as more negative mothering and less positive fathering during the toddler years. Effects of nonmaternal care on externalizing problems became insignificant once observed parenting was controlled, thereby providing evidence of the mediational effects of parenting. More time in nonmaternal care across the first 5 years predicted more negative adjustment on a composite lab-based measure of affective-cognitive functioning at age 5 (e.g., attributional bias, social problem solving, preference for negative story plots), and this effect was only modestly attenuated upon controlling for parenting. Results are discussed in terms of related research and the current context of child care in America.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1998

Earned security, daily stress, and parenting: a comparison of five alternative models.

Research suggests that adults who have developed a coherent perspective on their negative, early attachment relationships (i.e., earned secures) do not reenact poor parenting practices with their own children. However, no studies have addressed whether earned secures maintain positive parenting under the pressures of aversive environmental conditions. This study tested five alternative models that predict how earned secures parent under low and high stress in comparison to adults who had a positive upbringing (i.e., continuous secures) and adults who have an incoherent perspective on a troubled childhood (i.e., insecures). Only if earned secures exhibit effective caregiving under high stress, in comparison to the other security groups, can it be assumed that they have broken the intergenerational cycle of poor parenting. The Adult Attachment Interview was used to classify 97 mothers as earned secure, continuous secure, and insecure. Home observations of parenting and maternal self-reports of daily hassles (our stress measure) were obtained when children were 27 months old. Planned comparisons revealed that the diathesis-stress/incoherent present state of mind model most accurately predicted parenting. Thus, under high stress, the earned secures parented equivalently to the continuous secures and more positively than the insecures; under low stress no group differences were obtained. These findings indicate that in a normative sample earned secures break the intergenerational cycle and exhibit resilient parenting even under high stress conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Mothering, fathering, and infant negativity as antecedents of boys' externalizing problems and inhibition at age 3 years: differential susceptibility to rearing experience?

To examine the effects of infant negative emotionality and of mothering and fathering during the toddler years on 3-year-old boys' externalizing problems and inhibition, as well as explore the proposition that children vary in their susceptibility to rearing influence, 125 first-born, Caucasian boys from maritally intact families were studied. Results revealed that when infant negativity is measured with objective, replicable, and discriminantly valid procedures, no relation obtains between it and externalizing problems (nor inhibition). Moreover, as hypothesized on the basis of prior work, parenting was a stronger predictor of externalizing problems and inhibition in the case of children who were highly negative as infants. Mothering proved a stronger predictor of externalizing problems and fathering of inhibition, with more negative mothering in the 2nd and 3rd year forecasting higher CBCL-externalizing scores and less negative fathering in the 2nd and 3rd year and more positive fathering in the 2nd year forecasting more inhibition at age 3 Implications of these findings for studies of parental influence are considered.

Child Behavior Disorders↗
PubMed1997

Infant emotionality, parenting, and 3-year inhibition: exploring stability and lawful discontinuity in a male sample.

In this study, the authors examine temperament (12-13 months) and mothering and fathering (15, 21, 27, 33 months) antecedents of inhibition of children at age 3 years prospectively in a sample of 125 firstborn boys and retrospectively in only the most and least inhibited children. High negativity coupled with low positivity in infancy predicted high inhibition, as did parenting that was supportive (e.g., high sensitivity, low intrusiveness). Parenting appeared more influential in the case of children who were highly negative as infants. The importance of distinguishing positive and negative emotionality in infancy and of studying mothering and fathering are discussed.

Affect↗
PubMed1997

Young children's social relationships with siblings and friends.

Relationships with a close friend and a younger sibling were investigated in 30 first-born young children. Greater positive affect and reciprocity were found between friends than between siblings. Limited support for the consistency of individual differences in relationship quality across friend and sibling dyads was also revealed. Implications for child development and future research are discussed.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1997

Temperament and parenting antecedents of individual differences in three-year-old boys' pride and shame reactions.

To examine individual differences in pride and shame reactions of 3-year-olds and their temperamental and parenting antecedents, 110 boys were studied at ages 36 and 37 months in a "rigged" achievement situation. After being trained to complete explicitly stipulated "easy" and "difficult" tasks before a buzzer sounded, success and failure were manipulated by artificially "rigging" how much time the child had to work on these tasks. Children's facial, verbal, and postural reactions to success and failure were composited to create pride scores following success and shame scores following failure. As expected, pride reactions were greater following success on the difficult than on the easy task, and shame reactions were greater following failure on the easy than on the difficult task. Early temperament (at 12/13 months) proved unrelated to pride and shame. With respect to parenting, measurements composited across 15, 21, 27, and 33 months showed that mothers and fathers who were more positive in their parenting had children who displayed less pride, and that children whose parents (especially mothers) were more negative in their parenting evinced less shame. These counterintuitive findings are discussed in terms of differences between assessments of parenting obtained in this investigation of parenting antecedents and those obtained in other studies of parental responses in the achievement situation itself. Directions for future research are outlined.

Affect↗
PubMed1997

Theory testing, effect-size evaluation, and differential susceptibility to rearing influence: the case of mothering and attachment.

It is important to distinguish theory testing from effect-size evaluation when considering the impact of mothering on attachment security discerned in the De Wolff and van Ijzendoorn meta-analysis. Moreover, the possibility exists that this analysis both over- and underestimates mothering effects, as would be the case if infants vary in their susceptibility to rearing influence.

Child Rearing↗
PubMed1996

Play behavior in toddlers with in utero cocaine exposure: a prospective, masked, controlled study.

Play behavior was compared between toddlers with in utero cocaine exposure and controls of similar low socioeconomic status enrolled at birth in a prospective, masked study. At 18 and 24 months, 83 cocaine-exposed and 93 control toddlers were videotaped playing on their own for 15 minutes. An observer who was off-site and unaware of project purpose or drug exposure status of toddlers recorded the most cognitively complex play activity per 15-second interval. In a total of 315 play sessions, the groups did not differ in middle and highest level of play achieved at either 18 or 24 months (p > or = .27). After controlling for confounders, the proportions of play behavior in each of six play categories were similar in the two groups at both 18 and 24 months (p > or = .42). We conclude that in utero cocaine exposure was not associated with differences in play behavior in this cohort of cocaine-exposed and control toddlers.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1996

Trouble in the second year: three questions about family interaction.

3 questions regarding family interaction in the second year of life are addressed in this report on 69 families rearing firstborn sons. Question 1 concerns the identification, via cluster analysis, of families having difficulty managing their child, using codings of narrative records of family interaction when children were 15 and 21 months of age. Parents in families identified as "troubled" at each age tried to control their toddlers most often, were least likely to rely upon control-plus-guidance management strategies, had children who defied them most frequently, and experienced the greatest escalation of negative affect in these control encounters. Families identified as "troubled" at both 15 and 21 months had children who received the highest "externalizing" problem scores at 18 months and mothers who experienced the most daily hassles during the second year. Question 2 concerns the antecedents of "trouble in the second year." Discriminant function analyses indicated that membership in the groups of families that appeared troubled at both ages of measurement (n = 15), at only one age (n = 28), or never (n = 26) could be reliably predicted (hit rate = 71%) using a set of 9 measurements of parent personality, child emotionality/temperament, marital quality, work-family relations, and social support, suggested by Belsky's model of the determinants of parenting, and social class. Question 3 concerns the proposition that extensive nonmaternal care in the first year is a risk factor for troubled family functioning in the second year. As hypothesized, prediction analysis showed that families at moderate and high contextual risk (based on 10 antecedent variables pertaining to Question 2), were significantly more likely to experience trouble in the second year when children experienced 20 or more hours per week of nonmaternal care in their first year, and these results could not be attributed to "selection effects."

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Continuity in parent-child relationships from infancy to middle childhood and relations with friendship competence.

This cross-cultural study examined continuity in parent-child relationships from infancy to middle childhood in a sample of German families. Connections were traced between individual differences in a composite of markers of the parent-child attachment relationship system (including classification of the infant via the Strange Situation and parent via the Adult Attachment Interview and for mothers' ratings of sensitivity) and later parent-child communications. Findings within the mother-child relationship revealed modest links between the composite and communications and were taken to suggest that the divergent fields of attachment and family communication research are addressing similar underlying relationship processes involving the interplay between relatedness and autonomy. Further findings revealed that the composite modestly predicted variability in children's competence in forming friendships and that differences in concurrent child-mother communications significantly added to and possibly mediated these effects. Results were interpreted as supporting a process model of development, whereby adaptation is influenced by both current and past relationship status.

Child Behavior↗
PubMed1995

Personality and parenting: exploring the mediating role of transient mood and daily hassles.

In order to explore the role that transient mood and daily hassles might play in mediating the impact of enduring personality on parenting, naturalistic home observations of mothering and fathering were conducted when firstborn sons were 15 and 21 months of age. Observationally based, behavioral ratings of mothering and fathering were related to three self-report personality scales (Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Extraversion), administered to parents when their children were 10 months of age, and to self-reports of transient mood (positive and negative) and daily hassles obtained prior to each observation of family interaction. Results indicated that (a) mothering was more consistently predicted by personality and mood/hassles than fathering; (b) Extraversion played a larger role in predicting fathering than mothering, with the reverse being true of Agreeableness; (c) Neuroticism was the most consistent predictor of men's and women's parenting; and (d) there was little support for affect-specific linkages between personality, mood/hassles, and parenting. Finally, some evidence of mediation by transient mood and daily hassles emerged, more consistently for mothers than fathers, though more strongly for fathers than mothers. These results are discussed in terms of the primacy of the role of parenting for men and women.

Adult↗