Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (Research Triangle Institute, 2002), this study examined the impact of corporal punishment (CP) on children's behavior problems. Longitudinal analyses were specified that controlled for covarying contextual and parenting variables and that partialed child effects. The results indicate that parental CP uniquely contributes to negative behavioral adjustment in children at both 36 months and at 1st grade, with the effects at the earlier age more pronounced in children with difficult temperaments. Parents and mental health professionals who work to modify children's negative behavior should be aware of the unique impact that CP likely plays in triggering and maintaining children's behavior problems. Broad-based family policies that reduce the use of this parenting behavior would potentially increase children's mental health and decrease the incidence of children's behavior problems.

This article describes the development and psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Neglectful Behavior Scale-Child Report (MNBS-CR). The measure is broadly conceptualized to tap child neglect across four core domains: cognitive, emotional, physical and supervisory neglect, and it assesses exposure to violence, alcohol-related neglect, abandonment, and children's appraisals of parenting. Features include pictorial items, audio computer-assisted testing, and programming by age and gender of the child and caregiver. A clinical sample of 144 children, age 6 to 15 years, and a comparison sample of 87 children were tested. Results showed that the MNBS-CR has high reliability, with higher reliability found for older children (alpha = .94) than for younger children (alpha = .66). Among older children, the MNBS-CR Supervisory scale was significantly associated with the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL), and total MNBS-CR scores were significantly associated with clinician reports of behavioral disorders. Younger and older neglected children scored significantly higher on the MNBS-CR than community children.

This study was designed to further define the subjective component in parental reports of infant temperament. 131 mothers and 127 fathers completed the ICQ twice during pregnancy and at 3.5 months postpartum. In addition, motivation for the pregnancy was assessed early in pregnancy, and depression and anxiety were measured at each point in the study. Principal components analyses of the data collected during pregnancy yielded anxiety/depression and pregnancy motivation components for both mothers and fathers. The ICQ scores formed 2 components in the mothers' analysis and 1 in the fathers'. Subsequent correlation and regression analyses examining the relation between the pregnancy components and the postpartum scores revealed that the best predictors of postpartum ICQ scores were the postpartum ICQ components, although the anxiety/depression component was also a significant correlate. The results are discussed in terms of the role parents' prepartum expectancies might play in their perceptions of and interactions with their infants.

This study was designed to further define the subjective component in parental reports of infant temperament. 131 mothers and 127 fathers completed the ICQ twice during pregnancy and at 3.5 months postpartum. In addition, motivation for the pregnancy was assessed early in pregnancy, and depression and anxiety were measured at each point in the study. Principal components analyses of the data collected during pregnancy yielded anxiety/depression and pregnancy motivation components for both mothers and fathers. The ICQ scores formed 2 components in the mothers' analysis and 1 in the fathers'. Subsequent correlation and regression analyses examining the relation between the pregnancy components and the postpartum scores revealed that the best predictors of postpartum ICQ scores were the postpartum ICQ components, although the anxiety/depression component was also a significant correlate. The results are discussed in terms of the role parents' prepartum expectancies might play in their perceptions of and interactions with their infants.

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