In this study, the psychological structure of the family after divorce is seen as mediating the impact of divorce upon children. Divorce affects primary bonds with parents, presents challenges to conceptions of social reality, and creates stress which interferes with normal development. The effects of divorce upon child behavior (peer relations, stress, aggression, work effectiveness at school) were examined through two contrasting research strategies: 1) a comparison of the behavior of children in divorced and intact families, and 2) analysis of the association between family processes and child outcomes in intact and divorced families. Family processes examined were: (a) the affective relationships between the father and mother, (b) the affective relationships between the child and each parent separately, and (c) for divorced families, the amount of contact between child and non‐custodial parent. For divorced and intact groups combined, the relationships among family members appeared to be more potent influences on child behavior than was marital status. The negative effects of divorce were greatly mitigated when positive relationships with both parents were maintained. The child's relationship with the non‐custodial parent (father) was as important as the continuing relationship with the mother. Implications for research and for public policy are discussed.

We examined beliefs about children's performance in mathematics through interviews with mothers and their sixth-grade children in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and in Chinese-American and Caucasian-American groups in the United States. Explanations for relatively high and low performance were indicated by attributions to ability, effort, training at home, training at school, and luck. We also asked mothers about specific instances of unusually high or low achievement. The groups showed different patterns of attributions. Mothers in the PRC viewed lack of effort as the major cause of low performance. The Chinese Americans also viewed lack of effort as important but assigned considerable responsibility to other sources. The Caucasian Americans distributed responsibility more evenly across the options. PRC mothers offered partial reinforcement to children who brought home a good grade; American mothers, both Chinese and Caucasian, were Hkely to offer unqualified praise. National differences in performance may occur in part because of such cultural variations in beliefs.Students from the United States do not perform as well on tests of mathematics and science as do students from Asian countries, particularly Japan, the People's Republic of China,

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Maternal expectations about development help organize parental behavior by providing internal referents against which a child's growth and behavior are evaluated, thus identifying occasions for intervention by the adult. Fifty‐eight mothers from Japan and 67 mothers from the United States were interviewed about the ages at which they expected their four‐year‐old children to acquire a number of specific developmental skills. There were no differences between the two groups of mothers in mean age of mastery expectation across all 38 items but Japanese mothers expected early mastery on skills that indicated emotional maturity, self‐control, and social courtesy. Mothers in the U.S. expected mastery at an earlier age on items indicating verbal assertiveness and social skills with peers. Maternal expectations were found to correlate with children's performance on tests of school aptitude when the children were six years of age.

This article reports longitudinal data on the link between the affective quality of the mother-child relationship and school-relevant cognitive performance. Sixty-seven mothers and their children participated in the first (preschool) phase of the study; 47 were included in a follow-up when the children were 12 years of age. The affective quality of the mother-child relationship when the child was 4 years of age was significantly correlated with mental ability at age 4, school readiness at ages 5-6, 1Q at age 6, and school achievement at age 12. These associations remained significant when the contributions of maternal IQ, socioeconomic status (SES), and children's mental ability at age 4 were taken into account. Our findings suggest that affective relationships may influence cognitive growth in three ways: (a) by affecting parent's tendency to engage and support children in solving problems; (b) by affecting children's social competence and, consequently, the flow of information between children and adults; and (c) by affecting children's exploratory tendencies, hence their willingness to approach and persist in tasks.