Advancing knowledge of human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases.
An enduring issue in the study of mental health is identifying developmental processes that explain how childhood characteristics progress to maladaptive forms.
Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) report elevated parenting stress. The current study examined bidirectional effects between parenting stress and three domains of child functioning (ASD symptoms, internalizing behavior problems, and externalizing behavior problems) across four time points in 188 families of children with ASD (originally aged 5 to 12 yrs).
Children who experience early adversity often develop emotion regulatory problems, but little is known about the mechanisms that mediate this relation. We tested whether general associative learning processes contribute to associations between adversity, in the form of child maltreatment, and negative behavioral outcomes.
Hallmarks of autism are characteristic behaviors – repetitive motions, problems interacting with others, impaired communication abilities – that occur in widely different combinations and degrees of severity among those who have the condition.
