Volume 4, Number 1, January-March 2004

EMPIRICAL REPORTS

Identifying Components of Maternal Sensitivity to Infant Distress: The Role of Maternal Emotional Competencies
Esther M. Leerkes, Susan C. Crockenberg, and C. Emma Burrous

Maternal sensitivity to infant distress is related to the combination of mothers' cognitive and emotional responses to infant distress.

The Bio-Culture of Parenting: Evidence from Five Cultural Communities
Heidi Keller, Arnold Lohaus, Petra Kuensemueller, Monika Abels, Relindis Yovsi, Susanne Voelker, Henning Jensen, Zaira Papaligoura, Mariano Rosabal-Coto, Daniela Kulks, and Prerana Mohite

Two styles of parenting babies are related to different sociocultural orientations: A proximal parenting style predominates in cultural communities that follow interdependent socialization goals, whereas a distal parenting style predominates in cultural communities that follow independent socialization goals.

The Smoking Behaviors of Adolescents and their Friends: Do Parents Matter?
Avril J. Mewse, J. Richard Eiser, Alan M. Slater, and Stephen E. G. Lea

Parental authoritativeness, parental smoking, parental disapproval of smoking, and the smoking behaviors of adolescent friends work together to influence cigarette smoking during adolescence.

Mental Health Moderators of Early Head Start on Parenting and Child Development: Maternal Depression and Relationship Attitudes
JoAnn L. Robinson and Robert N. Emde

For families with very young children the positive impacts of Early Head Start interventions on observed parent-child relationship and child language development were concentrated among women who had elevated depressive symptoms and mistrustful relationship attitudes.