We examined relations among cortisol, markers of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity (including salivary alpha-amylase and skin conductance level), and children's adjustment. We also tested the Bauer et al. (Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 23(2), 102-113, 2002) hypothesis that interactions between the SNS and cortisol would be associated with internalizing and externalizing problems. Saliva samples were obtained from 8- to 9-year-olds before and after a laboratory assessment battery, and were assayed for cortisol and alpha-amylase (sAA). Basal skin conductance level (SCL) was measured during resting conditions. Parents reported on child adjustment. Interactions between basal SNS and cortisol levels explained moderate amounts of unique variance in children's externalizing and internalizing problems. More specifically, higher basal cortisol levels were positively associated with higher internalizing and externalizing problems among children with higher SNS activity, as compared to children with lower SNS activity. Findings underscore the utility of including information about the coordination between hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and SNS activity in biosocial models of atypical child development.

Contributions of mothers' social coaching and responsive style to preschoolers' peer competence were evaluated in 2 studies. In Study 1, 43 mother-child dyads participated in 3 laboratory tasks; videotapes were coded for responsive interaction style in play, advice regarding videotaped peer dilemmas (coaching), and nonsocial teaching in a puzzle task. Coaching and style were largely independent and were correlated with measures of social competence. In Study 2 (n = 62), coaching and style uniquely predicted teacher ratings, but only style predicted peer acceptance. To investigate whether coaching mediated the effects of style and/or whether style moderated the effects of coaching, the samples were combined. No evidence was found for mediation, but coaching was a more powerful predictor of lower levels of boys' aggression when the mother-child relationship was less responsive. Discussion focuses on models of socialization that stress the interplay of general style and specific socialization practices in promoting social competence.

Marital conflict was examined as a predictor of the quality and quantity of sleep in a sample of healthy 8- to 9-year-olds. Parents and children reported on marital conflict, the quantity and quality of children's sleep were examined through an actigraph worn for 7 consecutive nights, and child sleepiness was derived from child and mother reports. Increased marital conflict was associated with disruptions in the quantity and quality of children's sleep as well as subjective sleepiness, even after controlling for child age, ethnic group membership, socioeconomic status, sex, and body mass index. The results support the sensitization hypothesis in that exposure to marital conflict may influence an important facet of children's biological regulation, namely sleep.

To advance our understanding of how biological and behavioral processes interact to determine risk or resilience, theorists suggest that social developmental models will need to include multiple measurements of stress-related biological processes. Identified in the early 1990s as a surrogate marker Journal of Social and Personal Relationships Downloaded from of the sympathetic nervous system component of the stress response, salivary ␣-amylase has not been employed to test biosocial models of stress vulnerability in the context of child development until now. In this report, we describe a standard assay that behavioral scientists can use to improve the next generation of studies and specific recommendations about sample collection, preparation, and storage are presented. More importantly, four studies are presented with motherinfant dyads (N = 86), preschoolers (N = 54), children (N = 54), and adolescents (N = 29) to illustrate individual differences in stress-related change in ␣-amylase levels, that patterns of ␣-amylase stress reactivity distinctly differ from those measured by salivary cortisol, and associations between individual differences in ␣-amylase and social relationships, health, negative affectivity, cognitive/academic/behavior problems, and cardiovascular reactivity. We conclude that the integration of measurements of the adrenergic component of the locus ceruleus/autonomic (sympathetic) nervous system, as indexed by salivary ␣-amylase, into the study of biosocial relationships may extend our understanding of child health and development to new limits.

Prior efforts to systematically organize and define the growing area of social-skill training with children are characterized by several major shortcomings that may impede the progress of future research. As an alternative, the present article explores the purposes, methods, major findings, and future directions of socialskill training research from the perspective of a cognitive-social learning explanation of behavior change. Social-learning principles are utilized to provide both an explanatory framework and a potential technology for social-skill training methodology. Attention is devoted to conceptualizing skill-training methods in terms of theoretically derived variables and components as well as formal properties of training. Findings from empirical research are reviewed with respect to important or promising variables, their hypothesized function in behavior change, and their demonstrated effects on children's social behavior. Current and future research trends are discussed in light of the proposed model and available empirical evidence.