Guided by the emotional security hypothesis, this study reports on the development of a new self-report measure that assesses children's strategies for preserving emotional security in the context of interparental conflict. Participants were 924 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders and a subset of their mothers, fathers, and teachers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the Security in the Interparental Subsystem (SIS) Scale supported a seven-factor solution, corresponding well to the three component processes (i.e., emotional reactivity, regulation of exposure to parent affect, and internal representations) outlined in the emotional security hypothesis. The SIS subscales demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Support for the validity of the SIS Scale is evidenced by its significant links with parent reports of children's overt reactivity to conflict, children's responses to interparental conflict simulations 6 months later, and children's psychological maladjustment and experiential histories with interparental conflict across multiple informants (i.e., child, mother, father, and teacher). Results are discussed in the context of developing recommendations for use of the SIS and advancing the emotional security hypothesis.

Using a multisite community sample of 585 children, this study examined how protective and vulnerability factors alter trajectories of teacher-reported externalizing and internalizing behavior from kindergarten through Grade 8 for children who were and were not physically abused during the first 5 years of life. Early lifetime history of physical abuse (11.8% of sample) was determined through interviews with mothers during the prekindergarten period; mothers and children provided data on vulnerability and protective factors. Regardless of whether the child was abused, being African American; being male; having low early social competence, low early socioeconomic status (SES), and low adolescent SES; and experiencing adolescent harsh discipline, low monitoring, and low parental knowledge were related to higher levels of externalizing problems over time. Having low early social competence, low early SES, low adolescent SES, and low proactive parenting were related to higher levels of internalizing problems over time. Furthermore, resilience effects, defined as significant interaction effects, were found for unilateral parental decision making (lower levels are protective of externalizing outcomes for abused children), early stress (lower levels are protective of internalizing outcomes for abused children), adolescent stress (lower levels are protective of internalizing outcomes for abused children), and hostile attributions (higher levels are protective of internalizing outcomes for abused children). The findings provide a great deal of support for an additive or main effect perspective on vulnerability and protective factors and some support for an interactive perspective. It appears that some protective and vulnerability factors do not have stronger effects for physically abused children, but instead are equally beneficial or harmful to children regardless of their abuse status.Research indicates that individuals who have been physically abused early in life are at greater risk than are their nonabused peers for demonstrating externalizing behaviors such as aggression (Lansford et al., 2002), conduct disorders (Lynch & Cicchetti, 1998), and delinquency (Stouthamer-Loeber, Loeber, Homish, & Wei, 2001). It also demonstrates that physically abused children are at greater risk for displaying internalizing emotional distress including symptoms of depression (Toth, Manly, & Cicchetti, 1992), anxiety (Johnson et al., 2002), and maladaptive peer relationships NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptDespite the developmental risks of physical abuse, several studies suggest that some individuals exposed to early childhood abuse are able to develop with few if any difficulties (Cicchetti & Rogosch, 1997;Cicchetti, Rogosch, Lynch, & Holt, 1993;Egeland & Farber, 1987;Luthar, 1991;Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000;McGloin & Widom, 2001;Moran & Eckenrode, 1992). Why are some children able to develop well despite experiencing negative events in early childhood? What is it about individ...

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