The primary purpose of this study was to examine the influence of two nonshared family environmental components-maternal differential behavior and sibling temperaments-on the sibling relationships of school-age children. Forty mothers and their same-sex children (20 pairs of boys and 20 pairs of girls) participated. In order to examine the associations of temperament and maternal differential behavior with the quality of sibling interactions, mothers were observed in triadic interactions with their two children. On a separate occasion the sibling dyad was observed interacting in the same contexts. The mothers also provided temperament ratings of each of their children's levels of activity, emotional intensity, and persistence. Hie results indicated that high activity, high emotional intensity, and low persistence levels in both older and younger children were associated with increased agonism between sisters, whereas high activity and low persistence levels for younger brothers were associated with more agonistic behavior among brothers. An imbalance of maternal behavior that favored the younger child was generally associated with lower rates of verbalizations and prosocial and agonistic behavior directed by siblings to one another. The observations of the mothersibling triadic and sibling dyadic interactions also revealed consistency in the wi thi n-family environments. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of considering the within-family environments that mediate the quality of sibling relationships.

In a study of 47 intact fa milies with two same-sex children, associations among parental depression, marital satisfaction, fa mily conflict, and inconsistent child rearing practices were examined, both between parents and within individual parents. Results are discussed in terms of gender-related differences in fa mily process. Th e need fo r further research on fa ther-child interactions is highlighted.

The relationship of young adolescents" scores on the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) to subjective and objective indices of their social and cognitive functioning was examined. Subjects were 89 young adolescents (11-15 years old), their parents, and their social studies teachers. The correlations of adolescents" CDI scores with recent school grades, objective ratings of overt social behavior, and measures of adolescent social and cognitive competence as perceived by the adolescent, both parents, and the teacher were examined. CDI scores were significantly and negatively correlated with school grades, behavioral ratings of positive social communication, and adolescent, mother, father, and teacher perceptions of the adolescents'social and cognitive competence. The relationship of these findings to those of other CDI validity studies is discussed.

In this study of the connections between marital adjustment and sibling behavior, the best predictor of younger siblings ' prosocial behavior was fo und to be low interparental conflict. Older siblings ' prosocial behavior was most associated with the mothers ' marital adjustment. Yo unger siblings ' agonistic behavior was related to marital adjustment and to the older children 's activity level.

The association between child temperament and mothers ' and fathers' perceptions of child adjustment was investigated in a study of 70 married couples, each of whom had two children of the same gender-34 brother pairs and 34 sets of sisters. The parents ' perceptions of their children's levels of activity, persistence, and emotional intensity were found to be related to their perceptions of child adjustment. Implications of the findings are discussed and directions for further research indicated.little over a decade ago, clinical re-