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A Longitudinal Study of Aggressive and Withdrawn Children into Adulthood

Patterns of Parenting and Risk to Offspring

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The Effects of Parental Dysfunction on Children

Abstract

This chapter focuses on risk to offspring of parents from a prospective longitudinal study of individuals from inner-city, lower-socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds (Serbin, et al., 1998). The parents in this sample have been followed since 1976, when they were elementary school children, through adolescence, early adulthood and, most recently, into parenthood (Schwartzman, Ledingham, & Serbin, 1985; Serbin, et al., 1998). Within this sample of socially and economically disadvantaged young adults, risk to offspring was examined as a function of parents’ childhood histories and characteristics, measured when the parents were themselves children between the ages of 6 and 13. For purposes of the present chapter, the emphasis is on mothers and their children. Specifically, intergenerational risk and prediction of problems in offspring are examined in relation to the mothers’ patterns of childhood aggression and social withdrawal.

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Serbin, L.A. et al. (2002). A Longitudinal Study of Aggressive and Withdrawn Children into Adulthood. In: McMahon, R.J., Peters, R.D. (eds) The Effects of Parental Dysfunction on Children. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1739-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1739-9_3

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