Ross A Thompson
Biographic Data
| ID | 134306 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ross A Thompson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ross A |
| FAMILY NAME | Thompson |
| SIGNATURE | THOMPSON R A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, Davis |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5329-5784 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 54 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 359 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 54 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1980 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Practitioner Review: Clinical insights from attachment theory and research for professionals working with young children and their families
Attachment theory, with its core concepts, perspectives, and insights developed over the past five decades, is influential for professionals working with young children. However, practitioners face challenges translating attachment theory and research into practical applications. This manifests in attachment myths, theoretical misinterpretations, and inconsistency of application. This state‐of‐the‐art review is authored by 47 attachment researche…
Taking theory of mind research into much needed new terrain – a commentary on Kochanska et al. (2025)
Contemporary research on developing theory of mind emphasizes its cognitive and neurobiological foundations, but studies of its relational origins have potential for opening new terrain in this expansive literature. The study by Kochanska and colleagues shows this in several ways. First, it offers a model for constructing theoretically guided causal models built on longitudinal research enlisting multiple predictors of developing theory of mind t…
The transition to an impact-based weather-health alerting system in England: An evaluation of stakeholder perspectives
The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: The imperative for a health-centred response in a world facing irreversible harms
Developmental dynamics of positive and negative emotion in infancy
The dynamic features of emotion-intensity, speed of response, rise time, persistence, recovery-are important to emotion development, but there remains limited understanding of early developmental changes in these dynamics and how they are organized. In this exploratory study, 58 White infants were observed at ages 6, 9, and 12 months in four social episodes designed to elicit positive emotion (two games with mother) and negative emotion (stranger…
Emotional Development and the Growth of Moral Self-Awareness
Traditional moral development theories ascribe a significant role for emotion in moral development. Fear and anxiety over anticipated punishment are precursors to the internalization of moral values, for example, resulting in guilt or shame when children violate these internalized rules. This chapter argues that other emotions are also significant. These include (1) indignation or displeasure when young children observe harm to another; (2) empat…
Secure attachment and social and personality outcomes: The moderating role of emerging adults’ autobiographical memories of parents
Schema‐congruent positive autobiographical memories of past experiences with parents, a legacy of secure attachment, may operate jointly with secure attachment to predict social and personality outcomes. The current study examines the moderating role of emerging adults’ autobiographical memories of parents on the relations between maternal and paternal attachment and self‐regulation, personal distress, and pathological narcissism. Undergraduates …
Stakeholder perspectives on extreme hot and cold weather alerts in England and the proposed move towards an impact-based approach
Extreme weather alerting systems are one of the central tools utilised in adapting to changing weather patterns resulting from climate change. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the current alerting systems for hot and cold weather used in England to notify the health and social care sector of upcoming extreme weather events. We consider the views of stakeholders on the current system and explore their perspectives on the proposal to move …
Parents’ attachment orientation, interviewers’ support, and children’s memory for a mildly distressing event
63) and their primary caretakers took part in the Preschool Attachment Classification System (PACS), a moderately distressing event for children of preschool age that is based on the Strange Situation Procedure. Children's memory for the event was then tested shortly thereafter by either a supportive or a non-supportive interviewer. In the non-supportive condition, children whose parents scored higher on attachment avoidance provided lower propor…
Attachment networks and the future of attachment theory
Attachment theorists have long recognized that multiple attachments characterize the typical experience of most children. But an appreciation of attachment networks is new, and this commentary draws on some of the most theoretically provocative themes of the contributions to this special issue. These include: how the quality of attachment relationships and the contexts of their development colors the security derived from them and the development…
Development of Emotion Dysregulation in Developing Relationships
A developmental perspective to emotion dysregulation underscores the relational bases to developing emotion regulation capacities. In this chapter, attachment theory and functionalist emotions theory are discussed as theoretical foundations for understanding emotion dysregulation in the context of developing relationships. In the subsequent discussion of central research literatures, the chapter profiles family processes that contribute to the de…
Deferred Adaptations
Becoming prosocial: The consistency of individual differences in early prosocial behavior
Infancy and Childhood: Emotional Development
Why Do Some Toddlers Help A Stranger? Origins of Individual Differences in Prosocial Behavior
This study investigated the influence of emotion on toddlers' prosocial behavior in instrumental helping tasks with an unfamiliar adult. The goals were to examine whether early prosocial behavior was affected by (1) the adult's expressions of sadness (in contrast to a neutral expression) as a cue of need and (2) toddlers' emotion understanding. Thirty‐five 18‐ to 20‐month‐olds participated in eight trials in which an experimenter either indicated…
Baby Altruists? Examining the Complexity of Prosocial Motivation in Young Children
The contributions of these studies to our understanding of early prosocial motivation are discussed in the context of the broader research literature in this field. We consider first whether different forms of prosocial behavior (e.g., helping, sharing, and empathic assistance) reflect a core prosocial disposition in the early years. The methodological challenges of assessing prosocial behavior in very young children are considered next. We then …
Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation: Promoting Change in the Quality of Teacher–Child Interactions
The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between characteristics of early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) and changes in the quality of teacher–child interactions. One hundred forty‐one early childhood teachers, serving 3‐ to 5‐year‐olds in publically funded early education programs in the state of Arkansas, participated in this study. All childcare sites and preschool programs participating in the study received ECMHC …
Social and Emotional Development in Infancy
The study of “socioemotional” development reflects the intertwining nature of the processes of social and emotional growth. In this chapter, we focus on social and emotional development of infants and toddlers. We begin by outlining the contextual frames that inform our review: psychobiological, relational, and cultural. Emotions have been referred to as the “language of infancy,” and our profile of early emotional development focuses on several …
Emotion and Emotion Regulation: Two Sides of the Developing Coin
Systems theory holds that emotional responses derive from the continuous, mutual interaction between multiple neurobiological and behavioral systems associated with emotion as they are contextually embedded. Developmental systems theory portrays these systems as becoming progressively integrated as they mature. From this perspective, regulatory processes are incorporated into emotion throughout the course of emotional development. This article ex…
Making the Most of Small Effects
The idea that classroom social ecologies are shaped by the aggregate effects of peers’ prior care experiences is provocative, even though the evidence is weak that this explains the small and diminishing effect of childcare experience in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study. Small effects may indeed be small effects, but students of early development should attend to the potential importance of group‐level influences…
Attachment, Parent–Child Discourse and Theory‐of‐Mind Development
This study investigated the relations among attachment, mother–child discourse, and theory of mind in a sample of 76 four‐year‐old children (mean age = 4.48 years; 36 boys). Mother–child conversations about a past event were coded for maternal use of elaborative discourse and mothers' references to mental states. Mothers completed the attachment q‐sort and children completed four false‐belief tasks. Results revealed that maternal conversational e…
Developing Persons, Relationships, and Science
Multiple Relationships Multiply Considered
Commentaries| April 11 2005 Multiple Relationships Multiply Considered Subject Area: Psychiatry and Psychology , Women's and Children's Health Ross A. Thompson Ross A. Thompson University of California, Davis, Calif., USA Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Human Development (2005) 48 (1-2): 102–107. https://doi.org/10.1159/000083221 Article history Published Online: April 11 2005 Content Tools Views Icon Vie…
Combating Conflicting Messages of Values: A Closer Look at Parental Strategies
This study examined how parents respond when their children encounter values outside the home that conflict with family values. Forty‐eight middle‐class European American parents completed questionnaires consisting of 11 vignettes asking how they would respond to hypothetical situations where outside sources posed potential conflicts with parental values to their adolescent child ( M age of child=13.33 years). We identified five strategies that p…
Efficacy and social support as predictors of parenting stress among families in poverty
Using a sample of low-income mothers enrolled in Early Head Start (n = 65), this study tested the hypothesis that parenting stress is affected by social support and self-efficacy, in addition to family risk status and family income. Specifically, it was proposed that social support and self-efficacy are psychological resources that are associated with lower parenting stress levels, and would moderate the impact of family income on parenting stres…
Emotion Regulation: A Theme in Search of Definition
Contemporary interest in emotion regulation promises to advance important new views of emotional development as well as offering applications to developmental psychopathology, but these potential contributions are contingent on developmentalists' attention to some basic definitional issues. This essay offers a perspective on these issues by considering how emotion regulation should be defined, the various components of the management of emotion, …
Developmental science and the media: Early brain development
Media coverage of early brain development not only has focused public attention on early childhood but also has contributed to misunderstanding of developmental neuroscience research. This article critically summarizes current research in developmental neuroscience that is pertinent to the central claims of media accounts of early brain development, including (a) scientific understanding of formative early experiences, (b) whether critical period…
Attachment and emotional understanding in preschool children
This study was designed to elucidate the association between attachment and emotional understanding in preschool children. Forty children between the ages of 2.5 and 6 years and their mothers participated in the study. Mothers completed the Attachment Q-set, and children took part at their preschools in both an affective perspective-taking task and a series of interviews concerning naturally occurring incidents of emotions. Overall, age and attac…
Efficacy and social support as predictors of parenting stress among families in poverty
Using a sample of low-income mothers enrolled in Early Head Start (n = 65), this study tested the hypothesis that parenting stress is affected by social support and self-efficacy, in addition to family risk status and family income. Specifically, it was proposed that social support and self-efficacy are psychological resources that are associated with lower parenting stress levels, and would moderate the impact of family income on parenting stres…
Empathy and the development of guilt in children
Development in the First Years of Life
Any discussion on how we care for infants and toddlers must begin with the interests and needs of the children themselves. Therefore, this issue opens with an overview of the dramatic development that takes place during the first three years of life, which turns the dependent human newborn into a sophisticated three-year-old who walks, talks, solves problems, and manages relationships with adults and other children. This article explains the new …
Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation: Promoting Change in the Quality of Teacher–Child Interactions
The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between characteristics of early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) and changes in the quality of teacher–child interactions. One hundred forty‐one early childhood teachers, serving 3‐ to 5‐year‐olds in publically funded early education programs in the state of Arkansas, participated in this study. All childcare sites and preschool programs participating in the study received ECMHC …
Coping with Interparental Verbal Conflict by Children Exposed to Spouse Abuse and Children from Nonviolent Homes
Security of attachment and stranger sociability in infancy
The relationship between stranger sociability and the security of the infant-mother attachment relationship was examined in a sample of 43 infants observed initially when they were 12'/2 months old, and again at 19% months of age. The sociability measure was a revision of the Stevenson and Lamb (1979) sequential-initiatives procedure; it was followed by the Ainsworth Strange Situation (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). At both ages, infan…
Patterns of Attachment and Maternal Discourse Effects on Children's Emotion Understanding From 3 to 5 Years of Age
Two studies examined the influence of maternal discourse style and security of attachment, and their interaction, on preschoolers’ emotion understanding. The first, with 3‐year‐olds, unexpectedly found no significant prediction of emotion understanding from attachment and discourse, and the interaction of the predictors yielded theoretically unpredicted associations with emotion understanding. Consequently, measures of attachment and emotion unde…
The Role of the Father after Divorce
Fathers figure prominently in a child's postdivorce life whether they are involved or disinterested, but concerns about inadequate child support, noncustodial fathers who fail to visit, and the economic plight of single mothers have together raised policy questions about how better to enfranchise fathers with the rights and responsibilities of parenting and ensure them a continuing and meaningful role in the lives of their offspring. This article…
Attachment, Parent–Child Discourse and Theory‐of‐Mind Development
This study investigated the relations among attachment, mother–child discourse, and theory of mind in a sample of 76 four‐year‐old children (mean age = 4.48 years; 36 boys). Mother–child conversations about a past event were coded for maternal use of elaborative discourse and mothers' references to mental states. Mothers completed the attachment q‐sort and children completed four false‐belief tasks. Results revealed that maternal conversational e…
Ego Identity Status and Self-Monitoring Behavior in Adolescents
This research examines the association between identity status and self-monitoring behavior including age and gender differences in these variables in 476 adolescents (15 to 22 years old) in Turkey—a non-Western society characterized by traditional and modernist cultural elements. Identity was assessed with the Extended Version of the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status, and self-monitoring was measured by the Self-Monitoring Scale. Identity…
Stakeholder perspectives on extreme hot and cold weather alerts in England and the proposed move towards an impact-based approach
Extreme weather alerting systems are one of the central tools utilised in adapting to changing weather patterns resulting from climate change. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the current alerting systems for hot and cold weather used in England to notify the health and social care sector of upcoming extreme weather events. We consider the views of stakeholders on the current system and explore their perspectives on the proposal to move …
The effects of infant day care through the prism of attachment theory: A critical appraisal
Combating Conflicting Messages of Values: A Closer Look at Parental Strategies
This study examined how parents respond when their children encounter values outside the home that conflict with family values. Forty‐eight middle‐class European American parents completed questionnaires consisting of 11 vignettes asking how they would respond to hypothetical situations where outside sources posed potential conflicts with parental values to their adolescent child ( M age of child=13.33 years). We identified five strategies that p…
Development of children's inferences of the emotions of others
According to Weiner's attribution-emotion model, the development of children's inferences of emo-tion in others may be affected by an increasing ability to consider causal attributions and situational outcomes together, rather than outcomes alone, when making emotional judgments. This formula-tion was tested in the present study of developmental changes in emotional inferences and children's justifications for them. Second graders, fifth graders,…
Emotional responses of Down syndrome and normal infants in the Strange Situation: The organization of affective behavior in infants
Comparaison entre la qualite de l'angoisse de separation de 26 enfants mongoliens âges de 19 mois observes dans la situation de l'etranger (Ainsworth et al., 1978) et celle de 43 enfants normaux observes a 12 mois et demi et a 19 mois et demi
Empathy and the development of guilt in children
Security of attachment and stranger sociability in infancy
The relationship between stranger sociability and the security of the infant-mother attachment relationship was examined in a sample of 43 infants observed initially when they were 12'/2 months old, and again at 19% months of age. The sociability measure was a revision of the Stevenson and Lamb (1979) sequential-initiatives procedure; it was followed by the Ainsworth Strange Situation (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). At both ages, infan…
Personalization of Mail Surveys: Too Much of a Good Thing
Cover letters with and without pictures of the researcher were included with questionnaires to test the effects of this type of personalization on responses to a mail survey. In addition, the researcher's attire, title, and affiliation were varied across different forms of the cover letter to evaluate the effects of status, role-clothing consistency, and similarity to the perceiver on perceiver's willingness to return the survey form. The questio…
Preschoolers' Reunion Responses in Day Care
Although reunion responses are often used in studies of the effects of day care on parent-child relationships, little is known about the reliability of such behaviours in preschoolers. A fifteen-category Preschool Reunion Behavior Measure was developed to appraise the range of preschoolers' reunion responses in day care and their consistency across multiple observations. Twenty-two boys and girls were observed six times over a seven-week period d…
Emotional responses of Down syndrome and normal infants in the Strange Situation: The organization of affective behavior in infants
Comparaison entre la qualite de l'angoisse de separation de 26 enfants mongoliens âges de 19 mois observes dans la situation de l'etranger (Ainsworth et al., 1978) et celle de 43 enfants normaux observes a 12 mois et demi et a 19 mois et demi
Temperament, emotionality, and infant social cognition
Even in the early years of life, temperament may influence psychosocial interaction not only directly through its effects on behavioral tendencies, but also indirectly through its influence on the infant's understanding and interpretation of, and adaptation to, social events
Development of children's inferences of the emotions of others
According to Weiner's attribution-emotion model, the development of children's inferences of emo-tion in others may be affected by an increasing ability to consider causal attributions and situational outcomes together, rather than outcomes alone, when making emotional judgments. This formula-tion was tested in the present study of developmental changes in emotional inferences and children's justifications for them. Second graders, fifth graders,…
The effects of infant day care through the prism of attachment theory: A critical appraisal
Grandparents' visitation rights: Legalizing the ties that bind
Grandparents' visitation rights: Legalizing the ties that bind
Family and State: The Philosophy of Family Law
Behavioral Research Involving Children: A Developmental Perspective on Risk
Emotional regulation and emotional development
Socioemotional Development: Enduring Issues and New Challenges
Emotion Regulation: A Theme in Search of Definition
Ross A. Thompson, Emotion Regulation: A Theme in Search of Definition, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, Vol. 59, No. 2/3, The Development of Emotion Regulation: Biological and Behavioral Considerations (1994), pp. 25-52
The Role of the Father after Divorce
Fathers figure prominently in a child's postdivorce life whether they are involved or disinterested, but concerns about inadequate child support, noncustodial fathers who fail to visit, and the economic plight of single mothers have together raised policy questions about how better to enfranchise fathers with the rights and responsibilities of parenting and ensure them a continuing and meaningful role in the lives of their offspring. This article…
Emotion Regulation: A Theme in Search of Definition
Contemporary interest in emotion regulation promises to advance important new views of emotional development as well as offering applications to developmental psychopathology, but these potential contributions are contingent on developmentalists' attention to some basic definitional issues. This essay offers a perspective on these issues by considering how emotion regulation should be defined, the various components of the management of emotion, …
Child maltreatment research: Federal support and policy issues
The recent history of federal support for child maltreatment research paints a mixed picture of inadequate funding and uncertain administrative guidance against a backdrop of growing public concern about the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. This article describes some of the problems that have been identified in federal research funding, administration, and support of research initiatives and training concerning child abuse and neglect. Rem…
Child maltreatment research: Federal support and policy issues
Coping with Interparental Verbal Conflict by Children Exposed to Spouse Abuse and Children from Nonviolent Homes
Attachment and emotional understanding in preschool children
This study was designed to elucidate the association between attachment and emotional understanding in preschool children. Forty children between the ages of 2.5 and 6 years and their mothers participated in the study. Mothers completed the Attachment Q-set, and children took part at their preschools in both an affective perspective-taking task and a series of interviews concerning naturally occurring incidents of emotions. Overall, age and attac…
Mother–Child Discourse, Attachment Security, Shared Positive Affect, and Early Conscience Development
The separate literatures on parental discipline, maternal discourse about emotion, and autobiographical memory support the idea that parent–child discourse in the context of a supportive relationship plays a role in a child's early conscience development, and this study was designed to examine this issue. Forty-two preschool children and their mothers took part in a 45-min structured laboratory session, and at their homes, mothers completed the A…
Development in the First Years of Life
Any discussion on how we care for infants and toddlers must begin with the interests and needs of the children themselves. Therefore, this issue opens with an overview of the dramatic development that takes place during the first three years of life, which turns the dependent human newborn into a sophisticated three-year-old who walks, talks, solves problems, and manages relationships with adults and other children. This article explains the new …
The Postdivorce Family: Children, Parenting, and Society
Black Men and Divorce
Psychology (47 works) · Developmental psychology (40 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (27 works) · Social Psychology (27 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (17 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (15 works) · Social Psychology (15 works) · Political science (13 works) · Child and Animal Learning Development (11 works) · Attachment theory (10 works)