Development and Psychopathology, 15 (2003), 613640Copyright 2003 Cambridge University PressPrinted in the United States of AmericaDOI: 10.1017.S0954579403000312

Research strategies for capturingtransactional models of development:The limits of the possible

ARNOLD J. SAMEROFF AND MICHAEL J. MACKENZIEUniversity of Michigan

AbstractTransactional models have informed research design and interpretation in studies relevant to developmentalpsychopathology. Bidirectional effects between individuals and social contexts have been found in many behavioraland cognitive domains. This review will highlight representative studies where the transactional model has beenexplicitly or implicitly tested. These studies include experimental, quasiexperimental, and naturalistic designs.Extensions of the transactional model have been made to interventions designed to target different aspects of abidirectional system in efforts to improve developmental outcomes. Problems remain in the need to theoreticallyspecify structural models and to combine analyses of transactions in the parentchild relationship with transactionsin the broader social contexts. Longitudinal studies with sufficient time points to assess reciprocal processescontinue to be important. Such longitudinal investigations will permit identifying developmental periods where thechild or the context may be most influential or most open to change.

Theres a reason that physicists are so suc- ality of a relation, such as between energy andmass. In developmental psychopathology, therecessful with what they do, and that is that they

study the hydrogen atom and the helium atom are principles or approaches or models thatcharacterize relations between processes or char-and then they stop. This statement attributed

to Richard Feynman (Krauss, 2002) sets a low acteristics but do not in themselves explainany of the variance. Such an approach is theexpectation for the amount of complexity that

scientists can hope to explain in the field of transactional model (Sameroff, 1975; Samer-off & Chandler, 1975).developmental psychopathology. In physics,

laws are derived that apply to every unit in a The goals of developmental psychopathol-ogy are to understand the processes that leadgroup, based on the simple assumption that all

of the units are identical. All electrons are the to developmental success or dysfunction. Thisunderstanding requires explanations of conti-same. In developmental psychopathology, laws

are derived that apply to no one individual nuity and discontinuity between adapted andmaladapted individuals and between states ofunit in the group. People are all different. In

physics, there are laws such as E = mc2 that adaptation and maladaptation within individu-als across time (Sameroff, 2000). One themeare thought to capture the true underlying re-in developmental psychopathology is the needto understand these outcomes as residing, not

This work was partially supported by grants from the Na- in the individual, but in the adaptiveness oftional Institute of Mental Health. the relationship between individual and con-

Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Ar-text (Sameroff & Emde, 1989). A requirementnold Sameroff, PhD, Center for Human Growth and De-of such an understanding is a model of bothvelopment, 300 N. Ingalls Building, 10th Level, Ann

Arbor, MI 48109-0406; E-mail: sameroff@umich.edu. individual and context. All too often, however,

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A. J. Sameroff and M. J. MacKenzie614

that model has been missing. In a critique of ments are best directed. Too often these ef-forts have suffered for lack of an adequate de-developmental research, Sigel and Parke (1987)

proposed deliberately separating structure from velopmental model. The research reviewedhere should give a sense of how social inter-content in the design of studies of social inter-

action. By focusing on the structure of the study, actions have been conceptualized, operation-alized, and studied within a transactional frame-the relations being investigated, one could have

a better understanding of the content issues, work and what we can expect in the future.However, major barriers remain to the em-whether they be the beliefs or behaviors of child

or parent. Sigel and Parke described structural pirical entry into a transactional system. Theseobstacles are theoretical (assessing a dynamicmodels of research that ranged from simple

noninteractive models, where only the behav- system); logistic, (developing longitudinal stud-ies with enough time points and large enoughior of one partner is studied, to unidirectional

models, where one partners effect on the other samples); and methodological, (assessing mul-tiple interacting domains over time in order tois assessed; dyadic bidirectional models of mu-

tual influence; and then triadic and family level identify points of qualitative change).models, where arrows seem to proliferate ex-ponentially. They concluded that paying at- Dialecticstention to structural models of relationships is

Even when using a defined structural model,as important as focusing on the contents of

the usual employment of the transactional modelrelationships.

in relation to child development is descriptiverather than theoretical. Research using the modelattempts to find situations in which the childsTransactional Modelbehavior changes the caregivers expectations

An instance of a particular analytic structureand behavior and is in turn changed by the

is the transactional model in which the devel-changed caregiver. In this sense the model is

opment of any process in the individual is in-falsifiable (Popper, 1959). The researcher tries

fluenced by an interplay with the individualsto determine whether the directional change

context. In this approach, developmental out-in both partners occurs. However, the transac-

comes are neither a function of the individualtional model has also been embedded in a the-

alone nor a function of the experiential con-ory that claims that all relations between sub-

text alone. Outcomes are a product of the com-ject and object or individual and context are

bination of an individual and his or her experi-mutually constitutive, which may not be falsi-

ence. To predict outcome, a singular focus onfiable. This aspect of the transactional model

the characteristics of the individual, in this caseemerges from a major theoretical stream cou-

the child, will frequently be misleading. An anal-pling individual and context in a relation fos-

ysis and assessment of the experiences avail-tering cognitive and socialemotional devel-

able to the child needs to be added.opment. This flow runs from philosophers like

The development of the child is a productHegel (1910) and Marx (1912) to pioneers in

of the continuous dynamic interactions of thedevelopmental science like Vygotsky (1962)

child and the experience provided by his orand Piaget (1952) who emphasized the active

her family and social context. What is centralrole of the knower in creating knowledge

to the transactional model is the equal empha-through contradictions between knowing and

sis placed on the bidirectional effects of the childthe known. The dialectical core of the process

and of the environment. Experiences providedwas transactional in that the child was changed

by the environment are not viewed as inde-by experience and experience was changed by

pendent of the child.the childs more complex understandings.

For developmental psychopathology a con-cern with the transactional model is of more

The exceptional within the universalthan academic interest. Our concern with im-proving the lives of children and their families Although these dialectical and transactional

processes apply to all domains of development,requires a clear idea of where those improve-

Transactional models 615

our interest in developmental psychopathology ment research of Thomas, Chess, Birch, Hert-zig and Korn (1963) and Bells (1968) reinter-will focus on areas of social and emotional

functioning that characterize mental health pretation of direction of effects research. Bothefforts were to counter what Chess (1964) la-and illness. For infants with a variety of per-

ceptual and cognitive deficits, the experience beled the mal de mere orientations of psycho-analytic and behavioral theories that parentingof social relationships will be exceptional.

However, here one of the key issues in devel- caused child behavior and, more explicitly, thatbad mothering caused bad children. Bell showedopmental psychopathology comes into play:

the continuitydiscontinuity question (Samer- that many parent behaviors were not emittedin the service of socializing the child butoff, 2000). Are differences in the childs or

caregivers behavior quantitative or qualita- rather were elicited by the childs characteris-tics and behavior. Thomas, Chess, and Birchtive? For the anencephalic child with no cor-

tex, there is no psychological world; but does (1968) elucidated a clear transactional devel-opmental path for a subset of children witha deaf or blind child have a qualitatively or

quantitatively different experience of reality? difficult temperaments. These children stimu-lated maladaptive parenting that led to theirClearly, if the analysis is restricted to the de-

viant modality (hearing or sight), there is a later behavioral disturbance. For children whodid not have this transaction occur (whose par-qualitative difference; but if the analysis is

broadened, we find that children with either ents were not negatively reactive to the tem-peraments of their children), no such pathwaysensory loss gain an appreciation of objects

and relationships in the world through the use to behavioral deviance was found.Building on these descriptive studies ofof other senses, which is an example of devel-

opmental equifinality (Cicchetti, 1993). parentchild relationships, Sameroff and Chand-ler (1975) proposed that transactional processesOn the experience side, we find the same

issues. There are qualitative deficits in care- had to be considered as central to develop-mental theory. Children were seen as engagedgiving such as infanticide or starvation to which

children cannot adapt; but there are other ex- in active organization and reorganization sothat constants could not be found in a set oftreme variations, such as the absence of touch

or positive affective expression, that the child traits; rather, they were found in the processesby which these traits were maintained by thewould survive. The developmental question is

to determine the varieties of adaptation that relationship between children and their expe-rience in a variety of social settings. Bell andoccur. Would such experiences produce a so-

cial isolate, or would there be alternative mo- Harper (1977) found it logically compellingthat if parents are effective, they must be af-dalities of social experience that would still

permit an integration into the individuals fected by the products of their tutelage (p. 55).In other contemporary domains of psychology,family or culture?

In our review of research directed at exam- Banduras (1978) work on reciprocal deter-minism and Bernes earlier (1961) clinical for-ining transactional processes, we will identify

the limitations of experimental research in mulations used the transaction concept to de-scribe similar dynamic aspects of interpersonalstudying such deviances in child or context.

We cannot assign individuals to be handi- behavior.These early views have become central tocapped or caregivers to be abusive, but through

quasiexperimental designs and natural experi- current models of regulation and self-regula-tion that are permeating the developmental lit-ments, some understanding of the effects of

abnormality in either child or context can be erature (cf. Boekaerts, Pintrich, & Zeidner, 2000;Bradley, 2000). The individual is seen not onlyobtained.as having a major role in modifying social ex-perience through both eliciting and selecting

Bidirectional modelsprocesses, but also as having a major role inmodifying biological experience through bothThe descriptive aspect of the transactional

model emerged from the pioneering tempera- stress reactions and medication (Cicchetti &

A. J. Sameroff and M. J. MacKenzie616

Tucker, 1994). These regulations occur on the of the caregiver is to have an optimal interac-tive partner. The optimal partner is awake andbiopsychosocial interfaces of human functioning.

The biological revolution that has captured attentive, but some children may be below(e.g., drowsy or inattentive) or above this set-the imagination of both scientists and the pub-

lic has been framed as the search for genes that point (e.g., distressed or overactive). The care-giver in the first case would use behaviors de-cause the biological and even psychological ills

of society. In that search process, however, the signed to arouse and focus the child, whereasin the second case the strategies would be de-real revolution is the massive discoveries about

the complexity of biological functioning, espe- signed to soothe and settle the child. Bell andHarper (1977) labeled these as lower and up-cially the complexity of interactions between

each level of functioning from the gene to the per limit control reactions. Reducing the devi-ation between actual and desired responsivitywhole organism (Gottlieb, 1991). The apprecia-

tion of complexity in psychological develop- will take different forms, depending on thestarting point of the interaction; but this limitment is less of an outlier when the same com-

plexity is found at what are considered to be setting can be extended over longer periods ofinteraction.more fundamental levels.

Contemporary reconceptualizations of tem- Interactive systems can also be deviationamplifying, using positive feedback to moveperament have been part of these advances.

Instead of conceptualizing temperament as a away from a set-point. This amplification canbe intended or unintended. For example, ob-set of traits inherent in the child, it is seen as

a set of individual differences in the way chil- servations comparing fatherchild and motherchild interaction sequences (Parke, Cassidy,dren regulate experience (Rothbart & Bates,

1998). This view makes temperament a rela- Burks, Carson, & Boyum, 1992) have foundthat fathers frequently engage in play behav-tional construct rather than a personal one.

Another area that illustrates the child contri- iors aimed at making the child more excited.These amplifying interactions ultimately reachbution to transactional pathways involves the

maltreatment of children living under the care a limit, and the fathers stimulating behavioris reduced to bring the child to a more settledand supervision of the child welfare system.

In theory, upon removal from an abusive situ- state. This intended amplification can be con-trasted to the unintended consequences of in-ation, children should go on to more positive

outcomes. Unfortunately, this does not seem ept parental responses to child aggression asfound in the work of Patterson and colleaguesto be universally true in that some are mal-

treated by later caretakers including foster par- (Patterson, 1986; Patterson & Bank, 1989).When the higher or lower level of stimula-ents (Milowe, Lourie, & Parrott, 1964). Some-

thing seems to be different in these children tion becomes a consistent pattern, the systemchanges and the consequences are qualitativethat is carried forward into new relationships.

Children who are maltreated while in care rather than quantitative differences. Two suchexamples are the Pygmalion and Matthew ef-seem to have higher rates of prior maltreat-

ment than children who do not go on to be fects named after Greek and Christian reli-gious figures, respectively. The Pygmalion ef-maltreated in care (Benedict, Zuravin, Somer-

field, & Brandt, 1996). The changes wrought fect was proposed by Rosenthal and Jacobson(1968) as a way of raising childrens IQs byin these children by the maltreatment experi-

ence move forward in time, influencing their raising teachers expectations about them. Thetransaction began from outside the interactionfuture relationships.system when teachers were provided with in-formation that randomly selected students had

Positive and negative feedbackhigh potential. The teachers changed beliefschanged their behavior, and the IQ of theRegulation typically involves negative feed-

back systems that restore a homeostatic set- selected students increased. Although thePygmalion effect is controversial (Spitz, 1999),point. Sensitive parentchild interactions can

be seen as deviation reducing when the goal meta-analyses have confirmed it with the quali-

Transactional models 617

fication that the less the teachers knew about once seemed a simplistic approach, it fits wellwith the person-oriented methods that are be-the children before the attempt to change their

attitudes, the larger was the effect (Rauden- coming more common in developmental re-search (Magnusson & Bergman, 1984, 1990).bush, 1984).

Derived from the statement in the gospels, As opposed to variable-oriented approaches,the questions for person-oriented approachesTo the man who has, more will be given un-

til he grows rich; the man who has not will are about individuals rather than characteris-tics of individuals.lose what little he has (Matthew 13:12), the

Matthew effect is a clear example of a devia- Theoretically and operationally, transactionsneed to be separated from interactions. Inter-tion amplifying process in which small differ-

ences early in development diverge through actions are documented by finding dependen-cies in which the activity of one element is cor-positive feedback mechanisms into later larger

differences (Walberg & Tsai, 1983). The Mat- related with the activity of another, for example,when a smile is reciprocated by a smile, whichthew effect model was first applied to child

development by Stanovich (1986) to provide elicits further smiling, and the correlations arestable over time. Transactions are documenteda theoretical framework for the study and ex-

planation of individual differences in reading where the activity of one element changes theusual activity of another, either quantitatively,ability, whereby better readers get further ahead

and those who are behind at an early point be- by increasing or decreasing the level of theusual response, or qualitatively, by eliciting orcome increasingly so (Bast & Reitsma, 1998).

Starting in kindergarten, with small differ- initiating a new response, for example, whena smile is reciprocated by a frown, which mayences in letter recognition between high and

low ability children, there was a sharp diver- elicit confusion, negativity, or even increasedanxious positivity. This is especially confus-gence as the children who were ahead became

increasingly more advanced and those who ing when one statistical test of a transactionis to find a statistical interaction.were behind became increasingly delayed. In

a related study, Ma (1999) not only found evi- Since 1975, advances in statistical method-ology, and especially the ease of use of com-dence for the fan-spread phenomenon among

students within schools but also found it be- puter statistical packages for doing regressionanalyses, have moved toward more sophisti-tween different schools. Small differences be-

tween high and low performing schools in the cated approaches that can utilize more informa-tion in continuous distributions. Methodologi-earlier grades tended to increase over time.cal advances were given theoretical significancewith the publication of Baron and Kennys

Statistical operationalization(1986) article on the distinction between mod-erator and mediator effects and how to useAlthough the transactional model originates

from a strongly dialectic, organismic orienta- regression analyses to find them. These authorswere concerned that intervening third variablestion, any operationalization requires a mecha-

nistic measurement model, in which dynamic between a predictor and outcome had beenlumped into a general category with the twoprocesses are reduced to static scores that can

then be entered into statistical analyses. The constructs being used indiscriminately. Anal-yses of transactional processes generally hadsimplest of these is a two-way analysis of vari-

ance (ANOVA) and a good theory. If the the- sought a mediating variable in the social con-text that explained the relation between theory is that infants with difficult temperament

who evoke negative reactions in their parents childs condition at two points in time. Suchanalyses may be important for understandingwill have more negative outcomes (Thomas et

al., 1968), then one can dichotomize infants into developmental progress but less so for under-standing transactions. Transactions generallydifficult versus nondifficult temperament and

dichotomize parents into negative reactors and require a moderator analysis, for example, thequality or quantity of the parental responsenonnegative reactors and test for a statistical

interaction effect on the outcome. Although this changes the relation between the childs ear-

A. J. Sameroff and M. J. MacKenzie618

lier and later behavior. The regression tech- than an a posteriori, decision to use a modera-tor statistical test. If the hypothesis is that theniques for testing the interplay between child

and context are essentially an extension of the relation between an earlier and later state ofthe infant is determined by the nature of thetwo-way ANOVA model. In the regression

model, the significance of a Parent Negative response of parents or other social agents, thenone must examine the differential impact ofReactivity Infant Temperament interaction

variable is tested while controlling for the sep- different caregiving responses.Some investigators attempt to finesse thearate effects of temperament and reactivity on

child outcomes. These regression models have moderator analysis by preselecting either in-fants or parents in one category or another (usu-been enlarged to incorporate a variety of me-

diators and moderators with a rapid prolifera- ally a high-risk group). Again using our exam-ple, if only difficult infants are included in thetion of causal arrows. Simple regression paths

have been subsumed in the general area of sample, then parental reactivity would be lin-early related to outcome and a mediator teststructural equation modeling, again following

the technical advances in computer statistical would be sufficient. However, one would notbe able to generalize to nondifficult infantsprograms since the advent of LISREL (Jores-

kog & Sorbom, 1984). because there is no way to know if parent re-activity is linearly related or unrelated to childBaron and Kenny (1986) suggest that the

choice between a mediator and moderator outcome without examining the relation in therest of the population.analysis should be based on whether the rela-

tion between the primary predictor and crite- Although Baron and Kenny (1986) went along way toward resolving the definitionalrion variables is stronger or weaker. If there

is a strong relation, then mediator analyses are ambiguity surrounding mediating and moderat-ing variables, there remained a need for clearrecommended, but if there is an unexpected

weak or inconsistent relation, the recommen- operational definitions that could eliminatebarriers to application specifically in the areadation is to seek a moderator. In terms of our

example, if the relation between temperament of risk research and developmental psychopath-ology (Hinshaw, 2002). Recent efforts have beenand mental health were mediated, then there

would be a high correlation between tempera- made to expand on the mediator and modera-tor work toward increasing our understandingment and behavior problems and all children

with difficult temperaments would have worse of how multiple risks operate together (Kraemer,Stice, Kazdin, Offord, & Kupfer, 2001), espe-outcomes than all children with easy tempera-

ments because all parents would react nega- cially with regard to intervention trials (Kraemer,Wilson, Fairburn, & Agras, 2002). Cicchettitively to infant difficulty and positively to in-

fant easiness. and Hinshaw (2002a) see these efforts as nec-essary in order to bring clinical treatment re-In contrast, in moderated relations a num-

ber of different pathways can be taken. In our search into the realm of exploratory researchto inform causal processes and basic develop-example, there is a weak correlation between

temperament and later mental health, meaning mental theory.To this end, Kraemer et al. (2001, 2002)that a sizable number of infants with easy tem-

peraments could have bad outcomes and a siz- provided an alternative perspective using a step-wise approach for identifying the different waysable number of infants with difficult tempera-

ments could have good outcomes. In the in which two risk factors can work togetherto affect a particular binary or dimensionalThomas et al. (1968) study, 10% of the sam-

ple had difficult temperaments and repre- outcome to differentiate between a moderatorand a mediator. Moderators were conceptual-sented 25% of the children with later behav-

ioral problems. But 30% of the difficult infants ized as useful in addressing a central questionof clinical treatment by identifying on whomdid not have behavior problems, and of the

children who did have behavior problems, 75% and under what circumstances interventionshave different effects, whereas mediators iden-had not had difficult temperaments. Use of a

transactional model forces an a priori, rather tify the mechanisms linking treatment and out-

Transactional models 619

come (Kraemer et al., 2002). What sets their Despite these problems, some researchershave taken up the challenge, and there areframework apart from the conceptual work of

Baron and Kenny (1986) is the emphasis on growing bodies of research in several devel-opmental domains that have set about testingtemporal precedence and association with treat-

ment. A moderator variable, as defined by transactional models and disentangling com-plex bidirectional processes. What follows isKraemer and colleagues (2002), must precede

treatment and random assignment. A mediator an overview of some of these research effortsand the effectiveness of four different typesvariable, on the other hand, occurs after ran-

dom assignment and has its effect during the of strategies employed to test bidirectional ef-fects. First, we will discuss examples of bothintervention. The temporal placement also im-

pacts the association of the variable of interest explicit and implicit testing of transactionalmodels. The selected studies range from nor-with treatment. Because potential moderators,

such as gender or socioeconomic status, are mative developmental processes through thelife span, to examples of direct relevance toidentified and measured prior to randomiza-

tion, they are not correlated with treatment as- developmental psychopathology, such as path-ways to aggression, substance abuse prob-signment. In contrast, mediators, which are

active during the intervention and point to the lems, and depression. Second, our focus willturn to research strategies that attempt to gainunderlying causal processes, are associated

with assignment to the treatment group (Kraemer a point of entry into circular processes throughthe manipulation of one of the variables. Ex-et al., 2002).amples include labeling experiments and thetraining of child confederates in order to tease

Testing the Transactional Modelapart the impact of actual child behavior andthe influence of adult beliefs and attitudes onIn the nearly three decades since Sameroff

and Chandler (1975) first articulated the trans- interactions and downstream outcomes. Third,we provide a discussion of natural experimentactional model, it has been referenced exten-

sively in the developmental literature and rated strategies when true experimental designs arenot available to the researcher. Although suchas 1 of the 20 studies that revolutionized child

psychology (Dixon, 2002). All too often, how- experiments bring with them clear limitations,several researchers have been able to capital-ever, it is used to emphasize a linear environ-

mentalism at the expense of the more com- ize on such opportunities and make substan-tial contributions to our knowledge of recipro-plex interplay between dynamic systems. The

perceived methodological difficulty inherent cal influences across time. The last area to becovered involves the capacity for interventionin elucidating reciprocal pathways has re-

sulted in limited empirical evidence (Lynch & studies to inform our understanding of trans-actional effects (see Cicchetti & Hinshaw,Cicchetti, 1998). These issues include deter-

mining the appropriate time interval in longi- 2002b). The implementation of interventionprograms aimed at either the child or the par-tudinal studies, deciding whether to attend to

behavior or cognitive representations of the ent, which show later effects in the behaviorof the other, provide strong evidence for trans-participants, and determining the different in-

fluences that may be active at each point in actional processes. In a similar fashion to themanipulation designs, intervention studies pro-the development of the process of concern. Is

the concern with microanalysis of real time vide a starting point from which one can ob-serve the transactional processes that play outcontingent interactions or macroanalysis of

influences at one stage of development on over time.processes in a later stage? Is the concern withchanges in behavior or changes in attitudes,

Explicit and implicit research strategiesbeliefs, or representations, which may or maynot be expressed in behavior? Is the concern Bells (1968) reinterpretation of the direction

of effects in studies of child development, draw-with processes that induce, facilitate, or main-tain a change in behavior or representations? ing attention to the contributions made by the

A. J. Sameroff and M. J. MacKenzie620

behavior and characteristics of the child, was cluded that these findings are best understoodfrom a transactional perspective, including anan important first step in qualifying socializa-

tion models where parent and culture linearly appreciation for the role played by the childin eliciting particular patterns of interactionsdetermined child behavior. The second step was

realizing that new emphases on child effects did or in determining the effect of certain motherbehaviors on subsequent development (p. 858).not provide a complete picture unless they were

spelled out over time in a model of reciprocal Examples of the impact of maternal beliefsand preferences on downstream child function-influences. Certain of the studies to be pre-

sented represent the results of explicit efforts ing come from work on the preference of moth-ers for one twin versus the other (Minde, Cort-to look for bidirectional influences and test trans-

actional models; others were less direct in their er, Goldberg, & Jeffers, 1990). Most motherscame to prefer one of the twins as early asapproach but nonetheless provide implicit evi-

dence for transactional processes in their find- the first 2 weeks after birth. These preferencestended to be stable, lasting for at least the 4ings. Examples range from the formation of

the infantcaregiver relationship through to years during which the families were followedin the study. The particular aspect of the childthe impact of the home environment and par-

enting practices on school performance. triggering the transaction varied, with somemothers preferring the temperamentally easierand healthier children and others preferringReciprocal influences in early development.

Evidence of transactional processes can be the more strong-willed or sickly of the twinpair. Whichever child characteristic triggeredfound at all points in development. Some of

the earliest involve the establishment of the the maternal preference, the preferred twinshad higher scores on the Bayley scales at 12unique infantcaregiver attachment relationship.

Attachment theorists (Sroufe, Carlson, Levy, months of age and on the Stanford Binet atage 4 and fewer behavior problems at 4. Minde& Egeland, 1999) have argued that the quality

of this relationship has great implications for et al. (1990) were able to use this twin studydesign to highlight the transactional nature ofsubsequent events, while at the same time be-

ing intimately tied to events of the past. socialization processes through an examina-tion of the extent to which maternal attribu-In an investigation of the development of

secure infantmother attachment relationships tions about their infants lead to differential re-sponsiveness, which then serves to affect laterover the first year of life, Crockenberg (1981)

examined the influences of both child and moth- child outcomes in ways that confirm and so-lidify their initial preferences.er characteristics. These included infant irrita-

bility assessed during the neonatal period and Beyond early childhood, transactional pro-cesses continue to play themselves out in thematernal responsiveness assessed when the in-

fant was 3 months of age. In analyzing the im- childs ever widening social context. Focusingon a specific population of slow-learning ado-portance of social support to the process, they

found it to be the best predictor of the pres- lescents, Nihira, Mink, and Meyers (1985) ex-amined the reciprocal influence of the childence of a secure attachment at 12 months of age.

Moreover, they found a statistical interaction and the home environment on child social com-petence, psychological adjustment, and self-with social support that was most important

for mothers with irritable babies. Reduced so- concept. This 3-year longitudinal study wasdesigned to determine whether a high qualitycial support seemed to increase maternal unre-

sponsiveness, which was associated with in- home environment produces competent andhigh functioning children or if more compe-fant resistance during reunion episodes of the

strange situation. These findings point to bidi- tent children elicit better parenting. Evidencewas found to support both of these compet-rectional pathways whereby irritable infants are

more likely to develop insecure attachment re- ing hypotheses in a transactional develop-mental sequence. Cognitive and social envi-lationships as a result of the unresponsive moth-

ering that is characteristic of contexts that offer ronmental stimulation in the home influencesthe adolescents subsequent outcomes and ad-limited social support. Crockenberg (1981) con-

Transactional models 621

olescent functioning produced changes in the addressed transactional processes in the areaof child shyness, anxiety, and social withdrawal.home environment. Finding reciprocal processes

highlights the importance of including an anal- In an investigation of the transaction betweenparents perceptions of their childrens socialysis of both child and environmental effects

and the need for longitudinal strategies to wariness/inhibition and their parenting styles,Rubin, Nelson, Hastings, and Asendorpf (1999)flesh out the bidirectional pathways over time.

Pomerantz and Eaton (2001) also employed explored the direction of influence betweenchildrens shyness and their parents attitudessuch a longitudinal strategy in their explora-

tion of potential transactional processes in- regarding socialization practices. A longitudi-nal design was used in which questionnairesvolving child academic achievement and ma-

ternal intrusive support. The core concern of dealing with child temperament and parentingpractices were distributed to parents when theirthis study involved the mechanism(s) by which

problems in childrens academic achievement children were 2 and 4 years old and observa-tions of child inhibition were made at the ini-elicit reactions from their parents and whether

these parental responses serve to amplify or tial 2-year-old assessment; parental percep-tions of their childrens shyness at age 2 wereconstrain the childs behavior. A model was

proposed whereby low child achievement leads found to be stable and predicted discourage-ment of independence at age 4, but they wereto maternal worry and child uncertainty, both

of which contribute to maternal intrusive sup- unrelated to observed shyness at 4.LaFreniere and Dumas (1992) used a trans-port, impacting later child achievement. The

hypotheses were tested using a three wave actional analysis of early childhood anxiety andsocial withdrawal to account for bidirectionallongitudinal design over an 18-month period

for children in Grades 46. In addition to the contributions. Preschool children were classi-fied into three groups; socially competent, av-more long-term analysis, Pomerantz and Ea-

ton (2001) utilized hierarchical linear model- erage, and anxiouswithdrawn based on theratings of their preschool teachers. Mothering to perform a day to day sequential analy-

sis to determine how mothers react to their child dyads were then observed during a prob-lem-solving task to determine the extent tochildrens daily academic failure and success.

They hypothesized that mothers would increase which the dyads responded contingently toeach others behavior and affective displaystheir use of intrusive support following failure

and decrease their use following success. Sup- were assessed. The mothers of the socially com-petent children were more contingent, dis-port was found for the model, suggesting that

childrens low achievement indicates the need played more positive affect and behaviors,and exhibited more coherent discipline strate-for increased intrusive-support practices on the

part of the mother because of increased mater- gies, whereas the mothers of anxiouswith-drawn children engaged in high levels of neg-nal worrying and child uncertainty. In a con-

straining negative feedback process, the height- ative reciprocity. Even though the childrenwere placed into the three categories based onened intrusive support led to improvements in

child academic achievement 6 months later. the ratings of their preschool teachers, thesecategories were strongly associated with ma-Similar results were found in the day to day

analysis, in which intrusive support in response ternal behavior. LaFreniere and Dumas (1992)conclude that through a transactional processto child failure resulted in improved perfor-

mance in the following days and a decrease in a prior disturbance in the childparent rela-tionship becomes internalized and carried for-reliance on intrusive support. Their study

moved beyond simply stating that children and ward by the child into subsequent interac-tions, where teachers and peers then perceiveparents both play contributing roles in develop-

ment to attain a more detailed understanding of him or her as less competent.the actual transactional processes involved.

Cycles of coercion in the development of ag-gression. The work of Gerald Patterson andBidirectional socialization effects involving

shyness and social withdrawal. Studies have colleagues on aggressive behavior in children

A. J. Sameroff and M. J. MacKenzie622

represents perhaps the most theoretically and and parent (Patterson & Bank, 1989). Thechanged child will then enter into similar cy-empirically well-developed example we have

to date of transactional processes in develop- cles of negative reinforcement over time withsiblings and eventually with teachers andmental psychopathology. Patterson (1982) hy-

pothesized that the etiology of antisocial be- peers outside of the family context. These con-tingencies serve to maintain and amplify thehavior has its roots in family interactions and

the cycle of behavioral responses of one fam- childs antisocial behavior. However, theseprocesses are not always amplifying. In a con-ily member to another over time. Patterson

used structural equation modeling to examine straining process, parents with a greater ca-pacity for effective discipline (a moderatorwhat he calls cycles of coercion, in which in-

ept parenting skills trigger a process that re- variable) are able to respond to early mildlycoercive child behavior in a consistent andsults in an antisocial child who is rejected by

healthy peers, struggles academically, and is predictable nonharsh manner, leading to a de-crease in the negative child behavior and aleft with low self-esteem. Early failures in ef-

fective disciplining of minor child coercive return to adaptive functioning.Anderson, Lytton, and Romney (1986) ex-behaviors leads to reciprocal exchanges in

which the child and his or her parents and sib- amined the issue of child contributions to theinitiation of coercive cycles in some depth.lings become increasingly aversive. What may

start as developmentally appropriate noncom- They utilized a design that compared the reac-tions of mothers of conduct disordered andpliance on the part of the young child predict-

ably escalates to physical aggression. Patterson normal boys to their own children and to non-familiar children who were either conduct dis-proposed that families characterized by un-

skilled parents, a child with a difficult tempera- ordered or normal. Both groups of motherswere more negative with conduct disorderedment, and the presence of stressors at multiple

levels of the ecology were at greater risk for children than they were with nondisorderedchildren. The conduct disordered children werethe initiation of coercive cycles. The escalating

transactional nature of this positive feedback less compliant, independent of the type of moth-er they were interacting with. The authors con-loop is best illustrated by Pattersons (1986)

own words, What leads to things getting out cluded that the childs behavior is the majorinfluence in conduct disorder. There was evi-of hand may be a relatively simple affair,

whereas the process itself, once initiated, may dence of transactional effects, however, inthat mothers of conduct disordered childrenbe the stuff of which novels are made (p. 442).

Although holding that the initiation of the exhibited more negative affect with their ownchildren than with nonfamiliar conduct disor-coercive cycle begins with a failure of the par-

ent to maintain child compliance, Patterson dered children, pointing to the importance ofpast relationship history and to expectationsand Bank (1989) recognize that there may be

reasons for onset of inept discipline practices and behavior. Although the data from thisstudy were interpreted as implicating childthat lie outside of the parent. There is a clear

impact of ecological stress on the parents ca- characteristics as primary, it must be notedthat the children in the study were 611 yearspacity for effectively disciplining their child,

and the possibility exists that the childs con- of age by which point the coercive cycles out-lined by Patterson and colleagues (Patterson,tributions such as difficult temperament may

tax the limits of the parents capacities. The 1982; Patterson & Bank, 1989) may alreadybe firmly entrenched.maintenance of the coercive cycle is attribut-

able to dynamic escalations among the inter- Reciprocal amplifying processes involvingaggression and negativity continue as childrenacting partners, which serve to reciprocally

change behaviors; this makes the child more move through school and into adulthood (Kim,Conger, Lorenz, & Elder, 2001; Stoolmiller,difficult to discipline effectively, further tax-

ing the parents and making them more reject- 2001). Their relationships, initially restrictedto the family, broaden to include peers anding, and leading to more physical and violent

forms of coercion being exhibited by both child eventually intimate romantic relationships. Ca-

Transactional models 623

paldi, Dishion, Stoolmiller, and Yoerger (2001) flicted and harsh parenting at 13 years, whichin turn was related to subsequent depression,elucidated the mechanism by which young

men become aggressive toward female part- hostility, and self-esteem at 14 years. The sec-ond model was similar except that, rather thanners. The authors proposed that parenting was

important to early socialization and the selec- psychological functioning, it involved alcoholuse, negative consequences, and symptomatiction of the peer group in adolescence. The peer

group then takes on an important socializing drinking.As youth move into late adolescence itrole and, in a path-dependent fashion, further

locks an individual into the trajectory started would be expected that the influence of peerswould begin to gain prominence. The earlierwith the earlier family relationships. Capaldi

et al. (2001) believe that this normative trajec- parentchild relationship experiences undoubt-edly influence the quality of future peer inter-tory is important for the establishment of a

romantic relationship, which eventually com- actions, but entirely new socialization mecha-nisms are introduced as those peer relationshipspletes the cycle by providing the context for

parenting the next generation. On the negative become more firmly established during ado-lescence. Facing these sorts of questions, Dis-side, they found a transactional pathway

whereby boys antisocial behavior in early ad- hion and Owen (2002) picked up where Brodyand colleagues left off and carried out an ex-olescence was associated with subsequent de-

viant peer associations in middle adolescence, ploration of potential bidirectional influencesof peer relationships and substance use fromwhich, in turn, was prospectively associated

with hostile talk about women in late adoles- early adolescence through to young adulthood.The results supported a transactional model,cence. The acceptance and reinforcement of

hostile talk and attitudes about women in the as deviant friendship processes in early ado-lescence were related to subsequent substancelate adolescent peer group was predictive of

physical aggression toward a female partner use in middle adolescence, which influencedthe selection of deviant friends in late adoles-in young adulthood.cence. Deviant friendship processes in late ad-olescence, in turn, prospectively predicted higherPathways to substance use problems. There is

good reason to believe that the onset of sub- levels of substance use in young adulthood.These findings underscore the deepening com-stance use and abuse may follow a transac-

tional socialization process similar to the one plexity of these transactional processes as de-velopment unfolds and aspects of the parentoutlined by Patterson and others for aggres-

sion and conduct problems. Recognizing that child relationship become internalized andcarried forward into the childs ever wideningthese two problems are often found to co-occur

during adolescence, Stice and Barrera (1995) social world.examined the transactional influences betweenparenting and adolescents problem behaviors. Psychopathology. Evidence for transactional

models of development can also be found inStrong support was found for a transactionalpathway, starting with an association between other areas of developmental psychopathology

such as depression (Cicchetti & Schneiderdeficits in both parenting support and controland subsequent adolescent substance use. In Rosen, 1984, 1986). Potential models account

not only for the development and course ofturn, adolescent substance use was related tosubsequent decreases in the levels of parental the disorder in children but also for the impact

of psychopathology in a parent on the social-support and control.Brody and Ge (2001) tested a transactional ization process. An example of a study that

explored the latter was carried out by Ham-model involving parenting practices, adoles-cent self-regulation, psychological functioning, men, Burge, and Stansbury (1990). They in-

vestigated the influence of both mother andand alcohol use outcomes. Evidence was foundto support two transactional models. In the child characteristics on child outcomes in a

population of school-aged children with de-first model, child self-regulation at 12 yearswas found to be prospectively related to con- pressed mothers. The purpose of their study

A. J. Sameroff and M. J. MacKenzie624

was to move beyond the consistent linear find- from both parent and child through the designof experimental studies in which the charac-ing that the children of mothers suffering from

depression are at risk for psychopathology to teristics or behavior of the child were manipu-lated in order to test the impact on adult be-an examination of the reciprocal influence of

mothers and children on each other. They found havior. Three such areas of research will serveas examples. The first involves the use ofevidence for a negative reciprocal influence,

where maternal functioning was related to sub- trained child confederates to examine the im-pact of child responsiveness on adults whosequent child symptoms and dysfunction, and

child characteristics were in turn prospec- vary in their attributional style. The secondand third focus on the impact of experimen-tively associated with maternal functioning.

Such a model fit with the authors expecta- tally assigned child labels on adult behavior,either related to gender or infant prematurity.tions for an amplifying transactional process,

where, through a positive feedback process, Through controlling for characteristics of thetarget child (in most cases, by using the samedeviant child behavior, arising from earlier

maternal dysfunction, contributes to later ma- child), the response of the adult to the labeledchild can be wholly attributed to the beliefsternal depressive symptomatology. There is

an escalation of dysfunction in the child and that the adult holds regarding the label givento the infant. However, as follow-up studiesthe parent as these processes play out over time.

Relationship impairments may be expected began to look at subsequent child behaviorarising as a result of the influence of inducedbetween boys diagnosed with attention-defi-

cit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their adult beliefs on child interaction styles, thetransactional nature of these three processesmothers. A transactional framework was used

to examine maternal responsiveness and child was revealed. All three areas involved testingif parental beliefs about a child acted in a self-characteristics in a population of 7- to 10-

year-old boys with ADHD (Johnston, Murray, fulfilling, positive feedback manner to influ-ence interactions and elicit child behavior pat-Hinshaw, Pelham, & Hoza, 2002). Maternal

responsiveness was negatively related to later terns that confirm and maintain those beliefs.maternal depressive symptoms and child con-duct problems. Child conduct problems were Bugentals attribution studies. Utilizing an el-

egant experimental manipulation design, Bu-related to later maternal responsiveness, butno such association was found for child ADHD gental and her colleagues explored the associ-

ation of child responsiveness and controllabilitysymptoms. The design strategy employed byJohnston et al. (2002) to assess reciprocal pro- with adult attribution and interaction styles. Ini-

tially, Bugental, Caporael, and Shennum (1980)cesses allowed them to begin to tease apartthe different factors involved and to disentan- established the first component of a transac-

tional relationship, demonstrating that childgle issues of comorbidity. They speculatedthat in a mutually enforcing process, maternal behavior impacts adult attitudes and behav-

iors. They were interested in studying a mod-depression leads to deficits in responsive par-enting contributing to child conduct problems, erating role for adult control attributions in

the relationship between child controllabilitywhile at the same time child behavior that isdifficult to manage, such as ADHD, contrib- and adult assertiveness. The experimental de-

sign entailed the training of 7- to 9-year-oldutes to deficits in maternal responsiveness.boys to act as confederates who would inter-act with high or low internal control parents.

Experimental manipulationsThe children were trained to either be respon-sive or unresponsive while interacting with anThere is great difficulty inherent in separating

the direction of effects in a natural setting. unfamiliar adult on a toy construction task.The authors found a statistical interaction inThe drive to better understand the bidirectional

influences focused researchers on experimen- which unresponsiveness on the part of thechild confederates would impact only the be-tal attempts to disentangle the contributions

Transactional models 625

havior of adults with low internal control per- experiences, which influence the interpreta-tions the adult makes about a childs behav-ceptions. These low power adults were less

assertive with unresponsive children. ior, the subsequent behavioral responses ofthe adult, and in a transactional fashion theBugental and Shennum (1984) went on to

examine what impact the differential adult be- downstream behavior of the child. As we haveseen, this influence on later child behavior canhavior had on subsequent child behavior. In

their landmark monograph they proposed and either be amplifying or constraining.A series of studies followed these earlierfound evidence for such a transactional pro-

cess. Their second hypothesis, which is impor- efforts, for the most part strongly supportingthe transactional process through which adulttant to the transactional component, was that

these adult attributions would lead to a Rosen- attributions have their impact (e.g. Bugental,1987). The specific questions of interest alsothal effect, whereby differential adult behav-

ior would elicit child behavior that confirms evolved to include investigations of transac-tional behavioral patterns with implicationsand maintains those attitudes and beliefs. Child

confederates were once again trained for their for teacherchild relationships, interpersonalviolence, and child abuse (Bugental & John-responsiveness and assertiveness and placed

with unfamiliar mothers who differed on two ston, 2000; Bugental, Lewis, Lin, Lyon, & Ko-peikin, 1999; Bugental, Lyon, Lin, McGrath, &attributional domains: their self-perceived power

as caregivers and the social power they attrib- Bimbella, 1999). Katsurada and Sugawara(2000) also applied this research strategy touted to children (Bugental & Shennum, 1984).

Analysis of the videotaped interaction task study the effect of maternal attributions on thetrajectory of aggressive behavior in their ownpointed to two separate transactional sequences.

On the one hand, mothers low on self-perceived child and found that low power mothers ex-hibited more negative affect toward their chil-power responded to unresponsive children with

a communication style containing more nega- dren following noncompliance. The differ-ence between low and high power motherstive affect and unassertive positive affect. In

turn, the unresponsive children reacted to the only emerged when the child was aggressive,and power attributions had no effect when thelow self-power mothers with continued unre-

sponsiveness, staying in their assigned role child was not displaying aggression.throughout the interaction. On the other hand,mothers who were high in the social power Gender labeling studies. Beginning with the

study of Baby X (Seavey, Katz, & Zalk,they attributed to children reacted to unassert-ive or shy children with a strong and affec- 1975), an extensive literature has emerged fo-

cusing on the effect of gender labels on thetively positive communication style. The un-assertive children responded to this differential response of adults to infants. An experimental

approach is required to determine if adult ste-action of the mothers with increased assertive-ness, coming out of their assigned role as the reotypes and attitudes promote gender differ-

ences or if gender-specific differences in in-interaction progressed. The first sequence isan example of a positive feedback process, fant behavior elicit differential responses by

adults (Stern & Karraker, 1989). In the earli-whereby a behavior or attribute of the child isamplified through the transaction with an inter- est study Seavey et al. (1975) observed adults

interacting with a neutrally clothed infant whoactive partner. The second sequence, on theother hand, is an example of a negative feed- was introduced as a boy, as a girl, or with

no gender information given. Both male andback process, in which the actions of the in-teractive partner leads to a decrease in the female adults were more likely to select gen-

der-stereotyped toys for the infant if intro-behavior (unassertiveness) exhibited by thechild. Bugental and Shennum (1984) con- duced as a girl. In the condition when no gen-

der label was given, all adult subjects madecluded that adults bring with them to the par-enting role a set of beliefs about relationships efforts to guess the gender of the child, which

were influenced by stereotyped behavior. Forwith children based on their history of social

A. J. Sameroff and M. J. MacKenzie626

instance, if the nonlabeled infant, who was in labeled as full term. The next logical step wasto determine if these adult stereotypes andreality a girl, exhibited some show of strength,

the adults would guess that the infant was a attitudes toward premature children wouldimpact their behavior during interactions. Toboy and adjust their behavior accordingly. In

this manipulation design, differential adult be- achieve this, Stern and Hildebrandt (1986) in-troduced adults to an actual unfamiliar infant,havioral responses to the infants on the basis

of the gender label can be seen as arising from either full term or premature. Once again, theprematurity label was found to trigger stereo-attitudes and beliefs rather than existing infant

gender differences (Stern & Karraker, 1989). typical beliefs; infants labeled premature wererated as smaller, less cute, and finer featuredFurther support for the gender stereotype

effect came from the work of Culp, Cook, and and were liked less than infants labeled fullterm. Moreover, the new study design alsoHousley (1983) who also found that both moth-

ers and fathers of young children interact dif- highlighted the impact of those adult expecta-tions and perception on subsequent interactionferently with unfamiliar infants dependent on

assigned gender label and, in addition, that patterns, as premature labeled infants weretouched less and given a more immature toyparents were unaware of their differential treat-

ment. In a similar vein, there was an interaction to play with. To complete the sequence, Stern,Karraker, Sopko, and Norman (2000) foundwith parent gender. Females responded more

quickly if a baby was labeled female rather that the infants labeled as premature exhibitedless positive emotion in their interactions withthan male (Condry, Condry, & Pogatshnik,

1983), and both male and female adults use misinformed adults.Stern and colleagues have also been in-different communication styles with gender

labeled infants (Pomerleau, Malcuit, Turgeon, volved in studies extending these labeling/stereo-type strategies to depression stereotypes, which& Cossette, 1997). The consistent finding that

adults behave differently toward baby boys have direct relevance for developmental psy-chopathology (Hart, Field, Stern, & Jones, 1997).and baby girls based on attitudes and stereo-

types is an important step in unraveling a re- Depressed and nondepressed fathers viewedvideotapes of unfamiliar infants labeled asciprocal socialization process. Adult gender

attitudes impact their interactional behavior in normal or depressed. Both groups of fathersrated infants labeled as normal higher on socia-a self-fulfilling fashion, through eliciting and

reinforcing behavior from the infant that serves bility, social behavior, and cognitive compe-tence. A difference did occur when depressedto confirm the adults initial expectations (Stern

& Karraker, 1989). fathers rated their own infants lower on socialbehavior, less cognitively competent, andmore vulnerable than did nondepressed fa-Investigations of a prematurity stereotype. An

area of study that has followed a similar tra- thers.The elegance of these manipulation strate-jectory as the gender labeling investigations

involves attempts to understand the impact of gies is that the labeling of an unfamiliar infantor the use of a trained confederate provides anan infant being labeled premature on subse-

quent adult behavior. Despite evidence that entry point into a process of circular causality,allowing for an elucidation of transactionalactual observable early differences in prema-

ture and full-term infants decline over time, pathways for processes that may otherwise bedifficult to untangle. By simply observing athere is a tendency of some mothers to con-

tinue to interact differently with premature in- mother with her own infant, separating theimpact of actual differences in child behaviorfants (Barnard, Bee, & Hammond, 1984).

Stern and Hildebrandt (1984) showed adults from current or previous differential maternalbeliefs and behaviors can be a daunting task.video footage of an infant who was labeled as

either being full-term or premature. They found Through controlling the baseline characteris-tics of the child, either in regard to genderthat unfamiliar infants who were labeled as

premature were rated more negatively by col- or prematurity, the experimental manipulationstrategy makes it possible to see how the adultslege students and mothers than were infants

Transactional models 627

expectations and perceptions influence and methodological issues yet were able to makeimportant contributions to our understandingguide subsequent adult behavior. The impact

of the adults actions on subsequent infant of transactional developmental processes. Thefirst focuses on the impact of maltreatment onbehavior is also discernable using this tech-

nique, providing the opportunity to see how child development through the comparison ofmaltreated and nonmaltreated children. Thethese reciprocal processes play out over time.

Experimental manipulations have revealed second involves attempts to elucidate the im-pact of early attachment relationships on laterthe operation of transactional processes in the

laboratory with contrived relationships. A cor- preschool social competence. Touching on is-sues developed previously in the section onollary effort is necessary to determine how par-

ents and children influence each other in real the prematurity stereotype, the third area of re-search to be discussed addresses potential dif-relationships. What are the factors that lead

parents to have stereotypes on the one hand ferences between preterm and full-term chil-dren. The final area focuses on the issue ofand beliefs about their own and their childs

power on the other? Are there factors that grade retention and an examination of the ef-fectiveness of failing and holding studentsarise from the parents previous interactions

with the child, or are these the results of the back in school.parents own experience of being reared as achild? As Bugental and Shennum (1984) have Child maltreatment as a natural experiment.

A substantial body of research aimed at in-demonstrated, it is relatively easy to get aschool-age child to alter his or her behavior creasing our understanding of the etiology and

sequelae of maltreatment has grown out of aas a confederate in an experiment, but is itequally easy to get the child to change his or desire to protect both vulnerable children and

our society from the harmful consequencesher behavior at home? Parents and childrenbring interactional histories to their present in- associated with child abuse and neglect (Cic-

chetti, Toth, Bush, & Gillespie, 1988; Kotch,teractions, and these form the basis of beingboth unable to make quick changes in their Browne, Dufort, Winsor, & Catellier, 1999).

Maltreated children may in fact be viewed asbehavior and being able to make quick changesin their attributions. As noted in the meta-anal- a sort of natural experiment (Bronfenbrenner,

1979; Shields, Ryan, & Cicchetti, 2001), whichyses of the Pygmalian studies (Raudenbush,1984), more experience with the actual behav- can be useful for examining questions involv-

ing the normative emergence of academic,ior of the child should reduce the effect oflabeling and stereotyping manipulations. emotional, and social competence. The exten-

sive work of Cicchetti and colleagues at thepreschool and summer day camp of the Mount

Naturalistic observationsHope Family Center highlights the use of

and quasiexperimental designssuch naturalistic settings in order to observechildrens developing regulatory capacities andAlthough true experimental designs and label-

ing/manipulation studies provide the most ef- patterns of social interaction (Shields et al.,2001). Observations and study of children in-fective means for elucidating transactional pro-

cesses, in most cases such research strategies teracting in this day camp setting have al-lowed for comparisons of maltreated and non-are not available. In such cases it is sometimes

possible to take advantage of natural experi- maltreated children on aspects of relationshiprepresentations, emotion understanding, andments or a quasiexperimental design to gain

insight into a developmental process (Cook & regulation, as well as interactive behavior andacceptance or rejection by peers and teachers.Campbell, 1979), although there are clear lim-

itations in the extent to which these techniques Shonk and Cicchetti (2001) were interested inelucidating the pathway from maltreatment tocan tease apart competing hypotheses involv-

ing reciprocal influences. academic adjustment problems. They hypoth-esized and found that maltreated children wouldIn this section we will discuss four areas

where researchers have grappled with these exhibit deficits in academic engagement, so-

A. J. Sameroff and M. J. MacKenzie628

cial competencies, and ego resiliency and con- maltreated child. A recent examination of theseprocesses comparing the representations of mal-trol, which would in turn negatively impact

the childrens adjustment at school. The au- treated and nonmaltreated children in a pre-school setting found that the narratives of thethors demonstrated that the pathway from

maltreatment to academic adjustment prob- maltreated children contained more negativematernal and self-representations than those oflems was mediated by academic engagement,

and the pathway from maltreatment to exter- the nonmaltreated children (Toth, Cicchetti,Macfie, & Emde, 1997). Despite the inabilitynalizing and internalizing behavior problems

was mediated by social competencies and ego to conclusively determine if these differentialrepresentations arose as a result of the mal-resiliency.

Cicchetti and Lynch (1993) drew on the treatment or if they preexisted in the child andcontributed to the maltreatment, there was ev-work of Bronfenbrenner (1979) and Sameroff

and Chandler (1975) to propose a formal inte- idence that the negative representations ofmaltreated children did go on to impact theirgration of an ecologicaltransactional model

in an attempt to grapple with the combined interactive behavior. The maltreated childrenwere observed to be more controlling and lessinfluences of maltreatment and community vi-

olence on childrens developmental course. responsive with the examiners during the ad-ministration of the instruments.They laid out a transactional model in which

the current ecological context impacts future Shields et al. (2001) provided further evi-dence to support the finding of differential rep-child functioning and current child function-

ing influences the organization of the context resentations of caregivers by maltreated chil-dren. In this analysis, however, the authors did(Lynch & Cicchetti, 1998). In such a process,

they proposed that early problems in function- pursue the next step and examined whetherrepresentations of caregivers are carried for-ing and ecological risk at multiple levels of

the ecology can serve to mutually contribute ward to influence later child behavior and im-pact developing peer relationships. Maladap-to continuity in the adversity facing the child.

This view is in keeping with the stability found tive representations were predictive of rejectionby peers in a pathway mediated by emotionin adversity as at-risk children move from one

context to another through development (Sam- dysregulation and aggression. In contrast, thepositive and coherent representations charac-eroff, Seifer, & Bartko, 1997). Lynch and Cic-

chetti (1998) demonstrated one direction of a teristic of nonmaltreated children were associ-ated with more prosocial interactive behaviortransaction between child and context, such

that earlier contextual factors were predictive and peer preference. Peers were found to re-spond to maltreated childrens dysregulatedof later child functioning. Maltreatment, wit-

nessing of violence in the community, and re- behavior by avoiding, withdrawing from, oractively rejecting and victimizing them. Shieldsported victimization by violence were all neg-

atively associated with the childrens functioning and colleagues reported being discouraged byhow quickly the maltreated children were dis-1 year later. Evidence was also found for ef-

fects in the second direction from child to liked upon entering a new social group.context in that childrens earlier level of be-havioral functioning was predictive of later Infantcaregiver attachment and emerging

social competence. A central tenet of attach-exposure to community violence.A large body of research exists that sup- ment theory is that an infants secure relation-

ship with the primary caregiver sets the stageports a link between early parentchild at-tachment relationships and later social rela- for healthy emotional development and subse-

quent relationships outside of the family con-tionships outside the family, with the childsrepresentations of relationships and capacity text (Bowlby, 1969, 1973, 1980; Bretherton,

1990). The transactional linkages in attachmentfor the regulation of emotions acting as medi-ators in the transactional pathway. Here, we theory begin with caregiver behavior that es-

tablishes the quality of the attachment repre-confine our discussion of the role of represen-tations to the special and extreme case of the sentation, which in turn affects the quality of

Transactional models 629

the childs later social interactions. There is teachers; to exhibit poorer social skills; to beless compliant with their teachers instruc-an extensive literature establishing a link be-

tween quality of childcaregiver attachment tions; and to exhibit more negative emotions,including whining and pouting. These twoand later social competence (Kerns, Klepac,

& Cole, 1996; Lamb & Nash, 1989), but there studies provided strong evidence that aspectsof the parentchild relationships are internal-have been fewer efforts to clearly elucidate

the pathway whereby aspects of the early ized and carried forward by the child intoother settings.childcaregiver relationship are internalized

and carried forward impacting development inbroader social settings. One such effort was Comparing preterm and full-term develop-

ment. As we discussed earlier, there is greatthe work of Sroufe (1983), who, by capitaliz-ing on the opportunity presented by a labora- difficulty inherent in disentangling bidirec-

tional influences in naturalistic observationstory preschool sample of children from an on-going project of mothers and their children, of ongoing parentchild relationships, but com-

parisons of categories that are independent ofexplored the importance of a secure attach-ment to later competence and adaptation. A parent behavior, such as preterm and full-term

infants, can provide some insight into transac-detailed study of preschool children who hadbeen classified as having secure, avoidant, and tional processes. In an example of such a re-

search endeavor preterm and full-term infantsresistant attachment patterns during infancyallowed for an examination of aggression, pro- were observed during dyadic feeding interac-

tions at 4 and 8 months of age and during asocial behavior, status with peers, and depen-dency. The children who were securely attached teaching task with their mothers at 4, 8, and

24 months of age (Barnard et al., 1984). Trueas infants had greater self-esteem, exhibitedfewer problem behaviors, and were more ego differences existed in infant behavior at 4

months of age, with preterm infants exhibitingresilient, independent, compliant, empathic,and socially competent. lower levels of responsiveness and involve-

ment than the comparison full-term infants.Although the Sroufe (1983) study did notinclude an explicit analysis of the impact of Concurrent differences in maternal behavior

were also found at 4 months, with motherschildren with different attachment workingmodels on subsequent teacher responses, some of preterm infants showing higher levels of

stimulation compared to mothers of full-termof the teacher results do point to such transac-tional influences. Teachers were asked to pro- infants. By 8 months of age there were no

longer differences in the task involvement ofvide one-phrase descriptions of the children,which ranged from Ideal kid, good looking, preterm and full-term infants, yet the differen-

tial maternal behavior remained. These resultsOK. Well-coordinated, agile, competent . . . for a secure child to Mean to other children, extend the prematurity stereotype findings

into more natural settings, because even thoughkept things which didnt belong to her. Themost dishonest preschooler I have ever met true child differences have largely diminished

by 8 months, differences remained in mater-. . . for a child classified as avoidant. In fact,whenever there was a situation in the class- nal behavior. In fact, differential maternal be-

havior was found to persist at least until theroom that the teacher was angered enough towant to isolate a child, the child was an avoid- 24-month assessment, at which the mothers of

preterm infants exhibited fewer positive mes-ant group baby, which Sroufe suggests is clearevidence that children elicit differential reac- sages during teaching and reported lower lev-

els of involvement with their children in dailytions from teachers that is dependent on theirattachment status. In a follow-up report, resis- activities. These parental continuities, inde-

pendent of actual preterm child behavior, aretant infants were rated by observers to be lessconfident and assertive and have poorer social similar to behavioral continuities in parents of

shy children discussed earlier (Rubin et al.,skills than securely attached infants (Erick-son, Sroufe, & Egeland, 1985). Avoidant chil- 1999).

In another line of study, Poehlman anddren were found to be more dependent on their

A. J. Sameroff and M. J. MacKenzie630

Fiese (2001) examined how maternal and in- vidual relationship level processes. This fourthexample is focused on the institutional levelfant vulnerabilities interacted to contribute to

attachment quality. They compared preterm process of grade retention in the educationalsetting to explore the adverse effects of socialand full-term infants on measures of maternal

depression, infant health characteristics, and categories and system processes. The decadesold debate between advocates of social pro-attachment security at 1 year postterm. The

key finding of this study was that the relation motion on one side and grade retention on theother, combined with the tremendous finan-between maternal depressive symptoms and

attachment security was moderated by pre- cial costs of keeping children in school longeras associated with retention, led Jimerson (1999)term birth status. For full-term infants there

was no association between maternal depres- to utilize the data from a 21-year prospectivelongitudinal study in order to develop a moresion and attachment security, yet for preterm

infants such an association emerges. Poehl- complete picture of the late adolescent out-comes associated with early grade retention.man and Fiese (2001) concluded that charac-

teristics of both the mother and infant contrib- When comparisons were made among threegroups, a group of students that were retained,ute in a reciprocal manner to the quality of

the dyadic relationship. a comparison group of low-achieving studentsthat were nevertheless promoted, and a higherIn order to effectively meet the socializa-

tion goal of teaching infants how to appropri- achieving control group, the retained studentshad a greater likelihood of poorer educationalately modulate their emotions, the caregiver

must adapt to the capacities of the child. An and employment outcomes during late adoles-cence. In contrast, the group of low-achievingunresponsive infant with some sort of anom-

aly would make it more difficult for a care- students that was promoted was comparableto the control group in later employment out-giver to adopt an effective socialization strat-

egy. Malatesta, Grigoryev, Lamb, Albin, and comes. The author underscored the importanceof considering the effects of grade retentionCulver (1986) compared the interactive be-

havior of mothers of normal infant with moth- using a transactional framework, highlightingthe conspiring nature of the structural levelers of preterm infants in face to face interac-

tion with their mothers. Preterm infants were factors that maintained a particular positive ornegative trajectory once it was established.found to spend less of their face to face inter-

action involved in eye contact with their moth- Jimerson concludes that grade retention leadsdirectly to the later poor outcomes as the re-ers and express more negative emotion, which

may account at least in part for the failure of sult of a transactional process because of thelack of prior achievement differences betweenmothers of preterm infants to match their in-

fants expressions of surprise and sadness. In the retained and promoted group.contrast, the full-term mothers exhibited sig-nificantly more matching of infant facial ex-

Intervention studies as a windowpressions. As added evidence for the effect of

into transactional processesdifferential infant expressive behavior on ma-ternal responses, there were minimal birth-status The ultimate goal of our concern with devel-

opmental psychopathology is to improve theeffects when considered independently of theactual infant interactive behavior. Combining lives of individuals at risk for mental health

problems. But intervening also informs morethe results of experimental manipulations inprematurity labeling studies and observations basic understanding of developmental processes

as captured by Dearborns maxim, Bronfen-of real interactions provides corroborative ev-idence of differential maternal behavioral re- brenner, if you want to understand something,

try to change it (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, p. 37).sponses to differences in full-term and pre-term infant behavior. More generally, there is a great need to capital-

ize on the potential for research on preventionand intervention strategies to inform develop-Grade retention. The previous examples of nat-

uralistic research opportunities focused on indi- mental theory. Nonexperimental approaches,

Transactional models 631

however, can only point to associations be- is whether or not it informs preventive inter-vention programs. The study of the Fast Tracktween risks and outcomes and suggest poten-

tial pathways, whereas intervention designs program highlights the valuable opportunitythat developments in prevention science offeroffer the ability to unravel the causal connec-

tions underlying both psychopathological and for breaking into reciprocal processes andtesting and elucidating transactional modelsnormative outcomes (Cicchetti & Hinshaw,

2002a; Cowan & Cowan, 2002). of development as they apply to both typicaland atypical populations. Sameroff and FieseIn nonexperimental research the problem

of the unknown third variable is an important (2000; Sameroff, 1987) proposed a transac-tional model of intervention that conceptuallyconsideration. For example, data associating

child maltreatment with later bad interactions separated the eliciting effect of the child, theparents interpretation of the elicitation, andwith teachers and peers in the school environ-

ment does not allow us to conclude a causal the parents response. Their model was de-scribed in terms of three Rsremediation, re-relationship because there is the possibility that

some characteristic of the child caused both definition, and reeducationdirected at thethree parts of the system. Although the threethe maltreatment and later social adjustment

difficulties. Randomized intervention designs targets are different aspects of a dynamic trans-actional system, most interventions will spillafford researchers the opportunity not only to

determine the effectiveness of their particular over into more than one category. Changes inthe child through remediation can change theprogram but also to control for alternative in-

terpretations by more fully testing causal the- way parents perceive their children producinga redefinition. Redefining a child for the par-oretical models (Conduct Problems Preven-

tion Research Group [CPPRG], 2002). ents can change the way they will interactwith them as if they had been reeducated. Re-An example of such an approach comes from

the Fast Track prevention trial, a comprehen- education to change parents interactive be-havior can produce consequences that willsive program aimed at preventing the early on-

set of conduct problems in children. Kinder- change the parents attributions, again result-ing in a redefinition. These intervention strat-garten aged children were rated by both teachers

and parents, and those deemed to be at high egies are another example of the need to usemechanistic approaches, not only to producerisk for early conduct problems were ran-

domly assigned to treatment or control condi- a structural model for testing hypotheses, butalso to produce a practical model to directtions. The treatment group receives an array

of services aimed at the areas of parenting, change agents at available nodal points in anongoing multivariate dynamic system.school success, and social cognitions. The pro-

gram involves parent training, home visita-tion, social and socialcognitive skills train- Remediation. Interventions directed at the in-

fant, remediation, are usually interpreted asing, academic tutoring, and teacher consultation(CPPRG, 2002). In addition to demonstrating directly effecting outcomes through personal

changes. In a transactional system linkages tothe effectiveness of the Fast Track program atlimiting parenting problems, referral for spe- later behavior are seen as mediated or moder-

ated by responses of parents. In this light,cial education, and aggressive behavior, therandomized nature of this prevention design changing the child is only linked to later be-

havior if it changes intervening parental attri-has also allowed the researchers to begin tounravel and test the mediational pathway hy- butions and behavior. One example of a reme-

diation strategy is to medicate children to changepothesized by their theoretical model. Theyproposed and found that the intervention on their behavior to better fit the social expecta-

tions and competencies of parents and teach-proximal targets (e.g., harsh parental disci-pline style and child attributions) mediated the ers, as in the case of active children (Barkley,

1990).effect on more distal child behavioral out-comes (CPPRG, 2002). A linear interpretation of the poor psycho-

logical outcomes of malnourished children wasA practical test of the transactional model

A. J. Sameroff and M. J. MacKenzie632

that cell growth in the brain was altered (Stein change in the infant. This is especially impor-tant when the infant cannot easily be changed,& Susser, 1985). A transactional interpreta-

tion is that parental response mediated the ef- as in the case of biological anomalies such aspreterm birth or developmental disabilities orfect. To examine how familial interactions

may be influenced by nutritional status, Bar- individual differences such as difficult tem-peraments. However, even children withoutrett, RadkeYarrow, and Klein (1982) com-

pared a group of children who had received obvious deviancies can be problems for par-ents who frame them negatively and then en-caloric supplementation with a group who did

not. The infants who received the nutritional gage in nonresponsive or negative interactionsranging into maltreatment. The transactionalsupplements demonstrated greater social re-

sponsiveness, more expression of affect, greater aspect is primarily important in changing theparents interpretative frame.interest in the environment, and higher activ-

ity at school age. Nutritional supplements in- A redefinition intervention was designed toaddress infant feeding problems (Benoit, Madi-creased the infants energy level, enabling the

nourished infants to participate more fully in gan, Lecce, Shea, & Goldberg, 2001). Motherinfant dyads that were having feeding prob-social interactions, giving clearer cues about

their condition and eliciting a wide range of lems were assigned either to a feeding-focusedintervention, which trained mothers in appro-behaviors from their parents, including feed-

ing. Similarly, placing very low birthweight priate feeding techniques, or a play-focusedgroup, which received a slightly modified ver-infants in a stimulation program that increased

their wakefulness and responsivity also in- sion of a videotaped feedback intervention,termed Interaction Guidance (McDonough,creased the frequency of parent visits to the

nursery, providing more opportunities for so- 1993). During the feedback session, parentinfant interactions were reframed to highlightcializing experiences (Rosenfield, 1980).

In another example of an intervention fo- infant responsiveness to different aspects ofparent behavior. The Interaction Guidancecused at changing the child, Zeskind and Ra-

mey (1978) intervened with fetal malnutrition group exhibited a significant decreas