The fourth volume based on the annual University of Miami symposia on stress and coping, this new addition to the series is the first to focus on developmental and clinical stressors during infancy and childhood. While developmental stressors such as early separation and stranger anxiety, novelty stress, and fear-evoked personal distress, arise during normal development, clinical stressors result from certain conditions that are relatively common in infancy and early childhood such as premature birth and respiratory disease. Various therapies are discussed -- for example, relaxation and massage -- that can alleviate the stress associated with psychiatric conditions in childhood and adolescence, including depression and adjustment disorder. The result is an integration of diverse research and theory on the psychophysiological, developmental, and psychosocial aspects of stress and coping in animals and humans by some of the leading researchers in the field.

Contents: Preface. Part I: Developmental Stressors. M.R. Gunnar, L. Broderson, Infant Stress Reactions to Brief Maternal Separations in Human and Nonhuman Primates. J.L. Gewirtz, M. Pelaez-Nogueras, Infants' Separation Difficulties and Distress Due to Misplaced Maternal Contingencies. W.L. Donovan, L.A. Leavitt, Maternal Self-Efficacy and Response to Stress: Laboratory Studies of Coping with a Crying Infant. B.T. Healy, The Heritability of Autonomic Nervous System Processes. N.A. Fox, Frontal Brain Asymmetry and Vulnerability to Stress: Individual Differences in Infant Temperament. N. Eisenberg, J. Bernzweig, R.A. Fabes, Coping and Vicarious Emotional Responding. J. Brooks-Gunn, Growing up Female: Stressful Events and the Transition to Adolescence. Part II: Clinical Stressors. C.J. Morrow, T.M. Field, Transcutaneous Oxygen Tension in Preterm Neonates During Invasive Medical Procedures, Behavioral Assessments and Tactile/Kinesthetic Stimulation. D. Bendell-Estroff, R. Smith-Sterling, M. Miller, The Stress of Parenting Apneic Infants. F.D. Armstrong, Psychosocial Intervention in Pediatric Cancer: A Strategy for Prevention of Long-Term Problems. T.M. Field, Reducing Stress in Child and Psychiatric Patients by Massage and Relaxation Therapy.