Article

The Enduring Predictive Significance of Early Maternal Sensitivity: Social and Academic Competence Through Age 32 Years

December 2015
Child Development 86(3)

DOI:10.1111/cdev.12325

Source
PubMed

Authors:

Lee Raby

University of Utah

Glenn I Roisman

University of Minnesota Twin Cities

R. Chris Fraley

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Jeffry A Simpson

University of Minnesota Twin Cities

This study leveraged data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (N = 243) to investigate the predictive significance of maternal sensitivity during the first 3 years of life for social and academic competence through age 32 years. Structural model comparisons replicated previous findings that early maternal sensitivity predicts social skills and academic achievement through midadolescence in a manner consistent with an enduring effects model of development and extended these findings using heterotypic indicators of social competence (effectiveness of romantic engagement) and academic competence (educational attainment) during adulthood. Although early socioeconomic factors and child gender accounted for the predictive significance of maternal sensitivity for social competence, covariates did not fully account for associations between early sensitivity and academic outcomes. © 2014 The Authors. Child Development © 2014 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Parental warmth and young adult depression: A comparison of enduring effects and revisionist models

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2023

Guided by a novel analytic framework, this study investigates the developmental mechanism through which parental warmth is related to young adult depression. Data were from a large sample of participants followed from early adolescence to young adulthood (N = 1,988; 54% female). Using structural equation modeling, we estimated and compared competing developmental models – enduring effects vs. revisionist models – to assess whether parental warmth during adolescence had enduring or transient effects on depression in young adulthood. We also examined whether contemporaneous experiences of parental warmth in young adulthood were more salient than parental warmth in adolescence. Results supported the revisionist model: early intergenerational experiences in adolescence predicted psychopathology early in young adulthood, but their unique effects gradually diminished; whereas parental warmth in young adulthood continued to be protective of young adult depression. Effects of mother and father warmth on young adult depression were similar in pattern and magnitude. Results were held when accounting for covariates such as adolescent sex, family income status, and family structure. Young adult mental health interventions may consider targeting maintenance or improvement in parental warmth to help offset the long-term impact of adversity early in life.

Maternal supportiveness is predictive of childhood general intelligence

Article

May 2023

Data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (N = 1075) were used to test the hypothesis that maternal supportiveness (measured at three waves from 14 to 36 months) is positively and prospectively associated with a child's general intelligence (measured at five waves from 14 months to 10 years). Bivariate correlations showed that maternal supportiveness was consistently and positively associated with a child's general intelligence. For example, maternal supportiveness as measured at 14 months was correlated with a child's general intelligence at age 10; r = 0.35. Results of autoregressive cross-lagged panel models showed maternal supportiveness directly predicted future general intelligence through age four and indirectly, via age four general intelligence, up to age 10. Additional analyses verified that the effect of maternal supportiveness was on general intelligence and not specific abilities. The results point to the importance of maternal supportiveness on general intelligence in the first decade of life.

Mother–Infant Brain-to-Brain Synchrony Patterns Reflect Caregiving Profiles

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2023

Simple Summary Sensitive caregiving implies the mother’s moment-by-moment adaptation to the infant’s states and signals, and such online coordination supports the child’s social and neurobiological development. In contrast, intrusive mothering is characterized by overstimulation and social interactions guided by the maternal agenda rather than the infant’s interactive cues. These two maternal behavioral styles have been extensively studied and repeatedly shown to predict positive and negative social-emotional outcomes, respectively. Here we show that these two styles, sensitivity and intrusiveness, are differentially related to mechanisms of mother–infant brain-to-brain synchrony; while sensitivity is linked with higher mother–infant neural synchrony, intrusiveness is associated with diminished inter-brain coordination. We believe that the enhancement or limitation on coordinated interactive inputs to the infant’s social brain during its maturational period may be one mechanism by which maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness exert their differential long-term effects on children’s brains and behaviors. Abstract Biobehavioral synchrony, the coordination of physiological and behavioral signals between mother and infant during social contact, tunes the child’s brain to the social world. Probing this mechanism from a two-brain perspective, we examine the associations between patterns of mother–infant inter-brain synchrony and the two well-studied maternal behavioral orientations—sensitivity and intrusiveness—which have repeatedly been shown to predict positive and negative socio-emotional outcomes, respectively. Using dual-electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings, we measure inter-brain connectivity between 60 mothers and their 5- to 12-month-old infants during face-to-face interaction. Thirty inter-brain connections show significantly higher correlations during the real mother–infant face-to-face interaction compared to surrogate data. Brain–behavior correlations indicate that higher maternal sensitivity linked with greater mother–infant neural synchrony, whereas higher maternal intrusiveness is associated with lower inter-brain coordination. Post hoc analysis reveals that the mother-right-frontal–infant-left-temporal connection is particularly sensitive to the mother’s sensitive style, while the mother-left-frontal–infant-right-temporal connection indexes the intrusive style. Our results support the perspective that inter-brain synchrony is a mechanism by which mature brains externally regulate immature brains to social living and suggest that one pathway by which sensitivity and intrusiveness exert their long-term effect may relate to the provision of coordinated inputs to the social brain during its sensitive period of maturation.

Additive and synergistic relations of early mother–child and caregiver–child interactions and socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2023

Prior theoretical and empirical studies have linked the first 3 years of children's life with later life outcomes. One primary explanation is the critical role these experiences play in children's early brain development (including their early language and cognitive abilities) and subsequent schooling achievement. The current study is a registered report with two complementary research objectives: (1) examine to what extent stimulating and responsive interactions with mothers and nonparental caregivers during the first 3 years of life show additive or synergistic associations with key socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood (i.e., educational attainment, salary, and employment status), and (2) examine to what extent academic skills (i.e., mathematics, vocabulary, and literacy) during childhood and adolescence mediate these associations. The sample included 1364 individuals from a birth cohort study who were followed until age 26. Mother–child interactions had positive associations with educational attainment and negative associations with full‐time employment, though no synergistic associations were found for the socioeconomic outcomes. In addition, the indirect effects of mother–child interactions on educational attainment through mathematics were strongest for children with less stimulating and responsive caregiver–child interactions. Potential implications of these findings for developmental theory are discussed.

Family interactions in toddlerhood influence social competence in preschool age: Accounting for genetic and prenatal influences

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2022

Identification of early promotive and risk factors for social competence is important for fostering children’s successful social development; particularly given social competence is essential for children’s later academic and psychological well-being. While research suggests that the early parent–child relationship, genetics, and prenatal influences are associated with social competence, there is less research considering how these factors may operate together to shape children’s social competence in early childhood. Using a genetically informed sample from the Early Growth and Development Study ( N = 561), we examined multiple levels of influence (i.e., genetic, prenatal, parenting, and child characteristics) on children’s social competence at 4.5 years old. Results from structural equation models showed adoptive mother overreactivity at 18 months was positively associated with child dysregulation at 27 months, which, in turn, was associated with lower levels of social competence at 4.5 years. Also, child reactivity at 18 months was independently associated with higher levels of adoptive mother overreactivity at 27 months, which, in turn, was associated with lower levels of social competence at 4.5 years. Finally, we found an evocative effect on adoptive fathers’ overreactivity at 18 months such that prenatal birth mother distress was negatively associated with adoptive fathers’ overreactivity at 18 months. Overall, this study found evidence for genetic influences, and bidirectional associations between parent and child in toddlerhood that are related to lower levels of social competence when children were 4.5 years old. We also found that the prenatal environment was associated with parenting, but not with child behavior directly. This study’s ability to simultaneously examine multiple domains of influence helps provide a more comprehensive picture of important mechanisms and developmental periods for children’s early social competence.

The Quality of Early Caregiving and Teacher-Student Relationships in Grade School Independently Predict Adolescent Academic Achievement

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2023
INT J BEHAV DEV

Prior research has demonstrated that teacher-student relationships characterized by high levels of closeness and low levels of conflict are associated with higher levels of academic achievement among children. At the same time: (a) some research suggests that the quality of teacher-student relationships in part reflects the quality of early caregiving, and (b) the observed quality of early care by primary caregivers robustly predicts subsequent academic achievement. Given the potential for associations between teacher-student relationship quality and academic achievement to thus be confounded by the quality of early parenting experiences, the present study examined to what extent children’s experiences in early life with primary caregivers (i.e., ages 3 to 42 months) and relationships with teachers during grade school (i.e., Kindergarten to Grade 6) were uniquely associated with an objective assessment of academic achievement at age 16 years in a sample born into poverty (N = 267; 45% female; 65% White/non-Hispanic; 41% of mothers did not complete high school). Early maternal sensitivity, though a strong predictor of later academic achievement, was not reliably associated with either teacher-reports or interview-based assessments of teacher-student relationship quality in grade school. Nonetheless, early maternal sensitivity and teacher-student relationship quality were each uniquely associated with later academic achievement, above and beyond key demographic variables. Taken together, the present results highlight that the quality of children’s relationships with adults at home and at school independently, but not interactively, predicted later academic achievement in a high-risk sample.

Attachment and socio-emotional development in early childhood: Mediators, moderators and consequences of cumulative family risks in families and daycare centers

Thesis

Full-text available

Jan 2022

Jennifer Gerlach

Cumulative family risks are detrimental to children’s attachment and socio-emotional development. For understanding early attachment and socio-emotional development in children growing up among risk contexts, it is crucial to explore developmental models that focus on processes of vulnerability or resilience. Therefore, this dissertation focused on the interplay of cumulative family risk and children’s attachment and socio-emotional development in two environmental contexts: The family and the daycare center. Basis of this dissertation are three peer-reviewed papers. Study one investigated the associations of cumulative family risks on early attachment development of 197 infants and toddlers while considering underlying mechanisms of action: Parental sensitivity was examined both as a mediator transmitting family risk effects on attachment security as well as a moderator potentially shaping the association of family risk and attachment. Results showed that high family risk strongly affected children’s attachment security and parental sensitivity was found to be the transmitting variable of cumulative family risk effects, on the one hand. On the other hand, high parental sensitivity was a protective factor buffering the adverse effects of family risks on early attachment security. Results highlighted the differential role of parental sensitivity in high-risk contexts. In the second study, family risk effects on children’s attachment security found in the first study were examined in more detail by grouping family risk factors in two different ways: First, family risk factors were categorized into distal and proximal family risks. Distal risks affected only girls’ attachment security and proximal risks negatively predicted boys’ attachment security. Second, family risk factors were grouped using an exploratory principal component analysis yielding in three distal (low socio-economic status [SES], primary caregiver’s psychiatric disorder or stress in lifetime, and migration and crowding) and proximal risk components each (negative family climate, primary caregiver’s emotional load, and negative parenting behavior). A low SES showed a negative association to all children’s attachment security. However, migration and crowding and the primary caregiver’s emotional load both negatively predicted girls’ attachment security, whereas boys’ attachment security was negatively related to a negative family climate, suggesting a gender-specific susceptibility to risk influences. Most of the risk component influences were mediated by parental sensitivity. Study three explored distal and proximal family risk effects on toddlers’ (N = 353) socio-emotional development in daycare centers. Using multilevel regression models, the proximal family risks were found to predict children’s socio-emotional problems rated by their daycare caregivers (N = 56), and this relationship was moderated by professional self-efficacy: High levels of daycare caregiver’s professional self-efficacy prevented children from the adverse effects of proximal risks on behavior problems. However, no significant effects of distal family risks on children’s socio-emotional development were observed. Altogether, these three studies provide evidence that cumulative family risks exert their negative impact on children’s attachment and socio-emotional development in two different environmental contexts: The family and the daycare center; amplifying the need for effective and tailored prevention and intervention programs for preserving maladaptive developmental outcomes.

Early maternal sensitivity and markers of physical health: Enduring or transient associations from childhood to adulthood?

Article

Sep 2022

Individual differences in the quality of early experiences with primary caregivers have been reliably implicated in the development of socioemotional adjustment and, more recently, physical health. However, few studies have examined the development of such associations with physical health into the adult years. To that end, the current study used prospective, longitudinal data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,306, 52% male, 77% White/non-Hispanic) to investigate whether associations between direct observations of maternal sensitivity in the first 3 years of life and repeated assessments of two commonly used, objective indicators of physical health (i.e., body mass and mean arterial blood pressure) remained stable or diminished in magnitude over time. Associations between early maternal sensitivity and lower body mass remained relatively stable from age 54 months to 26 years and were robust to the modeling of autoregressive and second-order stability processes as well as the inclusion of potential demographic confounders. In contrast, although associations between early caregiving and lower mean arterial pressure remained relatively stable from Grade 4 to age 15 years (the oldest age for which mean arterial pressure was assessed thus far), these associations were not robust to the inclusion of covariates and the modeling of second-order stability processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of a preventive parenting intervention for bereaved families on the intergenerational transmission of parenting attitudes: Mediating processes

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2023
DEV PSYCHOPATHOL

This study evaluated whether the Family Bereavement Program (FBP), a prevention program for parentally bereaved families, improved parenting attitudes toward parental warmth and physical punishment in young adult offspring 15 years after participation and identified mediational cascade pathways. One hundred fifty-six parents and their 244 offspring participated. Data were collected at pretest (ages 8-16), posttest, and six- and 15-year follow-ups. Ethnicity of offspring was: 67% non-Hispanic Caucasian, 16% Hispanic, 7% African American, 3% Native American, 1% Asian or Pacific Islander, and 6% other; 54% were males. There was a direct effect of the FBP on attitudes toward physical punishment; offspring in the FBP had less favorable attitudes toward physical punishment. There were also indirect effects of the FBP on parenting attitudes. The results supported a cascade effects model in which intervention-induced improvements in parental warmth led to fewer externalizing problems in adolescence/emerging adulthood, which in turn led to less favorable attitudes toward physical punishment. In addition, intervention-induced improvements in parental warmth led to improvements in anxious romantic attachment in mid-to-late adolescence/emerging adulthood, which led to more favorable attitudes toward parental warmth in emerging/young adulthood. These findings suggest that the effects of relatively brief prevention programs may persist into subsequent generations.

Changes in childhood caregiving impressions among middle‐aged and older adults

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2023

Childhood experiences and impressions are important for individuals' health and well‐being—they often set the stage for how people approach relationships across the lifespan and how they make sense of their relational worlds. However, impressions of these experiences are likely not static and can change over time, even years after these experiences happened. The current study examined how impressions of parental relationships in childhood changed over time, and predictors of these changes, among middle‐aged and older adults followed over a 4‐year period ( N = 2692; M age = 66.67, SD = 9.15; 64.1% women). Childhood impressions of parental care were mostly stable over time, with 53.5%–65.0% of participants reporting consistent impressions. Becoming divorced/separated as an adult was associated with more negative impressions about relationships with fathers in the past. Having a mother pass away was associated with more positive impressions of mothers' caregiving when participants were children. Higher depressive symptoms at follow‐up were associated with darker perceptions of the past—more negative impressions of mothers and fathers as caregivers. The current study is one of the most comprehensive studies of late‐life changes in childhood impressions to date, suggesting future directions for studying the organization of relational experiences and recollection over time.

Maternal distress and parenting during COVID‑19: differential effects related to pre‑pandemic distress?

Article

Full-text available

May 2023
BMC PSYCHIATRY

Abstract Background Distinguishing whether and how pre-existing characteristics impact maternal responses to adversity is difficult: Does prior well-being decrease the likelihood of encountering stressful experiences? Does it protect against adversity’s negative effects? We examine whether the interaction between relatively uniformly experienced adversity (due to COVID-19 experience) and individual variation in pre-existing (i.e., pre-pandemic onset) distress predicted mothers’ pandemic levels of distress and insensitive caregiving within a country reporting low COVID-19 death rates, and strict nationwide regulations. Method Fifty-one Singaporean mothers and their preschool-aged children provided data across two waves. Pre- pandemic onset maternal distress (i.e., psychological distress, anxiety, and parenting stress) was captured via self-reports and maternal sensitivity was coded from videos. Measures were repeated after the pandemic’s onset along with questionnaires concerning perceived COVID-19 adversity (e.g., COVID-19’s impact upon stress caring for children, housework, job demands, etc.) and pandemic-related objective experiences (e.g., income, COVID-19 diagnoses, etc.). Regression analyses (SPSS v28) considered pre-pandemic onset maternal distress, COVID-19 stress, and their interaction upon post-pandemic onset maternal distress. Models were re-run with appropriate covariates (e.g., objective experience) when significant findings were observed. To rule out alternative models, follow up analyses (PROCESS Model) considered whether COVID-19 stress mediated pre- and post-pandemic onset associations. Models involving maternal sensitivity followed a similar data analytic plan. Results Pre-pandemic maternal distress moderated the association between COVID-19 perceived stress and pandemic levels of maternal distress (β = 0.22, p

Experiences of Norwegian co-parents during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions: A qualitative study

Article

Full-text available

May 2023

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have had a major impact on the organization of health services in Europe. Co-parents' experiences of not being allowed to fully participate during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period is poorly understood. We investigated how the non-birthing partner experienced becoming a parent during the pandemic. Methods: We applied a qualitative design. We recruited the participants from all part of the country by using snowball sampling. 18 individual interviews were conducted by using videotelephony software program/telephone. The transcripts were analysed using a six-step model for thematic analysis. Results: The non-birthing participants were not considered by the healthcare system to be equal partners in terms of their involvement in the process of becoming parents. Three themes were constructed from the interview analysis- deprivation of the opportunity of "doing their part" of the job; participation by proxy to enhance togetherness; and choosing between obedience or opposition to the restrictions. Conclusion: The non-birthing co-parents felt deprived of doing what they considered to be their most important job-namely, to support and comfort their partners during pregnancy and childbirth. The healthcare system's decision to exclude co-parents from being physically present thus requires further reflection and discussion.

The Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System (DPICS): Negative talk as an indicator of dysfunctional mother-child interaction

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2022
CHILD YOUTH SERV REV

Background The Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System (DPICS-IV) is a widely used observational instrument that assesses Parent-child interaction (PCI) quality. However, studies specifically examining its psychometric properties published in peer-reviewed journals are scarce. The present study aimed to provide evidence on the discriminative validity of the DPICS-IV to identify indicators of parent-child interaction among clinical mother-child dyads compared to non-clinical. Method Participants were 177 mother-child dyads with children aged 4 to 8 years: (1) a clinical sample of 80 dyads where mothers experienced significant difficulties managing their children's behavior problems and identified by Child Welfare and Child Protection Services as at risk for child maltreatment or with substantiated reports, and (2) a non-clinical sample of 97 dyads from the general population. Results DPICS Negative talk factor showed high discriminant capacity (AUC = .90) between samples, with a cut-off score of 8 that allowed mother-child dyads to be classified with a sensitivity of 82% and a specificity of 89%. Conclusions Findings of the present study suggested that the DPICS-IV Negative Talk factor is a robust indicator of dysfunctional PCI patterns of families involved with the Child Protection Services. Further research is needed to confirm these findings and to test the accuracy of the cut-off score with a representative sample of the general population.

Interparental conflict predicts developmental trajectories of maternal sensitivity across early childhood

Article

Sep 2022

Objective This study examined developmental trajectories of maternal sensitivity across early childhood and explored whether changes in sensitivity were predicted by changes in interparental conflict. Background Maternal sensitivity facilitates healthy child development. Previous research has elucidated the role of interparental conflict as a determinant of sensitivity, but we know little about the trajectory of sensitivity across early childhood and the extent to which interparental conflict over time impacts sensitivity. Method Mothers ( n = 78) and their children were visited at the playground four times across early childhood (child age: 3.5 to 5.5 years). Observers reported on maternal sensitivity after each visit. Interparental conflict was self‐reported by mothers twice when their child was approximately 3.5 and 5 years old. Results On average, both conflict and sensitivity showed continuity across early childhood. However, hierarchical linear modeling indicated significant variability in trajectories of change in sensitivity based upon frequency of interparental conflict. Conclusion Although interparental conflict was relatively low at both times, mothers reporting increased conflict showed decreased sensitivity as their child aged. Implications Findings underscore the importance of studying mother–child relationships within the larger familial context and provide support for the playground as an ecologically valid context to assess sensitivity.

Relational Savoring Intervention: Positive Impacts for Mothers and Evidence of Cultural Compatibility for Latinas

Article

Full-text available

May 2022

Parenting young children poses numerous emotion regulation challenges, and prevention programs that promote emotion regulation skills can help with this important task of parenthood. Relational savoring (RS), which entails savoring a positive experience of interpersonal connectedness, is a brief manualized intervention program, 4 weeks in length, grounded in positive psychology and attachment theory. In the current longitudinal, randomized, controlled trial, we examined the impacts of RS compared with an active control (personal savoring [PS], defined as savoring a positive individual experience) in a sample of N = 164 mothers of toddlers (Mage = 20.93 months) on outcomes that were assessed immediately postintervention (positive emotion, closeness to child) and at a 3-month follow-up visit (parenting sensitivity, reflective functioning [RF], savoring uptake, and parenting wellness). Compared with mothers assigned to the PS condition, mothers in the RS condition had greater immediate response to the intervention (greater increases in positive emotions [gratitude, pride], closeness to their child) as well as greater increase in sensitivity to toddlers' cues at the three-month follow-up. Neither RS nor PS increased overall parenting wellness at the three-month follow-up. Latina mothers (but not non-Latina mothers) in the RS condition had higher RF and greater savoring uptake than Latina mothers in the PS condition at follow-up. Findings provide preliminary evidence of the efficacy of RS in modifying therapeutic targets and suggest evidence of the cultural congruence of RS for Latina mothers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Perinatal care for Childhood Abuse survivors

Chapter

Nov 2023

Child Abuse and Perinatal Outcomes: Examining Prenatal Health, Intergenerational Abuse, Motherhood, and Childbirth for Survivors

Chapter

Nov 2023

This chapter provides an overview of outcomes related to child abuse that may be challenging for child abuse survivors during the perinatal period. In Part 1, general and psychological prenatal health is examined. This includes a discussion on prenatal substance use and eating disorders which have implications for the mother and child. Part 2 of this chapter examines motherhood, particularly the mother-child relationship and the intergenerational implications of child abuse. We discuss attachment, from its early prenatal development to postpartum bonding, and its importance for the infant in forming internal models of caregiving that, if impaired, can contribute to later mental health problems. The important role of breastfeeding in maternal bonding and the difficulties some survivors may encounter are also considered. Next, we examine the influence of previous child abuse on parenting practices and consider intergenerational abuse, that is, the potential of a mother with their own history of abuse to harm their child. Drawing on social learning theory and the parenting literature, it is clear that a parent’s childhood experiences, which may include abuse and harsh parenting, are influential in their parenting practices. This part of the chapter concludes by considering child abuse survivors’ risk of revictimization and the implications this risk poses for pregnant women and their unborn children. Indeed, pregnancy may increase the risk of IPV, and this violence can impact the mother and developing fetus through direct harm and epigenetic effects. The final part of this chapter examines the challenges of childbirth for survivors of childhood abuse and the importance of sensitive care. While childbirth can be particularly traumatizing for some survivors, empirical data suggest that positive birth experiences provide opportunities for caregivers to attenuate negative effects.

Are changes in mothers' representations of their infants related to changes in observed mother-infant interaction quality?

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2023
INFANT BEHAV DEV

Does child-mother attachment predict and mediate language and cognitive outcomes? A series of meta-analyses

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2023
DEV REV

A programmatic set of meta-analyses by Groh et al. (e.g., Groh et al., 2017a) and Madigan et al. (e.g., Madigan et al., 2023) demonstrated that secure child-caregiver attachments are positively associated with children’s social and emotional development, with somewhat stronger associations identified in relation to social competence and (lower) externalizing behaviors than for (lower) internalizing symptoms (Groh et al., 2017a). The association of attachment security with children’s cognitive and language outcomes, however, is relatively less well established. More- over, it is unknown whether attachment is associated with these outcomes through direct links, indirect links (i.e., as a mediator of the association between caregiver sensitivity and child cognition and language processes), or both. Empirical tests of these hypotheses have not yet been conducted. The current study had two main objectives: 1) provide a meta-analytic update for the association between attachment security and cognition and language (k = 125 studies [107 samples]; N = 9,213 children; 52.5% boys; 100% mothers; 93% from North America/Europe), and 2) test this association within a larger mediation model that accounts for the roles of sensitivity and attachment through a meta-analytic structural equation model (sensitivity → attachment → cognitive and language outcomes). Results showed that child-mother attachment security was significantly associated with child cognition (r = 0.17, 95% CI [0.14, 0.20]) and language outcomes (r = 0.16, 95% CI [0.12, 0.20]). The MASEM model revealed a small, but significant, indirect effect of sensitivity on cognitive and language outcomes through attachment security. The discussion considers the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Teaching or learning from baby: Inducing explicit parenting goals influences caregiver intrusiveness

Article

Aug 2023
DEV PSYCHOL

Caregivers' goals influence their interactions with their children. In this preregistered study, we examined whether directing parents to teach their baby versus learn from their baby influenced the extent to which they engaged in intrusive (e.g., controlling, adult-centered rather than child-centered), sensitive, warm, or cognitively stimulating caregiving behaviors. Mothers and their 6-month-old infants (N = 66; 32 female infants) from the San Francisco Bay Area participated in a 10-min "free-play" interaction, coded in 2-min epochs for degree of parental intrusiveness. Prior to the final epoch, mothers were randomly assigned to receive instructions to focus on (a) teaching something to their infant or (b) learning something from their infant. A control group of mothers received no instructions. Analyses of within-person changes in intrusive behavior from before to after receiving these instructions indicated that mothers assigned to teach their infant increased in intrusiveness whereas mothers assigned to learn from their infant and mothers in the control group did not significantly change in intrusiveness. The study provides experimental evidence that caregivers' explicit goals to teach infants result, on average, in more controlling and adult-centered caregiving behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Maternal depressive symptoms and affective responses to infant crying and laughing

Article

Jun 2023
J FAM PSYCHOL

Depressive symptoms are common in the postpartum period and can affect mother-infant interaction. To better understand the role of depressive symptoms in the mother-infant interchange, this study examined whether maternal depressive symptoms are associated with self-reported, physiological, and facial expressive responses to infant crying and laughing sounds. A nonclinical sample was used, consisting of 101 mothers (Age M = 30.88 years, 33% scored 7 or higher on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) with a young child. Mothers were exposed to standard infant crying and laughing sounds. Affect, perception of crying and laughing, intended caregiving responses, skin conductance level reactivity, and facial expressive responses to infant crying and laughing were measured. Higher levels of depressive symptoms were associated with more self-reported negative affect in general and a more negative perception of infant crying. Depressive symptoms were not associated with intended caregiving responses and physiological responses to infant crying. Infant laughing increased self-reported positive affect and happy facial expressions in mothers with all levels of depressive symptoms. Higher levels of depressive symptoms were associated with higher sad facial expressivity in general. Depressive symptoms were not related to positive perception of infant laughing, intended caregiving responses, and physiological responses to infant laughing. The findings suggest that mothers who score high on depressive symptoms send subtle facial cues showing sadness, which may overshadow happy facial expressions during infant laughing and may affect mother-infant interaction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Verbal Responsiveness in Parents of Toddlers With and Without Autism During a Home Observation

Article

Full-text available

May 2023
J AUTISM DEV DISORD

This study examined patterns of verbal responsiveness in parents of toddlers (Mage = 20 months) later identified with autism (n = 121), developmental delay (n = 46), or typical development (n = 44) during an hourlong home observation. Parent verbal responsiveness (PVR) was compared using MANOVA across groups and by child expressive language phase. Multiple regression analyses controlling for child age and maternal education were employed to examine the extent to which PVR predicted variance in concurrent child social communication and prospective language skills. Parents provided synchronous responses approximately 90% of the time. Parents of children with autism and developmental delay used smaller proportions of responses that added linguistic information (i.e., expansions and follow-in directives for language) than those of children with typical development. Parents of children in the preverbal phase were more likely, on average, to affirm their children’s acts of intentional communication or provide a follow-in directive for action that did not necessitate a verbal response than to expand or elicit language. Regression results indicated that parental use of expansions and follow-in directives for language made significant contributions to child language outcomes. The patterns we observed may reflect parents’ attunement to their child’s developmental level. Responsiveness to a child’s focus of attention is vital in the earlier stages of language learning; however, results point to the potential importance of parental expansions and follow-in directives for promoting language development across groups in this sample. Directions for intervention research targeting PVR and language skills in toddlers with autism and developmental delays are discussed.

Family Risk Exposure Profiles During Early Childhood: Developmental Processes and Adolescent Well-Being

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2023

Although prior work indicates that exposure to multiple family risk factors negatively impacts adjustment in childhood and adolescence, few studies have examined whether children in high-risk families transition in and out of adversity during early childhood and whether patterns of change matter for adjustment in adolescence. Using data from a sample of 216 caregiver-child dyads participating in a study of prenatal cocaine exposure (116 exposed and 100 non-exposed; 50.9% girls), we used latent transition analysis to identify distinct profiles of early exposure to caregiver substance use (SU) and SU-related familial risk (caregiver psychological distress, exposure to violence, harshness, and low sensitivity) and the association between these profiles and adolescent well-being (i.e., hope, happiness, and life satisfaction). Assessments occurred when children were 13, 24, 36, and 48 months and during kindergarten (Mmonths = 66.16, SD = 4.47) and early adolescence (Myears = 13.26, SD = 0.88). Caregivers self-identified as 72.09% Black, 15.81% White, 10.23% Hispanic/Latinx, 1.40% other, and 0.47% American Indian. Four profiles of varying levels of exposure to caregiver SU and SU-related risks were identified from infancy to kindergarten: SU/family risks, no SU/low family risks, SU/negative parenting, and SU/low family risks. Most children stayed in the same profile (64.2%), while the rest transitioned between profiles. Children exposed to caregiver SU and family adversity had lower positive outcomes in adolescence. Stable membership in the SU/family risks profile had significant maladaptive consequences on adolescent well-being. Implications for research and the design of tailored interventions to promote well-being among at-risk youth are discussed.

Attention and Behavior Problems in Childhood Predict Adult Financial Status, Health, and Criminal Activity: A Conceptual Replication and Extension of Moffitt et al. (2011) Using Cohorts from the U.S. and the U.K

Preprint

Full-text available

Mar 2023
DEV PSYCHOL

This study is a conceptual replication of a widely cited study by Moffitt et al. (2011) which found that attention and behavior problems in childhood (a composite of impulsive hyperactive, inattentive, and impulsive-aggressive behaviors labeled "self-control") predicted adult financial status, health, and criminal activity. Using data from longitudinal cohort studies in the United States (n = 1,168) and the United Kingdom (n = 16,506), we largely reproduced their pattern of findings that attention and behavior problems measured across the course of childhood predicted a range of adult outcomes including educational attainment (βU.S. = -0.22, βU.K. = -0.13) and spending time in jail (ORU.S. = 1.74, ORU.K. = 1.48). We found that associations with outcomes in education, work, and finances diminished in the presence of additional covariates for children's home environment and achievement but associations for other outcomes were more robust. We also found that attention and behavior problems across distinct periods of childhood were associated with adult outcomes. Specific attention and behavior problems showed some differences in predicting outcomes in the U.S. cohort, with attention problems predicting lower educational attainment and hyperactivity/impulsivity predicting ever spending time in jail. Together with the findings from Moffitt et al., our study makes clear that childhood attention and behavior problems are associated with a range of outcomes in adulthood for cohorts born in the 1950s, 1970s, and 1990s across three countries. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Mother and father interaction with their 3-month-old infants: Similarities and differences in parenting behaviour in well-resourced parents

Article

Feb 2023

Infancy is characterized by intensive parenting which may affect later child development. However, little is known about similarities and differences in maternal and paternal parenting behaviour, as the majority of the studies have mainly focused on mothers. The present study investigated similarities and differences in mothers' and fathers' parenting behaviour during parent-infant interaction in 56 mothers and 56 fathers of 3-months-old infants in a good-resourced sample. Parent-child interactions were videotaped and coded by the Global Rating Scales. Results suggested similar parenting behaviour in terms of maternal and paternal sensitivity, intrusiveness and remoteness. Moreover, regardless of sex infant's behaviour was similar during interactions with mothers and fathers. The low-risk and non-clinical nature of our sample may have had a positive influence on mother-child and father-child dyadic exchanges. These findings suggest including family system models in research and clinical practice.

SELF-AWARENESS AND SELF-MASTERY: A PROPOSED FRAMEWORK

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2023

Sandro Formica

Pathways to substance use: Examining conduct problems and parenting behaviors from preschool to adolescence

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2023
DEV PSYCHOPATHOL

While many studies have identified risk and protective factors of substance use (SU), few have assessed the reciprocal associations of child conduct problems (CP) and parenting practices and behaviors in the prediction of SU across development. A greater understanding of how these factors relate over time is needed to improve the timing of targeted prevention efforts. This study examined how child CP, parenting behaviors, and parents' own antisocial behavior relate from preschool to adolescence and eventuate in SU. Participants included 706 youth (70.6% male; 89.7% white) enrolled in the Michigan Longitudinal Study. Data from waves 1 (ages 3-5), 2 (ages 6-8), 3 (ages 9-11), 4 (ages 12-14), and 5 (ages 15-17) were included. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) examined reciprocal associations between parenting practices, parents' antisocial behavior, and child CP over time (waves 1-4) and how these factors contribute to adolescent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use (wave 5). At the within-person level, negative parenting and parents' own antisocial behavior had a strong influence in late childhood/early adolescence. Only child CP emerged as a significant predictor of SU. Results highlight the importance of early intervention and the potential influence of parenting and child factors throughout development in the prevention of SU.

Attachment and Peer and Romantic Relationship Functioning: The Role of Social Information Processing

Thesis

Full-text available

May 2022

Megan Fitter

Perhaps the most central tenet of attachment theory is that individual differences in attachment quality relate to social functioning (Bowlby, 1969/82, 1973, 1980). Indeed, abundant research demonstrates that early insecurity toward caregivers relates to poor functioning in later peer and romantic relationships (Englund et al., 2011; McElwain et al., 2008), and individuals' attachment orientations relate to their concurrent functioning with peers and romantic partners (Collins et al, 2006; Groh et al., 2014). For decades, researchers have been trying to understand why these connections exist. The aim of this dissertation is to help answer this question with a collection of three empirical studies testing social information processing (SIP) as a mechanism through which attachment predicts individual differences in social functioning. The present studies focus on two critical components of SIP-expectations and attributions. Study 1 (N = 2100) examined the indirect effects of adolescents' attachment style dimensions on their acceptance by peers assessed with sociometric peer ratings through negative expectations of peers' behaviors. Findings revealed that adolescents with greater attachment anxiety (fears of rejection and abandonment) and avoidance (discomfort with closeness) held negative expectations for how their peers would behave, and negative expectations in turn related to low acceptance by peers. Study 2 (N = 347) examined the role of attribution biases and friendship quality on pathways from early attachment to young adolescent romantic relationship quality. Longitudinal latent variable structural equation modeling analyses did not yield evidence for attribution biases or friendship quality as mediators on such pathways. Further, no direct links between early attachment to mothers and romantic relationship quality emerged. Findings did, however, show relations between early attachment to mothers and negative attribution biases about peers, as well as between friendship quality and romantic relationship quality. Study 3 (N = 198) examined a causal link between young adults’ attachment and attribution biases using an experimental priming procedure. Security priming—temporarily boosting feelings of security—led participants to make fewer negative attributions about hypothetical romantic partners’ transgressions. Participants with fewer negative attributions, in turn, reported that they would respond less negatively to the transgressions. Findings across the three studies provide support for SIP as a mechanism through which some conceptualizations of attachment (i.e., attachment style dimensions and temporary feelings of security) relate to social functioning, but findings do not support the theory that SIP explains longitudinal links between early attachment and later social functioning.

Do ideal fathers differ from ideal mothers? A study on sensitivity, challenging, and sensitive challenging parenting behavior

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2022

Studies on caregiving often distinguish between sensitive and challenging behavior. Mothers are characterized as more sensitive and fathers as more challenging. From an attachment perspective, the ideal mother is sensitive. Empirically, sensitivity is a better predictor of child-mother compared to child-father attachment security. In contrast, sensitive challenging behavior is a better predictor of child-father attachment. Thus, the ideal father might be sensitive challenging. The study examined differences and/or similarities in representations of ideal mothers and fathers regarding sensitive challenging behavior. We explored raters’ parental status, gender, or attachment as influential factors. 175 participants described their representations of the ideal parents and rated the attachment security to their own parents. Results replicate earlier findings showing that the ideal mother is sensitive. Interestingly, also the ideal father is a sensitive father. In direct comparison, ideal fathers are less sensitive and more challenging compared to ideal mothers. Attachment avoidance influenced parenting ideals.

Sensitivity Training for Mothers With Premature Infants: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Article

Jun 2022

Objective This single-blind parallel design randomized controlled trial evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of a modified version of the Mother–Infant Transaction Program (MITP) in enhancing Chinese mothers’ sensitivity towards their premature infants’ physiological and social cues. Methods Sixty mothers of hospitalized premature infants (mean gestational age = 32.1 weeks; SD = 2.8) were randomly assigned to either the MITP group or the treatment-as-usual control group. The intervention group (n = 30) received four sessions of parental sensitivity training adapted from the MITP, delivered by clinical psychologists before the infants were discharged. The control group (n = 30) received standard care provided by the hospitals. Each dyad was assessed at baseline (Time 1), immediately after intervention (Time 2), and when the infants were at the gestation-corrected ages of 3, 6, 9, and 12 months (Times 3–6). Maternal sensitivity, mother–infant interaction quality, parenting stress, postpartum depression, and mother’s perception of infant’s temperament were measured at Times 1–4, whereas infants’ weight gain and developmental performance were assessed at Times 3–6. Results The MITP group showed significantly higher maternal sensitivity and better mother–infant interaction quality after completing the training. They also reported less parenting stress and postnatal depression than the control group at Time 2 and subsequent follow-ups. The intervention significantly predicted better weight gain and developmental outcomes in infants across Times 3–6, mediated by maternal wellbeing and interaction quality. Conclusion Our results demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of this adapted sensitivity training among Chinese mothers with premature infants. [ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04383340]

Nonstandard work schedules in the UK: What are the implications for parental mental health and relationship happiness?

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2022
Community Work Fam

This article investigates the associations between nonstandard work schedules, parents’ mental health, and couple relationship happiness across childhood using the Millennium Cohort Study, a longitudinal, population-based data set of births in the UK. Using individual fixed effects models, we investigated the relationship between maternal and paternal nonstandard work schedules, examining both separate and joint work schedules, and mental health and relationship happiness. Although we did not observe any associations between mothers’ nonstandard work schedules and their mental health, we did find regularly working night schedules was associated with lower relationship happiness, and particularly so during the school-age period. Fathers’ evening and weekend work schedules were associated with worse mental health. The joint work schedule in which mothers worked a standard schedule and fathers worked nonstandard schedules was associated with lower relationship happiness for mothers and worse mental health for fathers. These results demonstrate the salience of incorporating fathers’ work schedules to understand the challenges and benefits to families of nonstandard work schedules. Our study also emphasizes the significance of investigating the family consequences of nonstandard work schedules in different country contexts.

Are adolescent diet quality and emotional eating predicted by history of maternal caregiving quality and concurrent inhibitory control?

Article

Sep 2023
APPETITE

The risk for unhealthy eating behaviour, including poor diet quality and emotional eating, is heightened in adolescence and could result in profound and long-lasting psychological and physical implications. Caregiving quality and adolescents' regulatory skills, such as inhibitory control, may play an essential role in the development of adolescent eating behaviour. This preregistered study investigated whether maternal caregiving throughout the first 14 years of life predicts adolescent diet quality and emotional eating and whether potential associations are mediated by adolescents' inhibitory control. In this low-risk community cohort, maternal caregiving quality was observed at child ages five weeks, 12 months, 2.5, 10, and 14 years. At age 14, diet quality and emotional eating were assessed through self-report. Adolescent inhibitory control was assessed with three behavioural tasks and a maternal report. Mediation analyses were performed with structural equation modelling in R. No evidence was found for links between maternal caregiving quality and adolescent diet quality and emotional eating. Higher levels of adolescent inhibitory control predicted better adolescent diet quality. Longitudinal and experimental studies are needed to investigate directionality, and replication studies are needed in more representative samples (e.g. including high-risk families). Such studies will shed further light on potential links between the history of caregiving behaviour and adolescent regulatory and eating behaviour.

Infrastructure as Advocacy: Infrastructuring mid-level actors with student-led research projects

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Oct 2022

Michael Arnold Mages

Viewed from a systemic perspective, social services hold complex and rich profiles. From a tactical perspective, services play an important role in addressing community needs. However, services also play an important role in fostering community infrastructure and advancing the advocacy mission of an organisation. This paper presents the cases of three related projects to develop interactive services for a key social service organisation to address specific challenges faced by parents, guardians, and caregivers of pre-K children in East Boston. Rather than discussing these cases solely from the perspective of how they might meet the needs of residents, these cases will be further analysed from the systemic perspective of these projects as tools for both infrastructuring and advocacy.

A Protocol for Social Interactive Assessment of Infant Attention Set-Shifting Between 12-24 Months of Age

Article

Jun 2023

This protocol describes an adaptation of a classic sequential touching object categorisation task to assess infant attention set-shifting, suitable for ages 12–24 months. The task is conducted in a social interactive context with a parent, who scaffolds their infants’ attention shift from high-salience to low-salience dimensional properties of objects (e.g., shape vs material). This task is adapted from Ellis and Oakes (2006), where 14 month-old infants were able to flexibly attend to both shape and material. In this paper, we present a methodological innovation which permits the direct measurement of the effect of parent-child interactions on an early developing executive function skill. This novel social interactive protocol permits direct assessment of the effect of parent-child interaction on an early executive function skill, attention set-shifting.•The parental role is to scaffold a shift in their child's attention from a high salient (e.g. shape) to a low-salient (e.g. material) dimension of the stimulus set. •The protocol is suitable for infants aged between 12 and 24 months.

Association of parent-child interactions with parental psychological distress and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2023

Introduction The effects of psychological distress/resilience on parent-child engagement (e.g., family dinners, reading) during the COVID-19 pandemic have not been well studied. Among very young children from underrepresented backgrounds enrolled in the ongoing longitudinal Bronx Mother Baby Health Study of healthy term infants, we (1) examined associations between exposures to COVID-19-related events, demographic factors and parental psychological distress and resilience; and (2) correlated these factors with parent-child engagement activities. Methods Between June 2020-August 2021, parents of 105 Bronx Mother Baby Health Study participants aged birth-25 months completed questionnaires related to exposures to COVID-19-related events, frequency of positive parent-child engagement activities, food and housing insecurity, and parental psychological distress and resilience. Families were also asked open ended questions about the pandemic's impact. Results 29.8% and 47.6% of parents reported food and housing insecurity, respectively. Greater exposures to COVID-19-related events were associated with increased parental psychological distress. Positive parent-child interactions were associated with demographic factors and higher levels of maternal education, but not with exposures to COVID-19-related events. Discussion This study adds to a growing body of literature on the negative impacts of COVID-19 exposures and psychosocial stressors on families during the pandemic, supporting the need for enhanced mental health resources and social supports for families.

Attachment security and how to get it

Article

Jun 2023

Attachment theory has become a dominant framework for understanding people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors with respect to close relationships. People often want to and are motivated to improve their personalities and their relationships. Can attachment orientations change across the lifespan? And if so, what facilitates change? Will insecure people stay insecurely attached across their life or is there hope for change? The current review provides a bird's eye view of the research on how and why attachment orientations change in adulthood. We provide some descriptive information for how attachment changes across the lifespan and how much of this variation is attributable to early life experiences. Then, we focus on the processes that are thought to engender attachment‐related changes over time. Finally, we provide some directions for future research to help fill some holes in the field's understanding about attachment orientations and how they change over time.

The effects of a music enrichment program on parent-infant interactions during mealtime: A randomized controlled trial

Article

May 2023
APPETITE

Background: Parent-child interactions are linked to childhood obesity. Music enrichment programs enhance parent-child interactions and may be a strategy for early childhood obesity prevention. Objective: We implemented a 2-year randomized, controlled trial to assess the effects of a music enrichment program (music, n = 45) vs. active play date control (control, n = 45) on parent-child interactional quality and infant weight status. Methods: Typically developing infants aged 9-to 15-months were enrolled with a primary caregiver in the Music Together ® or a play date program. Participants attended once per week group meetings for 12 months and once per month group meetings for an additional 12 months. Parent-child interaction was measured using the Parent Child Early Relational Assessment (PCERA) at baseline, month 6, 12, and 24. We used a modified intent-to-treat mixed model regression to test group differences in parent-child interactions and Weight for length z-score (zWFL) growth trajectories were modeled. Results: There were significant differential group changes across time for negative affect during feeding (group*month; p = 0.02) in that those parents in the music group significantly decreased their negative affect score compared with the control group from baseline to month 12 (music change = -0.279 ± 0.129; control change = +0.254 ± 0.131.; p = 0.00). Additionally, we also observed significant differential group changes across time for parent intrusiveness during feeding (group*month; p = 0.04) in that those parents in the music group significantly decreased their intrusiveness score compared with the control group from month 6 to month 12 (music change = -0.209 ± 0.121; control change = 0.326 ± 0.141; p = 0.01). We did not find a significant association between any of the changes in parental negative affect and intrusiveness with child zWFL trajectories. Conclusion: Participating in a music enrichment program from an early age may promote positive parent-child interactions during feeding, although this improvement in the quality of parent-child interactions during feeding was not associated with weight gain trajectories.

"You do need to do the interaction": Mothers' perceptions of responsive parenting following a home-based parenting intervention

Article

Mar 2023
INFANT MENT HEALTH J

Responsive parenting (also known as responsivity) is a dynamic and bidirectional exchange between the parent-child dyad and associated with a child's social and cognitive development. Optimal interactions require a sensitivity and understanding of a child's cues, responsiveness to the child's need, and a modification of the parent's behavior to meet this need. This qualitative study explored the impact of a home visiting program on mothers' perceptions of their responsivity to their children. This study is part of a larger body of research known as right@home, an Australian nurse home visiting program promoting children's learning and development. Preventative programs such as right@home prioritize population groups experiencing socioeconomic and psychosocial adversity. They provide opportunities to promote children's development through the enhancement of parenting skills and an increase in responsive parenting. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 mothers, providing insight into their perceptions of responsive parenting. Four themes were extracted from the data using inductive thematic analysis. These indicated that: (1) mothers' perceived preparation for parenting, (2) recognition of mother and child needs, (3) response to mother and child needs, and (4) motivation to parent with responsiveness, were considered important. This research highlights the importance of interventions that focus on the parent-child relationship in increasing mother's parenting capabilities and promoting responsive parenting.

Variations in early life home environment quality and children's achievement

Article

Mar 2023
J APPL DEV PSYCHOL

Prenatal substance exposure, early‐life adversity, and parenting: Associations with adolescent stress response

Article

Mar 2023

We tested a conceptual model examining associations between prenatal substance exposure and adolescent cortisol reactivity profiles in response to an acute social evaluative stressor. We included cortisol reactivity in infancy, and direct and interactive effects of early‐life adversity and parenting behaviors (sensitivity, harshness) from infancy to early school age on adolescent cortisol reactivity profiles in model testing. Participants were 216 families (51% female children; 116 cocaine‐exposed) recruited at birth, oversampled for prenatal substance exposure, and assessed from infancy to early adolescence (EA). Majority of participants self‐identified as Black (72% mothers, 57.2% adolescents), and caregivers were primarily from low‐income families (76%), were single (86%), and had high school or below education (70%) at recruitment. Latent profile analyses identified three cortisol reactivity patterns including elevated (20.4%), moderate (63.1%), and blunted (16.5%) reactivity groups. Prenatal tobacco exposure was associated with higher likelihood of membership in the elevated reactivity compared to the moderate reactivity group. Higher caregiver sensitivity in early life was associated with lower likelihood of membership in the elevated reactivity group. Prenatal cocaine exposure was associated with higher maternal harshness. Interaction effects among early‐life adversity and parenting indicated that caregiver sensitivity buffered, and harshness exacerbated, the likelihood that high early adversity would be associated with the elevated and blunted reactivity groups. Results highlight the potential importance of prenatal alcohol and tobacco exposure for cortisol reactivity and the role of parenting as exacerbating or buffering the impact of early‐life adversity on adolescent stress response.

Responding to distressed infants: Does mothers' positive versus negative affect matter for infants' behavior and physiology?

Article

Dec 2022

How mothers respond to infants' distress has implications for infants' development of self-regulation and social competence. In a sample of 35 mothers and their 4- to 8-month-old infants, we induced infant distress using an arm restraint task and compared infants' observed affect and physiological responses under two conditions, when mothers were instructed to respond with: 1) positive affect and 2) negative affect. Based on theoretical and empirical support, we empirically evaluated two opposing hypotheses. Based on the Mutual Regulation Model and work on affect matching, we predicted that when mothers respond with negative affect versus positive affect, distressed infants' duration of negative affect would be smaller, negative affect would be less intense, and respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA) withdrawal would be lower. Based on social referencing theory and research, we expected that when mothers respond with positive affect versus negative affect, distressed infants' duration of negative affect would be smaller, negative affect would be less intense, and RSA withdrawal would be lower. We found that when mothers responded to their distressed infants with negative affect versus positive affect, infants spent significantly more time in negative affect, their intensity of expressed negative affect was greater, and their RSA withdrawal was greater, suggesting that mothers' display of mild positive affect when infants are distressed may be helpful for infants. The current findings add to accumulating evidence that mothers' positive relative to negative affective response to their infants' distress can produce observable differences in infants' duration and intensity of negative affect, as well as their physiology. Findings have the potential to inform future research that investigates how mothers can most effectively reduce their infants' distress and intervention that targets the moment-to-moment behaviors in mother-infant reciprocal interactions.

Part I - Foundations of Parenting

Article

Dec 2022

Parenting is a critical influence on the development of children across the globe. This handbook brings together scholars with expertise on parenting science and interventions for a comprehensive review of current research. It begins with foundational theories and research topics, followed by sections on parenting children at different ages, factors that affect parenting such as parental mental health or socioeconomic status, and parenting children with different characteristics such as depressed and anxious children or youth who identify as LGBTQ. It concludes with a section on policy implications, as well as prevention and intervention programs that target parenting as a mechanism of change. Global perspectives and the cultural diversity of families are highlighted throughout. Offering in-depth analysis of key topics such as risky adolescent behavior, immigration policy, father engagement, family involvement in education, and balancing childcare and work, this is a vital resource for understanding the most effective policies to support parents in raising healthy children.

9 - Parenting during Infancy and Early Childhood

Article

Dec 2022

In this chapter we focus specifically on parenting from birth to age 5, a period marked by rapid development for the child and widely believed to set the foundation and quality of the emerging parent-child relationship. We begin with an overview of key developmental milestones, stages and transitions that influence the emergence and evolution of parenting over the period from birth to age 5. Then we review relations between five dimensions of parenting (sensitivity and parent child attachment, socialization, cognitive stimulation, discipline, and maltreatment) and relevant child outcomes, attending to child characteristics that moderate these associations. Next, we described parental characteristics and experiences that predict parenting behavior and child outcomes. These include: normative parental beliefs and emotions; acculturation processes and discrimination; childhood experiences; adult stress and trauma; and psychopathology. Throughout our review, we attend to the roles of race, ethnicity, and culture. This is followed by consideration of the value of this work for policy, prevention, and intervention efforts. In the summary, we draw attention to recent advances in this line of inquiry along with remaining limitations. We conclude by emphasizing our primary thesis: parenting in infancy and early childhood is a key factor that can enhance or undermine children’s concurrent and long-term wellbeing and achievement depending on the quality and context in which it occurs.

2 - Parenting, Challenges, Brain Development, and Attachment Strategies

Article

Dec 2022

Human infants are born needing their caregivers’ support to accomplish challenges related to both security and exploration. Accordingly, the quality of care infants receive influences their ability to appraise the degree of threat inherent to any challenge, signal needs for assistance, and regulate their responses. In this manner, parenting affects whether young children manage challenges with behavior or physiological responses. The extent to which stress physiology is repeatedly invoked in response to challenges, alongside variation in neural growth accompanying children’s exploratory behavior, in turn affects neurodevelopment and ultimately functioning with age. We discuss the processes through which this occurs, the potential impact on attachment schemas, and implications for intervention programs designed at improving parenting and well-being.

Part II - Parenting across Development: Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Influences

Article

Dec 2022

Developmental pathways from prenatal substance exposure to reactive aggression

Article

Nov 2022
J APPL DEV PSYCHOL

Few studies have examined etiological pathways from prenatal substance exposure to adolescent reactive aggression. We tested a conceptual model that included hypothesized pathways from prenatal substance exposure to adolescent aggression via autonomic reactivity and violence exposure from infancy to early school age and maternal harshness across early childhood. The sample included 216 families (106 boys) who primarily self-identified as Black or Mixed Race. Results supported the hypothesized path from violence exposure across early childhood and early school age to school age autonomic reactivity and early adolescent reactive aggression. There was also a significant interaction effect of sympathetic and parasympathetic reactivity on adolescent reactive aggression, with sympathetic arousal and parasympathetic suppression at early school age associated with higher reactive relational and physical aggression in adolescence. Results emphasize the importance of early experiences and autonomic nervous system changes in contributing to the cascade of risk for reactive aggression in early adolescence.

Effect of the INSIGHT Responsive Parenting Intervention on Parenting and Child Behavior at Ages 3 and 6 Years

Article

Oct 2022
J Pediatr

Objectives To examine effects of the INSIGHT studyresponsive parenting (RP) intervention on reported and observed general parenting and child behavior during early and middle childhood. Study design Primiparous mother-newborn dyads (n=279) were randomized to RP intervention or a safety control, with intervention content delivered at research nurse home visits at infant ages 3-4, 16, 28, and 40 weeks and research center visits at 1 and 2 years. At age 3 (n=220) and 6 years (n=171) parenting and child behavior were observed during dyadic interactions and coded using the Iowa Family Interaction Rating Scales. Mothers also reported on child behavior (age 3) and aspects of general parenting (age 6) via the Child Behavior Checklist and The Comprehensive General Parenting Questionnaire, respectively. Results RP group children had fewer mother-reported externalizing (F=8.69, p=.004) and problem behaviors at age 3 (F=4.53, p=.03), and higher observed prosocial (F=4.73, p=.03) and lower antisocial (i.e., externalizing; F=4.79, p=.03) behavior at age 6 versus controls. There were no study group differences in observed maternal sensitivity at age 3 or 6 years. At age 6, RP group mothers reported higher use of structure defined by establishing consistent rules and routines (F=5.45, p=.02) and organization of their child’s environment (F=7.12, p=.008) compared with controls. Conclusions INSIGHTRP intervention increased parental organization of the child’s environment to facilitate competence, and had beneficial impacts on child behavior at 3 and 6 years. No impacts were found on maternal sensitivity in childhood.

Trajectory of quality of mother‐child interactions: Prospective links with child socioemotional functioning

Article

Oct 2022

Research shows that the quality of mother‐child interactions is a robust antecedent of child socioemotional functioning. Yet, relatively little is known about the evolution of this relational quality over time, and even less about how changes in relational quality may bear on child adjustment. This study aimed to describe the trajectory of quality of mother‐child interactions between ages 2 and 7 and to investigate associations between individual differences in this trajectory and child socioemotional functioning at age 8. In a sample of 233 mother‐child dyads primarily comprised of White French‐Canadian mothers, the quality of interactions was assessed during 10‐min play sequences when children were aged 2, 4, and 7 years. Child internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors were reported by a subsample of 171 teachers at age 8. The results showed that on average, quality of mother‐child interactions decreased over time. In terms of individual differences, children who experienced a slower decrease in the quality of interactions with their mother from 2 to 7 years showed less internalizing behavior at age 8, over and above initial quality at 2 years. Children involved in higher quality interactions with their mother at 2 years showed more prosocial and less externalizing behavior at age 8, independent of the subsequent decrease in the quality of those interactions. The findings suggest that initial levels and subsequent changes in the quality of mother‐child interactions are two distinct indicators of their relationship with potentially different implications for child adjustment.

Alan Sroufe, Byron Egeland, and the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation

Chapter

Full-text available

Aug 2020

Robbie Duschinsky

Cornerstones of Attachment Research re-examines the work of key laboratories that have contributed to the study of attachment. In doing so, the book traces the development in a single scientific paradigm through parallel but separate lines of inquiry. Chapters address the work of Bowlby, Ainsworth, Main and Hesse, Sroufe and Egeland, and Shaver and Mikulincer. Cornerstones of Attachment Research utilises attention to these five research groups as a lens on wider themes and challenges faced by attachment research over the decades. The chapters draw on a complete analysis of published scholarly and popular works by each research group, as well as much unpublished material.

Introduction to Early Childhood Development and Research in Singapore

Chapter

Jan 2022

Education and well-being care are important throughout life, but especially so during early childhood, a time characterized by profound neural change. Importantly, early life experiences and neurodevelopment, in turn, lay the foundation for the subsequent ways in which neurodevelopment unfolds. As neurodevelopment is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, it is not surprising that the quality of early childhood experiences has been found to have short- and long-term impacts upon individuals and society. For example, early environments characterized by relative responsiveness from caregivers (Fraley et al., 2013; Raby et al., 2015) may lead to academic and/or social competence even into adulthood. On the other hand, early childhood experiences with poverty and/or low socioeconomic status, exposure to parental mental health difficulties, forms of insecure attachment, and abuse or trauma have been linked to outcomes such as lower levels of school readiness, attentional problems, and/or difficulties in socioemotional development (e.g., Psychogiou et al., 2020; Fearon & Belsky, 2004; Dearing et al., 2001; Enlow et al., 2012).

Risky Families: Family Social Environments and the Mental and Physical Health of Offspring

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2002

Risky families are characterized by conflict and aggression and by relationships that are cold, unsupportive, and neglectful. These family characteristics create vulnerabilities and/or interact with genetically based vulnerabilities in offspring that produce disruptions in psychosocial functioning (specifically emotion processing and social competence), disruptions in stress-responsive biological regulatory systems, including sympathetic-adrenomedullary and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical functioning, and poor health behaviors, especially substance abuse. This integrated biobehavioral profile leads to consequent accumulating risk for mental health disorders, major chronic diseases, and early mortality. We conclude that childhood family environments represent vital links for understanding mental and physical health across the life span.

The Legacy of Early Experiences in Development: Formalizing Alternative Models of How Early Experiences Are Carried Forward Over Time

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2012

Psychologists have long debated the role of early experience in social and cognitive development. However, traditional approaches to studying this issue are not well positioned to address this debate. The authors present simulations that indicate that the associations between early experiences and later outcomes should approach different asymptotic values across time, given alternative assumptions about the developmental significance of early experience. To test the predictions of alternative developmental models, the authors examine data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) on maternal sensitivity in the first 3 years of life and its association with social competence and academic skills through age 15. Across multimethod, multi-informant outcome data, results suggest that there may be enduring effects of early caregiving experiences in both of these domains.

The treasure in leisure activities: Fostering resilience in young people who are blind

Article

Full-text available

May 2000

Jeffrey Jensen Arnett

Emerging adulthood is proposed as a new conception of development for the period from the late teens through the twenties, with a focus on ages 18–25. A theoretical background is presented. Then evidence is provided to support the idea that emerging adulthood is a distinct period demographically, subjectively, and in terms of identity explorations. How emerging adulthood differs from adolescence and young adulthood is explained. Finally, a cultural context for the idea of emerging adulthood is outlined, and it is specified that emerging adulthood exists only in cultures that allow young people a prolonged period of independent role exploration during the late teens and twenties.

Continuity of Adaptation in the Second Year: The Relationship between Quality of Attachment and Later Competence

Article

Full-text available

Sep 1978

A perspective on continuity in development and adaptation was proposed and examined in light of data from the second year of life. Within this perspective it is assumed that despite discontinuous advances in developmental level and despite dramatic changes in the behavioral repertoire, there is continuity in the quality of individual adaptation. Such quality is assessed by examining the child's functioning with respect to issues salient for the particular developmental period. In this study the link between quality of attachment in infancy (the organization of attachment behavior) and quality of play and problem-solving behavior at age 2 years was examined in 48 infants. Based on completely independent assessments, infants assessed as securely attached at 18 months were predicted and found to be more enthusiastic, persistent, cooperative, and, in general, more effective than insecurely attached infants in the 2-year assessment. All measures were in the predicted direction; in some cases there was virtually no overlap between groups. The differences apparently were not due to development quotient (DQ) or temperament. The earlier infant behavior also predicted mother's behavior in the 2-year assessment. Implications for developmental theory and research are discussed.

Early Roots of Adult Competence: The Significance of Close Relationships from Infancy to Early Adulthood

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2011

Social capital has traditionally been defined in terms of the amount of resources that one derives as a result of a diversity of interpersonal relationships. However, the quality of these relationships across development has not been examined as a contributor to social capital and few studies have examined the significance of various age-salient relationships in predicting adaptive functioning, especially testing for cumulative effects over time. Using data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation, developmental models spanning from infancy to adulthood were tested via path modeling, linking quality of various age-salient relationships (e.g. infant-caregiver attachment, peer competence, friendship security, and effectiveness in romantic relationships) to global adaptive functioning at age 28. As hypothesized, quality of age-salient relationships during different developmental periods predicted the quality of subsequent relationships, but also showed links with adaptive functioning in early adulthood. Results also showed that the quality of infant attachment relationships not only was linked with more proximal relationships, but also had direct effects on global functioning, suggesting the potential significance of early relationship quality in adaption and well-being in adulthood.

Altering Fate: Why the Past Does Not Predict the Future

Article

Full-text available

Apr 1998
PSYCHOL INQ

Michael Lewis

Chance and Necessity .Three Fixed Ideas.Traditional Models of Change. Development in Context. Progress and the Metaphor of Development. Behavior Serves Many Masters. Newton, Einstein, Piaget, and the Self. Consciousness and Being. Adaptation and the Nature of Social Life. Time, Sudden Change, and Catastrophe. Cure or Care.

The coherence of individual development: Early care, attachment, and subsequent developmental issues

Article

Full-text available

Oct 1979

L. Alan Sroufe

Early development may be described in terms of a series of salient issues (regulating arousal, establishing an effective attachment relationship, moving toward autonomous functioning, establishing peer relations). The quality of individuals' functioning with respect to these issues may be assessed reliably. Such qualitative assessments yield strong predictions of later behavior. Children functioning well during the infancy period are more competent as toddlers and preschoolers, and there is a logic and coherence to the continuing pattern of adaptation shown by individuals. In various ways such continuity has been shown to be independent of IQ or temperament variation. Such continuity once again makes clear the importance of early experience and the need to examine public policy in light of this knowledge. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Interrater Reliability and Agreement of Subjective Judgement

Article

Full-text available

Jul 1975

Indexes of interrater reliability and agreement are reviewed, and suggestions are made regarding their use in counseling psychology research. The distinction between agreement and reliability is clarified, and the relationships between these indexes and the level of measurement and type of replication are discussed. Indexes of interrater reliability appropriate for use with ordinal and interval scales are considered. The intraclass correlation as a measure of interrater reliability is discussed in terms of the treatment of between-raters variance and the appropriateness of reliability estimates based on composite or individual ratings. The advisability of optimal weighting schemes for calculating composite ratings is also considered. Measures of interrater agreement for ordinal and interval scales are described, as are measures of interrater agreement for data at the nominal level of measurement. (54 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The predictive significance of early caregiving experiences for symptoms of psychopathology through midadolescence: Enduring or transient effects?

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2012
DEV PSYCHOPATHOL

A fundamental question in the discipline of developmental psychopathology is whether early interpersonal experiences influence maladaptation in enduring or transient ways. We address this issue by applying a structural modeling approach developed by us to examine data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development on maternal sensitivity in the first 3 years of life and its association with symptoms of psychopathology through age 15. Results suggest that there may be enduring effects of early caregiving experiences on symptomatology as rated by teachers, although such effects were not found for maternal report. Additional analyses indicated that enduring associations found via teacher report could not be fully accounted for by continuity in caregiving experiences or by early contextual adversity.

The Fate of Early Experience Following Developmental Change: Longitudinal Approaches to Individual Adaptation in Childhood

Article

Full-text available

Oct 1990
CHILD DEV

2 strategies were used to investigate the continued impact of early experience and adaptation given subsequent experience and/or developmental change in a poverty sample (N = 190). Groups were defined whose adaptation was similar during the preschool years but consistently different earlier; then these 2 groups were compared in elementary school. In addition, a series of regression analyses was performed in which variance accounted for by near-in or contemporary predictors of adaptation in middle childhood was removed before adding earlier adaptation in subsequent steps. Children showing positive adaptation in the infant/toddler period showed greater rebound in the elementary school years, despite poor functioning in the preschool period. Regression analyses revealed some incremental power of early predictors with intermediate predictors removed. The results were interpreted as supporting Bowlby's thesis that adaptation is always a product of both developmental history and current circumstances. While this research cannot resolve such a complicated issue, it does point to the need for complex formulations to guide research on individual development.

Distinguishing differential susceptibility from diathesis-stress: Recommendations for evaluating interaction effects

Article

Full-text available

May 2012
DEV PSYCHOPATHOL

This report describes the state of the art in distinguishing data generated by differential susceptibility from diathesis-stress models. We discuss several limitations of existing practices for probing interaction effects and offer solutions that are designed to better differentiate differential susceptibility from diathesis-stress models and quantify their corresponding implications. In addition, we demonstrate the utility of these methods by revisiting published evidence suggesting that temperamental difficulty serves as a marker of enhanced susceptibility to early maternal caregiving across a range of outcome domains in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. We find that, with the exception of mother reports of psychopathology, there is consistent evidence in the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development that the predictive significance of early sensitivity is moderated by difficult temperament over time. However, differential susceptibility effects emerged primarily for teacher reports of academic skills, social competence, and symptomatology. In contrast, effects more consistent with the diathesis-stress model were obtained for mother reports of social skills and objective tests of academic skills. We conclude by discussing the value of the application of this work to the next wave of Gene × Environment studies focused on early caregiving experiences.

A Prospective Longitudinal Study of High School Dropouts Examining Multiple Predictors Across Development

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2000
J SCHOOL PSYCHOL

Prior studies report a variety of demographic, school, individual, and family characteristics that are related to high school drop out. This study utilizes data from a 19-year prospective longitudinal study of “at-risk” children to explore multiple predictors of high school dropouts across development. The proposed model of dropping out emphasizes the importance of the early home environment and the quality of early caregiving influencing subsequent development. The results of this study demonstrate the association of the early home environment, the quality of early caregiving, socioeconomic status, IQ, behavior problems, academic achievement, peer relations, and parent involvement with dropping out of high school at age 19. These results are consistent with the view of dropping out as a dynamic developmental process that begins before children enter elementary school. Psychosocial variables prior to school entry predicted dropping out with power equal to later IQ and school achievement test scores. In our efforts to better understand processes influencing dropping out prior to high school graduation, early developmental features warrant further emphasis.

Social Competence as a Developmental Construct

Article

Full-text available

Mar 1983

The concept of social competence presents problems for conceptualization and assessment. At times researchers have tried to circumvent these problems by defining competence in terms of specific capacities or skills, with the consequence that the integrative potential of the concept is lost. On the other hand, more molar definitions (e.g., “effectiveness”), while being true to the integrative nature of the construct, provide little guidance for assessment. In this paper a developmental perspective on competence is presented which is congruent with a molar definition of competence while still guiding assessment efforts. In addition to this developmental viewpoint, certain practical guidelines are presented for assessment of competence across ages. These include the use of broadband assessments, which are tied to real-life adaptational problems, call for the coordination of affect, cognition, and behavior, and tax the integrative capacities of the child. Initial validation of the developmental competence construct and this approach to assessment is presented.

Intelligence New Findings and Theoretical Developments

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2012

We review new findings and new theoretical developments in the field of intelligence. New findings include the following: (a) Heritability of IQ varies significantly by social class. (b) Almost no genetic polymorphisms have been discovered that are consistently associated with variation in IQ in the normal range. (c) Much has been learned about the biological underpinnings of intelligence. (d) "Crystallized" and "fluid" IQ are quite different aspects of intelligence at both the behavioral and biological levels. (e) The importance of the environment for IQ is established by the 12-point to 18-point increase in IQ when children are adopted from working-class to middle-class homes. (f) Even when improvements in IQ produced by the most effective early childhood interventions fail to persist, there can be very marked effects on academic achievement and life outcomes. (g) In most developed countries studied, gains on IQ tests have continued, and they are beginning in the developing world. (h) Sex differences in aspects of intelligence are due partly to identifiable biological factors and partly to socialization factors. (i) The IQ gap between Blacks and Whites has been reduced by 0.33 SD in recent years. We report theorizing concerning (a) the relationship between working memory and intelligence, (b) the apparent contradiction between strong heritability effects on IQ and strong secular effects on IQ, (c) whether a general intelligence factor could arise from initially largely independent cognitive skills, (d) the relation between self-regulation and cognitive skills, and (e) the effects of stress on intelligence.

Beyond Diathesis Stress: Differential Susceptibility to Environmental Influences

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2009

Evolutionary-biological reasoning suggests that individuals should be differentially susceptible to environmental influences, with some people being not just more vulnerable than others to the negative effects of adversity, as the prevailing diathesis-stress view of psychopathology (and of many environmental influences) maintains, but also disproportionately susceptible to the beneficial effects of supportive and enriching experiences (or just the absence of adversity). Evidence consistent with the proposition that individuals differ in plasticity is reviewed. The authors document multiple instances in which (a) phenotypic temperamental characteristics, (b) endophenotypic attributes, and (c) specific genes function less like "vulnerability factors" and more like "plasticity factors," thereby rendering some individuals more malleable or susceptible than others to both negative and positive environmental influences. Discussion focuses upon limits of the evidence, statistical criteria for distinguishing differential susceptibility from diathesis stress, potential mechanisms of influence, and unknowns in the differential-susceptibility equation.

Security of infantile attachment as assessed in the “strange situation”: Its study and biological interpretation

Article

Full-text available

Mar 1984
BEHAV BRAIN SCI

The Strange Situation procedure was developed by Ainsworth two decades agoas a means of assessing the security of infant-parent attachment. Users of the procedureclaim that it provides a way of determining whether the infant has developed species-appropriate adaptive behavior as a result of rearing in an evolutionary appropriate context, characterized by a sensitively responsive parent. Only when the parent behaves in the sensitive, species-appropriate fashion is the baby said to behave in the adaptive or secure fashion. Furthermore, when infants are observed repeatedly in the Strange Situation,the pattern of behavior is said to be highly similar, and this pattern is said to predict the infants' future behavior in a diverse array of contexts. After an exhaustive review of the literature, it is shown that these popular claims are empirically unsupported in their strong form, and that the interpretations in terms of biological adaptationare misguided. There is little reliable evidence about the specific dimensions of parental behavior that affect Strange Situation behavior, although there does appear to be some relationship between these constructs. Temporal stability in security of attachment ishigh only when there is stability in family and caretaking circumstances. Likewise, patterns of Strange Situation behavior only have substantial predictive validity in similarly stable families. Implications for future research and theorizing — particularly as they relate to the use of evolutionary biology in psychological theory — are discussed.

Continuity and Discontinuity in Maternal Sensitivity at 6, 24, and 42 Months in a High-Risk Sample

Article

Full-text available

May 1989

Continuity and discontinuity in maternal sensitivity from 6 and 24 months to 42 months were examined in a sample of 135 disadvantaged mothers and their firstborn children. Sensitivity at 6 and 24 months accounted for 18% of the variance in 42-month maternal sensitivity for boys, 14% for girls. Discontinuity was examined using residual scores. Less maternal sensitivity than predicted was related to stressful environmental and child characteristics for both boys and girls, while greater sensitivity than predicted was related to mothers' experiences of emotional support, girls' positive individual characteristics, and boys who were seen as unengaged.

The Relationship between Quality of Attachment and Behavior Problems in Preschool in a High-Risk Sample

Article

Full-text available

Feb 1985

Emerging Adulthood: A Theory of Development From the Late Teens Through the Twenties

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2000

Jeffrey Jensen Arnett

Emerging adulthood is proposed as a new conception of development for the period from the late teens through the twenties, with a focus on ages 18-25. A theoretical background is presented. Then evidence is provided to support the idea that emerging adulthood is a distinct period demographically, subjectively, and in terms of identity explorations. How emerging adulthood differs from adolescence and young adulthood is explained. Finally, a cultural context for the idea of emerging adulthood is outlined, and it is specified that emerging adulthood exists only in cultures that allow young people a prolonged period of independent role exploration during the late teens and twenties.

Risky Families: Family Social Environments and the Mental and Physical Health of Offspring

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2002

Risky families are characterized by conflict and aggression and by relationships that are cold, unsupportive, and neglectful. These family characteristics create vulnerabilities and/or interact with genetically based vulnerabilities in offspring that produce disruptions in psychosocial functioning (specifically emotion processing and social competence), disruptions in stress-responsive biological regulatory systems, including sympathetic-adrenomedullary and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical functioning, and poor health behaviors, especially substance abuse. This integrated biobehavioral profile leads to consequent accumulating risk for mental health disorders, major chronic diseases, and early mortality. We conclude that childhood family environments represent vital links for understanding mental and physical health across the life span.

Infant-mother attachment security, contextual risk, and early development: A moderational analysis

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2002

In light of evidence that the effects of attachment security on subsequent development may be contingent on the social context in which the child continues to develop, we examined the effect of attachment security at age 15 months, cumulative contextual risk from 1 to 36 months, and the interaction of attachment and cumulative risk to predict socioemotional and cognitive linguistic functioning at age 3 years, using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care. Results indicated that early attachment predicts both socioemotional development and language skills, but not cognitive functioning as indexed by a measure of school readiness, and that the effect of attachment on socioemotional development and expressive language varied as a function of social-contextual risk. Insecure-avoidant infants proved most vulnerable to contextual risk, not children classified as secure or insecure more generally, although in one instance security did prove protective with respect to the adverse effects of cumulative contextual risk. Findings are discussed in terms of risk and resilience and in light of the probabilistic nature of the relation between early attachment and later development.

Maternal Sensitivity, Infant Attachment, and Temperament in Early Childhood Predict Adjustment in Middle Childhood: The Case of Adopted Children and Their Biologically Unrelated Parents

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2002

In a longitudinal study, internationally adopted children (N = 146) placed before 6 months of age were followed from infancy to age 7. Results showed that girls were better adjusted than boys, except in cognitive development, and that easy temperament was associated with higher levels of social, cognitive, and personality development and fewer behavior problems. Higher quality of child-mother relationships, in terms of attachment security and maternal sensitivity, uniquely predicted better social and cognitive development. The combination of attachment disorganization and difficult temperament predicted less optimal ego-control and lower levels of cognitive development. It is concluded that even in adopted children, who are not biologically related to their adoptive parents, early mother-infant interactions and attachment relationships predict later socioemotional and cognitive development, beyond infant temperament and gender.

Research strategies for capturing transactional models of development: The limits of the possible

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2003

Transactional models have informed research design and interpretation in studies relevant to developmental psychopathology. Bidirectional effects between individuals and social contexts have been found in many behavioral and cognitive domains. This review will highlight representative studies where the transactional model has been explicitly 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 a bidirectional system in efforts to improve developmental outcomes. Problems remain in the need to theoretically specify structural models and to combine analyses of transactions in the parent-child relationship with transactions in the broader social contexts. Longitudinal studies with sufficient time points to assess reciprocal processes continue to be important. Such longitudinal investigations will permit identifying developmental periods where the child or the context may be most influential or most open to change.

Resources and resilience in the transition to adulthood: Continuity and change

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2004

Patterns of continuity and change in competence and resilience over the transition to adulthood were examined in relation to adversity and psychosocial resources, with a focus on adaptive resources that may be particularly important for this transition. Variable-focused and person-focused analyses drew on data from the Project Competence longitudinal study of a school cohort followed over 20 years from childhood through emerging adulthood (EA) into the young adulthood (YA) years with excellent retention (90%). Success in age-salient and emerging developmental tasks from EA to YA was examined in a sample of 173 of the original participants with complete data on adversity, competence, and key resources. Regressions and extreme-group analyses indicated striking continuity in competence and resilience, yet also predictable change. Success in developmental tasks in EA and YA was related to core resources originating in childhood (IQ, parenting quality, socioeconomic status) and also to a set of EA adaptive resources that included planfulness/future motivation, autonomy, adult support, and coping skills. EA adaptive resources had unique predictive significance for successful transitions to adulthood, both overall and for the small group of individuals whose pattern of adaptation changed dramatically from maladaptive to resilient over the transition. Results are discussed in relation to the possibility that the transition to adulthood is a window of opportunity for changing the life course.

Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes

Book

Jan 1978

Lev S Vygotsky

One social world: The integrated development of parent-child and peer relationships

Article

Jan 1999

Maternal sensitivity, infant attachment, and temperament in early childhood predict adjustment in middle childhood: The case of adopted children and their biologically unrelated parents

Article

Sep 2002

Early experience and the life path

Article

Sep 1998
PSYCHOLOGIST

A. Clarke

The Family Life Project: An epidemiological and developmental study of young children living in poor rural communities

Article

Oct 2013
MONOGR SOC RES CHILD

About 20% of children in the United States have been reported to live in rural communities, with child poverty rates higher and geographic isolation from resources greater than in urban communities. There have been surprisingly few studies of children living in rural communities, especially poor rural communities. The Family Life Project helped fill this gap by using an epidemiological design to recruit and study a representative sample of every baby born to a mother who resided in one of six poor rural counties over a 1-year period, oversampling for poverty and African American. 1,292 children were followed from birth to 36 months of age. This monograph described these children and used a cumulative risk model to examine the relation between social risk and children's executive functioning, language development, and behavioral competence at 36 months. Using both the Family Process Model of development and the Family Investment Model of development, observed parenting was examined over time in relation to child functioning at 36 months. Different aspects of observed parenting were examined as mediators/moderators of risk in predicting child outcomes. Results suggested that cumulative risk was important in predicting all three major domains of child outcomes and that positive and negative parenting and maternal language complexity were mediators of these relations. Maternal positive parenting was found to be a buffer for the most risky families in predicting behavioral competence. In a final model using both family process and investment measures, there was evidence of mediation but with little evidence of the specificity of parenting for particular outcomes. Discussion focused on the importance of cumulative risk and parenting in understanding child competence in rural poverty and the implications for possible intervention strategies that might be effective in maximizing the early development of these children.

Identity, Youth, and Crisis

Book

Jan 1968

Erik Homburger Erikson

Statistical Analysis With Missing Data

Article

Aug 1989

Developmental Mechanisms Underlying the Legacy of Childhood Experiences

Article

Sep 2013

Developmental scientists tend to address questions about mechanism in ways that, ironically, are not especially developmental. More specifically, although we now have a great deal of data that suggest that childhood experiences have implications for human development, we know little about the time course of such effects or the dynamic mechanisms that might sustain them. Why? Because longitudinal data are rarely analyzed in a manner that can probe the developmental mechanisms by which earlier experiences are carried forward over time. In this article, we explore this paradox in detail, propose a solution, and review a set of published examples that implement the solution with a focus on the predictive significance of early maternal sensitivity. We conclude with suggestions for work in this area.

I. Poverty, rurality, parenting, and risk: An introduction

Article

Oct 2013
MONOGR SOC RES CHILD

Woodcock - Johnson Psycho - Educational Battery - Revised: Tests of Achievement

The Enduring Predictive Significance of Early Maternal Sensitivity: Social and Academic Competence Through Age 32 Years

Abstract

No full-text available