An Examination of the Relations Between Effortful Control in Early Childhood and Risk for Later Externalizing Psychopathology: A Bi-factor Structural Equation Modeling Approach.

Deficits in effortful control (EC) contribute to patterns of maladaptation across development; however, little is known about how specific subfactors of EC differentially predict children's externalizing psychopathology. Using a longitudinal sample of 206 children (47.8% female, 42.6% Caucasian), the current study employed a bi-factor structural equation modeling approach to examine the concurrent and longitudinal associations between EC and its subfactors (i.e., attentional focusing, low-intensity pleasure, perceptual sensitivity, inhibitory control) and conduct problems, attention deficit disordered behaviors (ADD), and callous-unemotional (CU) traits at 36 and 84 months, respectively. Results indicated that increased general EC at 36 months predicted reduced CU traits and ADD at 84 months. Attentional focusing was the only subfactor to uniquely predict later CU traits, suggesting that strong attentional abilities attenuate risk for CU trait development. The implications for research and practice are discussed.

Mother-infant emotional availability through the COVID-19 pandemic: Examining continuity, stability, and bidirectional associations.

The COVID-19 pandemic may impact the development of infants' social communication patterns with their caregivers. The current study examined continuity, stability, and bidirectional associations in maternal and infant dyadic Emotional Availability (EA) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 110 Israeli mother-infant dyads (51% girls) that were assessed prior to (Mage = 3.5 months) and during (Mage = 12.4 months) the pandemic. At both time points, mother-infant interactions were observed during play (nonstressful context) and tasks designed to elicit infant frustration (stressful context). Maternal and child EA were coded offline. Maternal EA demonstrated no significant mean-level changes from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas infant responsiveness and involvement increased over time. Stability and bidirectional associations in EA differed by context and were evident only in the stressful context. Mothers' perceived levels of social support further moderated these associations. Specifically, infants' pre-pandemic responsiveness and involvement predicted maternal EA during the pandemic only when mothers reported low levels of social support. Our findings suggest that maternal and child EA were not adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, patterns of EA demonstrated moderate-to-no stability over time, suggesting considerable individual differences in trajectories of EA.

Prenatal maternal sleep and trajectories of postpartum depression and anxiety symptoms.

Postpartum emotional distress is very common, with 10%-20% of postpartum women reporting depressive or anxiety disorders. Sleep is a modifiable risk factor for emotional distress that has a pivotal role in postpartum adjustment. The present study aimed to examine whether sleep duration and quality during pregnancy predict trajectories of emotional distress in the postpartum period. Participants were 215 women that were assessed from the third trimester of pregnancy to 18-months postpartum. At all five time points (third trimester, 3-, 6-, 12-, and 18-months postpartum), measures of sleep duration and quality (measured by wake time after sleep onset; WASO) were derived from both actiography and diary-based measures. Repeated measures of depression and anxiety symptoms were collected using self-report measures. Results indicated four bivariate postpartum depression and anxiety growth trajectories, including (a) high comorbidity (5.4%); (b) moderate comorbidity (19.4%); (c) low anxiety and decreasing depression symptomology (18.6%); and (d) low symptomology (56.6%). Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that mothers with shorter sleep durations during pregnancy were more likely to belong to the high comorbidity or moderate symptoms classes compared to the low symptomology class. In addition, mothers with higher WASO (i.e. lower sleep quality) at 3-months postpartum were more likely to belong to the moderate class compared to the low symptomology class. Given the potential negative implications of disrupted sleep in the perinatal period, the present study may inform future intervention studies that target sleep problems during pregnancy.

Longitudinal links between maternal factors and infant cognition: Moderation by infant sleep.

The current study examined the moderating role of infant sleep in the link between maternal factors (i.e., maternal education, depressive symptoms, sleep disturbance) and infant cognition. Data come from 95 African American parent-child dyads. At 3 months of age, infant sleep was objectively measured using videosomnography and actigraphy, from which measures of sleep regulation and consolidation were calculated. Mothers also self-reported their level of education, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality. At 6 months of age, infants completed cognitive assessments, including a measure of general cognitive ability and observed attention behavior. Findings revealed that infant sleep quality interacted with maternal education and sleep disturbances to predict cognition. Specifically, the link between maternal education and infants' attention behavior was significant and positive for infants with better regulated sleep, but not for infants with poorly regulated sleep. Similarly, the link between maternal sleep disturbance and infant cognition depended on infant sleep quality. For infants with poorer sleep consolidation, increased maternal sleep disturbance predicted poorer infant general cognitive ability. For infants with better sleep consolidation, maternal sleep disturbance was positively related to both general cognitive ability and attention behavior. These findings suggest that infant sleep quality moderates the impact of environmental factors on cognitive functioning.

Sociodemographic risk, parenting, and inhibitory control in early childhood: the role of respiratory sinus arrhythmia.

BACKGROUND: Deficits of inhibitory control in early childhood are linked to externalizing behaviors and attention problems. While environmental factors and physiological processes are associated with its etiology, few studies have examined how these factors jointly predict inhibitory control. This study examined whether respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) functioned as a mediator or moderator of both cumulative sociodemographic risk and parenting behaviors on inhibitory control during early childhood. METHODS: The sample included 206 children and their biological mothers. At 24, 30, and 36 months of child age dyads participated in a series of laboratory visits in which sociodemographic, parenting, and baseline RSA (RSAB) data were collected. Inhibitory control was assessed at 36 months using a gift-wrap delay task. RESULTS: A series of structural equation models yielded no evidence that RSAB mediated the relations of risk or parenting and inhibitory control. RSAB moderated the effects of risk, such that high-risk children with low RSAB performed more poorly on tasks of inhibitory control, while high-risk children with high RSAB did not. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that higher levels of RSAB may mitigate the influence of environmental risk on the development of inhibitory control early childhood.

Maternal Attributions of Infant Behavior and Parenting in Toddlerhood Predict Teacher-Rated Internalizing Problems in Childhood.

Social-information-processing theories of parenting posit that parents' beliefs and attributions about their children's behaviors contribute to how parents interact with their children. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between negative parenting attributions in infancy, harsh-intrusive parenting in toddlerhood, and children's internalizing problems (IPs) in early childhood. Using data from a diverse longitudinal study (n = 206), the current study used a structural equation modeling approach to test if mothers' negative attributions measured at 6 months predicted teacher ratings of children's IPs in 1st grade, as well as the extent to which observed harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors measured at ages 1, 2, and 3 years mediated this link. Maternal negative attributions in infancy predict more IPs in 1st grade, but this link becomes nonsignificant when observed harsh-intrusive parenting is included as a mediator. A significant indirect effect suggests that harsh-intrusive parenting mediates the association between early negative attributions and eventual IPs. Findings from this study identify harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors as one potential mechanism through which the effects of early attributions are carried forward to influence children's IPs. The developmental and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Children's Executive Function Attenuate the Link Between Maternal Intrusiveness and Internalizing Behaviors at School Entry.

The goal of this study was to examine the independent and interactive roles of harsh-intrusive maternal behaviors and children's executive function in the development of internalizing behaviors across the first years of school. A diverse sample (58% African American, 42% European American) of 137 children (48% female) was followed from kindergarten (age 5 years) through school entry (ages 6-7 years). At age 5, maternal harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors were rated from a mother-child structured play task, and children completed 3 executive function tasks that measured inhibitory control, working memory, and attention set-shifting. Teachers reported on children's internalizing behaviors at ages 5, 6, and 7. Harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors at age 5 years were positively related to internalizing behaviors in the first years of school, whereas high executive function abilities at age 5 years were related to lower internalizing behaviors in the first years of school. In addition, executive function buffered the association between parenting behaviors and internalizing behaviors such that the link between harsh-intrusive parenting and child internalizing behaviors was evident only among children with low executive function and not among children with high executive function. Interventions that focus on reducing negative parenting behaviors and improving children's executive function may prevent internalizing behaviors from increasing during times of social and academic challenge.

Infant respiratory sinus arrhythmia and maternal depressive symptoms predict toddler sleep problems.

This study examined the direct and interactive effects of infants' respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and maternal depressive symptoms (MDS) during the first 6 months of life in the prediction of children's sleep problems at age 18 months. Participants included 156 children and their mothers who were followed from 3 to 18 months of age. At ages 3 and 6 months, infants' cardiac activity was recorded at rest and during the still-face paradigm, a mother-child social challenge task, and estimates of infant baseline RSA (RSAB) and RSA withdrawal (RSAW) were calculated. Mothers reported about their depressive symptoms at 3, 6, and 18 months, and about infants' sleep problems at age 18 months. Less RSAW and higher levels of MDS predicted more sleep problems at age 18 months. Additionally, RSAB moderated the link between MDS and children's sleep problems such that MDS were related to more sleep problems only for infants with high levels of RSAB. Results illustrate the importance of RSA as both a direct predictor and a moderator of maternal influences in the prediction of early sleep problems.

The Interaction Between Child Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia and Early Sensitive Parenting in the Prediction of Children's Executive Functions.

This study investigated the interaction between children's parasympathetic functioning and maternal sensitive parenting behaviors during infancy and toddlerhood in the prediction of children's executive functions (EF) at the age of 5 years. Participants included 137 children and their mothers who were followed from the age of 3 months to 5 years. Children's cardiac activity was recorded at rest at multiple times from ages 3 to 36 months, and estimates of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; a measure of parasympathetic functioning) were calculated. Sensitive parenting was assessed during a mother-child play task at ages 6, 12, 24, and 36 months, and 5 years. Children completed age appropriate EF tasks at the age of 5 years. The link between sensitive parenting during toddlerhood (ages 24 and 36 months) and children's later EF was moderated by children's RSA such that this positive link was evident only among children who had low levels of baseline RSA, and not among those who had high levels of baseline RSA. These findings were obtained while controlling for concurrent sensitive parenting and maternal and child verbal abilities. Results from this study provide evidence for the significant role of biopsychosocial processes in early childhood in the development of EF.

The Caregiving Environment and Developmental Outcomes of Preterm Infants: Diathesis Stress or Differential Susceptibility Effects?

The interactions between premature birth and the caregiving environment on infants' cognitive and social functioning were examined. Participants were 150 infants (83 preterm, 67 full-term) and their parents. When infants were 6 months old, parents reported on their levels of emotional distress, and triadic family interactions were filmed and coded. At 12 months of age, the infants' cognitive and social functioning was assessed. Prematurity moderated the effects of maternal (but not paternal) emotional distress and triadic interactions on infants' cognitive and social outcomes. Whereas for cognitive functioning the interactions were consistent with a diathesis-stress approach, for social functioning the interactions were consistent with a differential susceptibility approach. The differential effects of the caregiving environment between groups and outcomes are discussed.

Israel-Arab Muslim children's socioemotional functioning at kindergarten and during the COVID-19 pandemic: Relations with cognitive and socioemotional abilities, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Self-regulation (SR; emotion-related, and behavioral), executive function, and theory of mind (ToM) all play an important role in child socioemotional functioning (SEF). However, much remains unknown about the interplay among these abilities when facing various challenging situations. Additionally, the role of these abilities in child SEF has not yet been studied among minority children from an Eastern culture. Thus, we conducted one study with two models to examine the combined contribution of these core abilities, concurrently, to children's SEF during the transition to kindergarten, and longitudinally (about 3 years later) to children's SEF during COVID-19. Overall, 202 kindergarten children (aged 4.9-6.5 years) participated, of which 136 of them in the longitudinal follow-up (aged 8.83-10.6 years). We used behavioral tasks and teacher and maternal reports. Mothers also reported their own distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the transition to kindergarten, we found that emotion-related SR was positively related to children's SEF. We also found that emotion-related SR moderated the relation between inhibition and ToM. In the follow-up study, we found that emotion-related SR in kindergarten significantly predicted children's SEF during the COVID-19 crisis, directly and indirectly, through children's SEF in kindergarten and their maternal COVID-related distress. Moreover, emotion-related SR moderated the longitudinal association between children's ToM at kindergarten age and their SEF during the COVID-19 crisis. Our findings highlight the central role that emotion-related SR plays in children's ability to face different challenges. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Maternal anxiety and toddler depressive/anxiety behaviors: The direct and moderating role of children's focused attention.

Attention mechanisms have a pertinent role in shaping developmental pathways to anxiety and depressive disorders. The current study examined the direct and interactive associations between maternal anxiety symptoms, children's focused attention, and children's anxiety and depression behaviors in early toddlerhood. Participants were 150 mother-child dyads (50 % female) that were assessed at two time points. At 12 months of child age, mothers reported about their anxiety symptoms and children's focused attention. Children's focused attention was also observed and rated from an individual play task. At 18 months of age, mothers reported about children's anxiety and depression behaviors. Focused attention predicted child anxiety and depressive behaviors, with different patterns of associations between observed and reported measures of attention. There was also a significant interaction between maternal anxiety symptoms and observed children's focused attention. A positive association between maternal anxiety symptoms and child anxiety and depression symptoms was evident only for children with above-average levels of observed focused attention during play. Results suggest that different aspects of focused attention play a role in maternal reported anxiety and depression behaviors in early development and may modulate the intergenerational transmission of anxiety.

Screen media exposure and behavioral adjustment in early childhood during and after COVID-19 home lockdown periods.

There is ample evidence that young children's screen media use has sharply increased since the outbreak of the novel 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However, the long-term impact of these changes on children's adjustment is currently unclear. The goals of the current study were to assess longitudinal trajectories of young children's screen media exposure through a series of national COVID-19 home lockdowns and to examine the predictive associations between different aspects of media exposure and post-lockdown behavioral adjustment. Data were collected at four timepoints during and after home lockdown periods in Israel. Longitudinal data measuring various aspects of media use, behavioral conduct and emotional problems were gathered from a sample of 313 Israeli children (54% females) between the ages two to five years (Mage at T1 = 3.6), by surveying their mothers at 5 points in time. Child overall screen time use, exposure to background television, use of media to regulate child distress and maternal mobile device use all changed throughout the lockdown periods. Moreover, during lockdowns children's behavior problems were concurrently and positively correlated with screen time, use of media to regulate child distress, and exposure to background television. However, these were not longitudinally related to child behavior problems in the post-lockdown period. Possible implications for family media use during a public health crisis are discussed.

Trajectories and Associations Between Maternal Depressive Symptoms, Household Chaos and Children's Adjustment through the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Four-Wave Longitudinal Study.

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health measures have adversely affected the lives of people worldwide, raising concern over the pandemic's mental health consequences. Guided by a systemic model of family functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic (Prime et al., 2020), the current study aimed to examine how caregiver well-being (i.e., maternal depressive symptoms) and family organization (i.e., household chaos) are related to longitudinal trajectories of children's emotional and behavioral problems. Data were collected at four time points during and after home lockdown periods. Mothers of children (N = 230; 55% male) between the ages of two to five years were asked to complete questionnaires via an Israeli online research platform. Results indicated that emotional and behavioral problems, household chaos, and maternal depressive symptoms were the highest during the first lockdown assessment and dropped in the post-lockdown periods. Multilevel models further revealed that at the between-participants level, maternal depressive symptoms and household chaos positively predicted children's emotional and behavioral problems. At the within-participants level, household chaos fluctuations positively predicted fluctuations in child behavioral but not emotional problems. Our findings suggest that lockdowns have adverse effects on both maternal and child mental health. Screening for depressive symptoms among mothers of young children and maintaining household structure are important targets for future interventions to assist parents in navigating the multiple challenges brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maternal mobile phone use during mother-child interactions interferes with the process of establishing joint attention.

Parental mobile device use while parenting has been associated with reduced parental responsiveness and increased negative affect among children. However, it remains unclear whether it can interfere with the process of acquiring social communication skills. Thus, this study sought to experimentally examine whether maternal mobile phone use while interacting with the child has an immediate effect on the frequency of mothers' and infants' joint attention (JA) behaviors, the likelihood that these behaviors will lead to JA episodes, and the duration of established JA episodes. Participants were a community sample of 114 (Mage = 11.36 months; 50% male) Israeli typically developing infants, in which most mothers were highly educated and living in two-parent families. Mother-infant dyads completed a modified still-face paradigm and were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions during the still-face phase: (a) mobile phone disruptions, (b) social disruptions, and (c) undisrupted play. Mother-infant interactions were coded for frequency of JA behaviors and duration of JA episodes. In dyads assigned to the mobile phone disruptions condition, infants produced more JA initiations, mothers were less likely to contingently respond to infant initiations, JA behaviors were less likely to result in established JA, and JA episodes were shorter compared to dyads in the two control conditions and the baseline free play phase. Findings suggest that maternal mobile phone use during face-to-face interactions with the infant can disrupt the process of establishing JA in ongoing mother-child interactions. Possible implications from this line of work for family digital media use are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Parenting and maternal reported child sleep problems in infancy predict school-age aggression and inattention.

OBJECTIVE: To examine caregiving predictors of maternal reported sleep problems and child behavioral and cognitive outcomes in early childhood. DESIGN: A prospective longitudinal study from 6 to 84 months of age. SETTING: Lab visits, assessments, and questionnaires conducted with a community-based sample. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred sixty-four African American and White children, their mothers, and teachers. MEASUREMENT: Parenting behavior was measured during a free-play task at 6 months of age, maternal-report of child sleep problems was completed at 6 timepoints, and teacher report of child aggression and attention was collected in kindergarten and second grade. RESULTS: Latent growth curve modeling revealed that maternal reported sleep problems decreased in children from 18 to 84 months and harsh-intrusive parenting at 6 months predicted sleep problems at 18 months. Maternal reported sleep problems at 18 months predicted aggressive behaviors in kindergarten and second grade. CONCLUSION: Parenting at 6 months of age exerts an influence on sleep quality at 18 months which is associated with aggressive behavior in early childhood.

Maternal worries about child underweight mediate and moderate the relationship between child feeding disorders and mother-child feeding interactions.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the role of maternal worries about child underweight and undereating in mother-child feeding interactions with children having a feeding disorder (FD). METHOD: Participants were 27 children diagnosed with nonorganic-based FD and 28 children without FD. Mothers were interviewed about their worries about child underweight and undereating. Mother-child interactions were videotaped during feeding. RESULTS: Maternal child weight-related worries acted as both a mediator and a moderator. The more negative mother-child interactions found in the FD group, compared to the control group, were explained by greater maternal worry regarding child underweight. Furthermore, mother-child interactions within the FD group were not at risk per se, but only when coupled with high maternal worries about children's underweight. CONCLUSION: Worry about child underweight partially explains the development of negative feeding interactions when having children with FD, signifying clinical implications for the treatment of FD.

Sleep Through Toddlerhood: The Distinct Roles of Overall Media Use and Use of Media to Regulate Child Distress.

OBJECTIVE: Excessive media exposure has been associated with various sleep disturbances in early childhood. However, previous research mostly addressed the overall amount of media use while neglecting the role of media use practices. The purpose of this study was to examine whether media use practices (specifically, maternal use of media to regulate child distress) and overall media use predict distinct aspects of children's sleep. We hypothesized that frequent maternal use of media to regulate child distress will predict difficulties in sleep regulation, whereas higher child screen time will predict lower sleep duration. METHODS: One-hundred fifty-one mothers (predominantly from the United Kingdom) completed anonymous online questionnaires via the Prolific platform that assessed child sleep latency and duration, use of media to regulate child distress, overall child screen time, and demographic covariates at 2 time points: 22 months (T1) and 26 months (T2) of children's age. RESULTS: Maternal use of media to regulate child distress at T1 (but not screen time) predicted longer sleep latency at T2. Conversely, screen time (but not media to regulate distress) at T1 predicted shorter sleep duration at T2. These results were obtained while controlling for multiple covariates and sleep and media use at both time points. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that media use practices and overall use have differential effects on sleep. Specifically, the use of media-based regulation strategies may interfere with the development of children's ability to self-soothe and regulate arousal in contexts that require the use of regulatory skills, such as transition to sleep.

Longitudinal Links Between Media Use and Focused Attention Through Toddlerhood: A Cumulative Risk Approach.

Previous studies that examined the links between media use and children's attention abilities have yielded inconclusive findings. In the current study, we aimed to move beyond the focus on isolated aspects of media use to a comprehensive assessment of both direct and indirect media use and practices in early childhood. Drawing from the cumulative risk literature, we examined whether cumulative media use is related to children's subsequent attention abilities. Participants were 199 mothers of toddlers (60% male) who completed questionnaires assessing various aspects of children's media use, as well as children's focused attention abilities at three time points: 18 months (T1), 22 months (T2), and 26 months (T3) of age. Cumulative media use scores were computed based on four indicators: (1) child average daily screen time; (2) household background television; (3) maternal use of media to regulate child distress; and (4) maternal use of mobile devices while spending time with the child. An autoregressive cross-lagged (ARCL) path model controlling for child sex, maternal education, and general parenting practices showed that cumulative media use at 18 months negatively predicted children's focused attention at 22 months. Moreover, there was a significant negative indirect effect from cumulative media use at 18 months to focused attention at 26 months via focused attention at 22 months. Finally, the cumulative media index appeared to be a better predictor of focused attention than any of the singular media use indicators. Children's focused attention did not predict subsequent cumulative media use across time, providing no evidence for bidirectional links. Findings suggest that exposure to multiple (rather than single) aspects of media use is related to decreased subsequent focused attention abilities during toddlerhood. Family media plans that designate media-free time and increase parental awareness to media use habits in the household should therefore be encouraged.

Maternal Use of Media to Regulate Child Distress: A Double-Edged Sword? Longitudinal Links to Toddlers' Negative Emotionality.

Although the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends not to heavily rely on screen media devices to regulate children's distress, many parents often resort to this regulatory strategy. However, little is known about the long-term implications of using this strategy for children's emotional functioning. To address this issue, this study examined the longitudinal links between the use of media to regulate distress and children's negative emotionality (NE) during toddlerhood, a period in which children strongly rely on external regulation. We also examined whether children with initially high NE were more sensitive to the effects of this regulatory strategy on subsequent NE. Participants were 207 mothers who completed questionnaires assessing child NE, use of media to regulate distress, child screen time, and demographic covariates at 2 time points: 18 months (T1) and 26 months (T2) of children's age. Use of media to regulate child distress at T1 did not directly predict child NE at T2, and vice versa. However, there was a significant interaction between child NE and use of media to regulate distress at T1 in predicting NE at T2. Simple slopes analysis indicated that maternal use of media to regulate distress was positively related to increases in children's NE, but only for children with initially low NE, and not for children with initially high NE. Our findings can inform family-based prevention initiatives that may be delivered in community pediatric settings, aiming at promoting thoughtful use of media in young children's everyday lives.