Domain specificity of differential susceptibility: Testing an evolutionary theory of temperament in early childhood.

According to differential susceptibility theory (DST), some children may be more sensitive to both positive and negative features of the environment. However, research has generated a list of widely disparate temperamental traits that may reflect differential susceptibility to the environment. In addition, findings have implicated these temperament × environment interactions in predicting a wide variety of child outcomes. This study uses a novel evolutionary model of temperament to examine whether differential susceptibility operates in a domain-general or domain-specific manner. Using a racially and socioeconomically diverse sample of 243 preschoolers and their parents (56% female; 48% African American), we examined the interactions between maternal and paternal parenting quality and two evolutionary informed temperament profiles (i.e., Hawks and Doves) in predicting changes in teacher-reported conduct problems and depressive symptoms from preschool to first grade. Results suggest that differential susceptibility operates in a domain-specific fashion. Specifically, the "Hawk" temperament was differentially susceptible to maternal parenting in predicting externalizing problems. In contrast, the "Dove" temperament was susceptible to both paternal and maternal parenting quality in predicting changes in depressive symptoms. Findings provide support for an integrative framework that synthesizes DST with an evolutionary, function-based approach to temperament.

Cumulative Social Risk and Child Screen Use: The Role of Child Temperament.

OBJECTIVES: It is critical to understand what children, and in which context, are at risk for high levels of screen use. This study examines whether child temperament interacts with cumulative social risk to predict young children's screen use and if the results are consistent with differential susceptibility or diathesis-stress models. METHODS: Data from 1,992 families in Calgary, Alberta (81% White; 47% female; 94% >$40,000 income) from the All Our Families cohort were included. Mothers reported on cumulative social risk (e.g., low income and education, maternal depression) at <25 weeks of gestation, child's temperament at 36 months of age (surgency/extraversion, negative affectivity, effortful control), and child's screen use (hours/day) at 60 months of age. Along with socio-demographic factors, baseline levels of screen use were included as covariates. RESULTS: Children high in surgency (i.e., high-intensity pleasure, impulsivity) had greater screen use than children low in surgency as social risk exposure increased. In line with differential susceptibility, children high in surgency also had less screen use than children low in surgency in contexts of low social risk. Children with heightened negative affectivity (i.e., frequent expressions of fear/frustration) had greater screen use as social risk increased, supporting a diathesis-stress model. CONCLUSIONS: Young children predisposed to high-intensity pleasure seeking and negative affectivity in environments characterized as high in social risk may be prone to greater durations of screen use. Findings suggest that an understanding of social risks and individual characteristics of the child should be considered when promoting healthy digital health habits.

Interparental conflict as a quadratic predictor of children's reactivity to interparental conflict and school adjustment: Steeling effects or risk saturation?

This study examined interparental conflict as a curvilinear predictor of children's reactivity to interparental conflict and, in turn, their school problems across three annual measurements. Participants included 243 preschool children (Mage  = 4.60 years; 56% girls) and their parents from racially (e.g., 48% Black; 16% Latinx) diverse backgrounds. Interparental conflict was a significant quadratic predictor of children's emotional reactivity (ß = .23) and behavioral dysregulation (ß = .27) to conflict over a 1-year period. The robust association between interparental conflict and behavioral dysregulation weakened at high levels of interparental conflict. In contrast, interparental conflict more strongly predicted children's emotional reactivity as conflict exposure increased. Children's emotional reactivity, in turn, predicted their greater school problems 1 year later (ß = .25).

Delineating the developmental sequelae of children's risky involvement in interparental conflict.

The present study examined the developmental value of parsing different forms of children's risky involvement in interparental conflict as predictors of children's subsequent psychological adjustment. Participants included a diverse sample of 243 preschool children (Mage = 4.6 years) and their mothers across two measurement occasions spaced 2 years apart. Three forms of risky involvement (i.e., cautious, caregiving, and coercive) were identified using maternal narratives describing children's emotional and behavioral reactivity during and immediately following interparental conflict. Utilizing a multimethod, multi-informant design, findings revealed that each form of involvement prospectively predicted unique configurations of children's developmental outcomes. Greater coercive involvement was associated with higher levels of externalizing problems, callous and unemotional traits, and extraversion. Higher levels of caregiving involvement were linked with greater separation anxiety. Finally, cautious involvement predicted more separation anxiety and social withdrawal.

Developmental Pathways Between Infant Gestures and Symbolic Actions, and Children's Communicative Skills at Age 5: Findings From the All Our Families Pregnancy Cohort.

Using data from the All Our Families study, a longitudinal study of 1992 mother-child dyads in Canada (47.7% female; 81.9% White), we examined the developmental pathways between infant gestures and symbolic actions and communicative skills at age 5. Communicative gestures at age 12 months (e.g., pointing, nodding head "yes"), obtained via parental report, predicted stronger general communicative skills at age 5 years. Moreover, greater use of symbolic actions (e.g., "feeding" a stuffed animal with a bottle) indirectly predicted increased communicative skills at age 5 via increased productive vocabulary at 24 months. These pathways support the hypothesis that children's communicative skills during the transition to kindergarten emerge from a chain of developmental abilities starting with gestures and symbolic actions during infancy.

Child Language Difficulties and Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms: A Meta-Analysis.

This study conducted two meta-analyses to synthesize the association between children's language skills and two broad-band dimensions of psychopathology: internalizing and externalizing. Pooled estimates across 139 samples (externalizing k = 105; internalizing k = 90) and 147,305 participants (age range: 2-17 years old; mean % males: 53.75; mean % White participants: 55.59; mean % minority participants: 43.12) indicated small but significant associations between child language skills and externalizing problems (Hedges' g = .22) and between language skills and internalizing problems (Hedges' g = .23). The association between language difficulties and externalizing problems was stronger amongst males and in children with low versus high sociodemographic risk. Implications of the results for theory and practice are discussed.

The chronicity and timing of prenatal and antenatal maternal depression and anxiety on child outcomes at age 5.

BACKGROUND: Maternal depression and anxiety have been associated with deleterious child outcomes. It is, however, unclear how the chronicity and timing of maternal mental health problems predict child development outcomes. The aim of the current study was to assess the effect of both chronicity and timing of maternal anxiety and depression in pregnancy, infancy, and the toddler period on children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as well as social and communication skills at age 5. METHOD: Participants were 1,992 mother-child pairs drawn from a large prospective pregnancy cohort. Mothers reported on anxiety and depression symptoms with clinical screening tools at six time points between <25 weeks gestation and 3 years postpartum. Child outcomes were assessed at age 5. RESULTS: Effect sizes were small for brief incidents of depression/anxiety and increased for intermittent and chronic problems (i.e., three or more timepoints) compared with mothers who had never experienced clinical-level anxiety or depression. Maternal anxiety/depression during pregnancy, infancy, and toddlerhood predicted all child outcomes, even after controlling for depression/anxiety during the other timepoints. However, maternal anxiety and depression during toddlerhood had a stronger association with child internalizing/externalizing symptoms and communication skills than either prenatal or postpartum depression/anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing number of exposures to clinical-level anxiety and depression is related to poorer child outcomes. Neither prenatal nor postpartum periods emerged as "sensitive" periods. Rather, maternal depression and anxiety during toddlerhood was more strongly associated with child outcomes at age 5. Results highlight the need for continued support for maternal mental health across early childhood.

Temperamental Emotionality Attributes as Antecedents of Children's Social Information Processing.

This study examined temperament dimensions of emotion as precursors of children's social information processing (SIP) of stressful peer events. Two hundred and forty-three preschool children (M = 4.60 years) and their primary caregivers participated in two measurement occasions spaced 2 years apart. Observations of temperamental anger, fearful distress, positive affect, and effortful control were assessed in multiple laboratory tasks across two visits at Wave 1. SIP assessments from vignettes of peer challenges were repeated across two waves and included: eye tracking measures of attention to peer emotion displays, hostile attribution bias, hostile solutions, and subjective distress. Findings from structural equation models with inclusion of autoregressive controls indicated that effortful control, fear, and anger predicted subsequent changes in specific SIP dimensions.

Understanding the nature of associations between family instability, unsupportive parenting, and children's externalizing symptoms.

This study examined the mediating role of maternal unsupportive parenting in explaining associations between family instability and children's externalizing symptoms during the transition to formal schooling in early childhood. Participants included 243 preschool children (M age = 4.60 years) and their parents. Findings from cross-lagged autoregressive models conducted with multimethod (survey and observations), multi-informant (parent, teacher, and observer), longitudinal (three annual waves of data collection) data indicated that experiences with heightened family instability predicted decreases in supportive parenting, which in turn predicted increases in children's externalizing symptoms. Analyses also revealed a bidirectional association between parenting and family instability over time, such that higher levels of instability predicted decreases in supportive parenting, which in turn predicted increases in family instability.

The long-term indirect effect of the early Family Check-Up intervention on adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms via inhibitory control.

This study examined the long-term effects of a randomized controlled trial of the Family Check-Up (FCU) intervention initiated at age 2 on inhibitory control in middle childhood and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. We hypothesized that the FCU would promote higher inhibitory control in middle childhood relative to the control group, which in turn would be associated with lower internalizing and externalizing symptomology at age 14. Participants were 731 families, with half (n = 367) of the families assigned to the FCU intervention. Using an intent-to-treat design, results indicate that the FCU intervention was indirectly associated with both lower internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age 14 via its effect on increased inhibitory control in middle childhood (i.e., ages 8.5-10.5). Findings highlight the potential for interventions initiated in toddlerhood to have long-term impacts on self-regulation processes, which can further reduce the risk for behavioral and emotional difficulties in adolescence.

A Developmental Cascade from Prenatal Stress to Child Internalizing and Externalizing Problems.

OBJECTIVE: This study utilized a developmental cascade approach to test alternative theories about the underlying mechanisms behind the association of maternal prenatal stress and child psychopathology. The fetal programming hypothesis suggests that prenatal stress affects fetal structural and physiological systems responsible for individual differences in child temperament, which further increases risk for internalizing and externalizing problems. Interpersonal models of stress transmission suggest that maternal stress influences child mental health via early parenting behaviors. We also examined a continuation of stress hypothesis, in which prenatal stress predicts child mental health via the continuation of maternal stress in the postpartum period. METHODS: Participants were 1,992 mother-child pairs drawn from a prospective pregnancy cohort. Mothers reported on their perceived stress, anxiety, and depression during pregnancy and at 4-month postpartum. Birthweight was assessed via medical records of birthweight. At 4-month postpartum, hostile-reactive parenting behaviors were assessed. Child temperamental negative affect was measured at age 3. Child internalizing and externalizing problems were assessed at age 5. RESULTS: Prenatal stress was associated with both internalizing and externalizing problems via postnatal stress and child temperament. Prenatal stress was also associated with externalizing behaviors via increased hostile-reactive parenting. After accounting for postnatal factors, prenatal stress continued to have a direct effect on child internalizing, but not externalizing, symptoms. CONCLUSION: Results provide support for the fetal programming, interpersonal stress transmission, and continuation of stress models. Findings highlight the need for prenatal preventative programs that continue into the early postnatal period, targeting maternal stress and parenting behaviors.

Gender Differences in the Developmental Cascade From Harsh Parenting to Educational Attainment: An Evolutionary Perspective.

This study utilized life history theory to test a developmental cascade model linking harsh parenting to low educational attainment. Multigroup models were examined to test for potential gender differences. The sample consisted of 1,482 adolescents followed up for 9 years starting in seventh grade (Mage  = 12.74). Results supported indirect links between harsh parenting and low educational attainment through the development of extreme peer orientations, early sexual behavior, and delinquency. Among male adolescents, harsh parenting was related to the development of an extreme peer orientation, which further led to increased delinquency, and subsequently lower educational attainment. Among female adolescents, harsh parenting predicted extreme peer orientations, which increased both delinquency and early sexual behavior. Early sexual behavior further predicted lower educational attainment in female adolescents.

The Interplay Among Children's Negative Family Representations, Visual Processing of Negative Emotions, and Externalizing Symptoms.

This study examined the transactional interplay among children's negative family representations, visual processing of negative emotions, and externalizing symptoms in a sample of 243 preschool children (Mage  = 4.60 years). Children participated in three annual measurement occasions. Cross-lagged autoregressive models were conducted with multimethod, multi-informant data to identify mediational pathways. Consistent with schema-based top-down models, negative family representations were associated with attention to negative faces in an eye-tracking task and their externalizing symptoms. Children's negative representations of family relationships specifically predicted decreases in their attention to negative emotions, which, in turn, was associated with subsequent increases in their externalizing symptoms. Follow-up analyses indicated that the mediational role of diminished attention to negative emotions was particularly pronounced for angry faces.

Early childhood parenting and child impulsivity as precursors to aggression, substance use, and risky sexual behavior in adolescence and early adulthood.

The current study utilized a longitudinal design to explore the effect of early child impulsivity and rejecting parenting on the development of problematic behaviors in adolescence and early adulthood. Using a low-income sample of 310 mothers and their sons, we examined the direct and interactive effects of child impulsivity and rejecting parenting at age 2 on aggression and substance use at ages 12, 15, and 22, as well as risky sexual behavior at ages 15 and 22. Results revealed that rejecting parenting at age 2 predicted greater aggression at age 12 and risky sexual behavior at ages 15 and 22. Early impulsivity had few direct effects on later outcomes, with the exception of greater substance use at age 22. Instead, impulsivity emerged as a significant moderator in the link between rejecting parenting and aggression at all three ages and substance use at age 15. Specifically, early rejecting parenting predicted greater aggression and substance use only for children high in impulsivity. Findings highlight the potential for early child and parenting risk factors to have long-term implications for adjustment, with the combination of high impulsivity and rejecting parenting being particularly deleterious for problems of aggression throughout adolescence and into early adulthood.

Family instability and children's effortful control in the context of poverty: Sometimes a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Effortful control has been demonstrated to have important ramifications for children's self-regulation and social-emotional adjustment. However, there are wide socioeconomic disparities in children's effortful control, with impoverished children displaying heightened difficulties. The current study was designed to demonstrate how instability within the proximal rearing context of young children may serve as a key operant on the development of children's effortful control in the context of poverty. Two separate studies were conducted that included samples of children living within homes characterized by heightened economic risk. In Study 1, we tested the differential prediction of family instability on two domains of children's effortful control: cool effortful control and delay control. Consistent with hypotheses, elevated instability was associated with decreased hot effortful control but not cool effortful control over the span of 2 years. In Study 2, we examined how children's basal cortisol activity may account for associations between heightened instability and effortful control in reward tasks. The results were consistent with sensitization models, suggesting that elevated cortisol activity arising from increased uncertainty and unpredictability in rearing contexts may influence children's hot effortful control. The findings are interpreted within emerging evolutionary-developmental frameworks of child development.

Identifying the temperamental roots of children's patterns of security in the interparental relationship.

Guided by emotional security theory, this study examined the temperamental precursors of distinctive profiles of children's responses to interparental conflict. Participants included 243 children (M = 4.6 years) and their parents across two annual measurement occasions. Temperamental constructs of frustration proneness, approach, positive affect, activity level, and effortful control were assessed through multiple methods, informants, and contexts. Behavioral observations of children's responses to interparental conflict at each wave yielded four profiles: secure (i.e., efficiently address direct threat), mobilizing (i.e., vigilance to potential threat and social opportunities), dominant (i.e., directly defeat threat), and demobilizing (i.e., reduce salience as a target of hostility). Results supported hypotheses on the distinct constellations of temperament in predicting subsequent change in the four security profiles.

Maternal unresponsiveness and child disruptive problems: the interplay of uninhibited temperament and dopamine transporter genes.

This study examined how and why dopamine transporter (DAT1) susceptibility alleles moderate the relation between maternal unresponsiveness and young children's behavior problems in a disadvantaged, predominantly minority sample of 201 two-year-old children and their mothers. Using a multimethod, multisource design, the findings indicated that a genetic composite of DAT1 susceptibility alleles (rs27072, rs40184) potentiated associations between maternal unresponsive caregiving and increases in children's behavior problems 2 years later. Moderator-mediated-moderation analyses further revealed that the DAT1 diathesis was more proximally mediated by the potentiating effects of children's uninhibited temperament in the pathway between maternal unresponsiveness and disruptive behavior problems. Results are interpreted in the context of supporting and advancing the biosocial developmental model (Beauchaine & Gatzke-Kopp, 2012).

Temperament and Interparental Conflict: The Role of Negative Emotionality in Predicting Child Behavioral Problems.

This study examined temperamental irritability and fearful distress as moderators of the association between interparental conflict and child behavior problems in a disadvantaged sample of two hundred and one 2-year-old children and their mothers. Using a multimethod, prospective design, findings revealed that the relation between interparental conflict and changes in child behavior problems over a 1-year period were moderated by temperamental irritability. Consistent with differential susceptibility theory, children high in irritable temperament not only exhibited poorer outcomes in contexts of high interparental conflict but also better adjustment in contexts of low levels of interparental conflict. Mediated moderation analyses revealed that fearful reactivity partly accounted for the greater susceptibility of irritable children, particularly in explaining why they fared better when interparental conflict was low.

Bidirectional associations between maternal depression, hostile parenting, and early child emotional problems: Findings from the all our families cohort.

BACKGROUND: An intergenerational association between maternal depression and child emotional problems is well established. However, the underlying processes underpinning this association are still unclear, with relatively little attention paid to potential child-driven effects. This study adds to existing research by examining the bidirectional processes between maternal depression, parenting, and child internalizing symptoms. METHODS: A large prospective pregnancy cohort was used (N = 1992). Mothers reported on their depressive symptoms, hostile parenting, child internalizing symptoms, and child effortful control. Data was collected during pregnancy, and at 4 months, 3 years, and 5 years postpartum. RESULTS: Using a cross-lag analytical approach, results revealed that prenatal and postpartum maternal depression predicted child internalizing problems through an increase in hostile parenting. Child internalizing symptoms predicted increases in subsequent hostile parenting, but not maternal depressive symptoms. Additional moderation analyses revealed that the indirect effect of maternal depression on child internalizing problems through hostile parenting was only significant for children low in effortful control. LIMITATIONS: The study relied on maternal reports of both mother and child symptomology and characteristics. The sample was predominantly white and middle- to high-income. CONCLUSIONS: Hostile parenting is a potential intermediary mechanism explaining the intergenerational transmission of maternal depression to child internalizing problems. Critically, this indirect effect was only significant for children low in effortful control. There was limited support for child evocative effects, with child internalizing symptoms predicting subsequent hostile parenting but not maternal depressive symptoms. Results highlight the need for considering both maternal and child characteristics when treating maternal depression.

Maternal depressive symptoms and language development: The moderating role of child temperament.

The current study examined the interaction between maternal depressive symptoms and child temperament in predicting subsequent child language skills. Participants were 252 mother-child dyads recruited from the All Our Families longitudinal cohort, a primarily middle-class sample (62.9% completed postsecondary education) from Alberta, Canada (90.5% White, 6% Asian, 3.5% other). Maternal depressive symptoms at age 3, controlling for prenatal depressive symptoms, did not evidence a direct effect on child language skills at age 5 (49.6% males; mean [M] = 5.12 years old, standard deviation [SD] = .11). However, both child surgency and effortful control interacted with maternal depression at age 3 to predict later language skills. Low effortful control was a risk factor for poorer language abilities in contexts of high maternal depressive symptoms. High child surgency emerged as a differential susceptibility marker, predicting poorer language skills in contexts of high maternal depressive symptoms but better language skills in contexts of low depressive symptoms. Negative affect did not interact with maternal depressive symptoms in predicting language skills. These findings highlight the complex interaction between maternal and child characteristics in predicting language development during a developmental period in which language skills are a prime indicator of school readiness and a predictor of future academic achievement and socioemotional adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).