Development of negative and positive emotionality in irritable and nonirritable neonates.

OBJECTIVE: The current study compares the development of negative and positive emotionality of irritable and nonirritable neonates. BACKGROUND: Research indicates that the first few months of life are marked by decreases in negative emotionality and increases in positive emotionality. METHODS: The Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale (NBAS) was administered twice to 111 neonates at 3 and 4 weeks of age to select a sample of irritable neonates and a comparison group of nonirritable neonates. Mothers completed assessments of negative and positive emotionality at 1, 2, 4, and 9 months of age. RESULTS: Both irritable and nonirritable neonates demonstrate a significant decrease in frustration and a significant increase in positive emotionality from 2 to 4 months of age. Irritable neonates also demonstrate a significant decrease in negative emotionality from 4 to 9 months of age. Both irritable and nonirritable neonates demonstrate considerable stability in negative and positive emotionality. CONCLUSION: Implications of these results for parent education and early intervention are discussed.

Neonatal Negative Emotionality and the Child Behavior Checklist-Dysregulation Profile (CBCL-DP) in middle childhood.

Objective: Determine whether an association exists between neonatal negative emotionality and childhood emotional dysregulation. Background: The Child Behaviour Checklist-Dysregulation Profile (CBCL-DP) has been used as a measure of emotional dysregulation in childhood. Although there is now good evidence that the CBCL-DP predicts later psychopathology, little is known about what factors predict elevations on the CBCL-DP. Methods: 30 mother-child dyads who previously participated in a study of neonatal temperament were recruited to a follow-up study of emotional dysregulation during middle childhood. The Neonatal Behaviour Assessment Scale (NBAS) and the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ) were utilised as observer and maternal measures of neonatal negative emotionality, respectively. Maternal post-partum depression was also measured during the neonatal period using the Edinburgh Post-Partum Depression Scale (EPDS). The Child Behaviour Checklist-Dysregulation Profile (CBCL-DP) was used as a measure of childhood emotional dysregulation. Results: The ICQ fussy-difficult scale was significantly correlated with the CBCL-DP score (r = .46, p = .010), and this correlation remained significant after controlling for maternal EPDS score (CBCL-DP r = .51, p = .01). The NBAS irritability score was not associated with the CBCL-DP score. Conclusions: This association provides preliminary results that neonates rated as having high negative emotionality may indeed experience chronic difficulties with emotional dysregulation.

INITIAL VALIDATION OF THE ASSESSMENT OF PARENTING TOOL: A TASK- AND DOMAIN-LEVEL MEASURE OF PARENTING SELF-EFFICACY FOR PARENTS OF INFANTS FROM BIRTH TO 24 MONTHS OF AGE.

Parenting self-efficacy (PSE) includes parents' self-perceptions regarding their capabilities in performing the numerous and changing tasks associated with parenting a specific child (i.e., domain-specific PSE) as well as their self-perceptions in the parenting role overall (i.e., domain-general PSE). Prior literature has demonstrated PSE's relations with numerous constructs significant to mental health and the parent-infant relationship. Prior measures of PSE have been limited by focusing on only domain-specific or domain-general PSE, ignoring the importance of infant development to PSE, and other psychometric limitations. This article presents sound psychometric data for a new measure of PSE, the Assessment of Parenting Tool (APT). The APT includes task-level items on the Domain-Specific subscale (APT-DS) for each age-referenced version of the measure as well as a domain-general subscale that taps overall PSE within the first 24 months' postpartum. Initial construct validity of the measure is established, particularly for parents of infants aged 3 months and older. A stable, three-factor structure for the domain-general subscale includes "coping with being a parent," "attuned parenting," and "self-perceived model parenting." Future directions for the APT, including a revised checklist format for the domain-specific subscale, are included.

Use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy and disorganized infant-mother attachment.

OBJECTIVE: Examine the quality of infant-mother attachment in a prospective case series of infants whose mothers took selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy. BACKGROUND: SSRIs are prescribed to 2 to 6% of pregnant women (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2007; Stewart, 2011). Recent articles on the use of SSRIs during pregnancy note the increased risk for problematic infant-mother relationships among mothers with untreated postpartum depression (Gentile, 2011; Stewart, 2011). However, little is known about the quality of infant-mother relationships among mothers who took SSRIs during pregnancy. METHODS: Five mothers who took SSRIs during pregnancy were recruited from a community study of infant development. Mothers completed ratings of postpartum depression symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory) 4 to 6 times between 1 month and 1 year following the infant's birth. At 1 year postpartum, quality of infant-mother attachment was assessed using the strange situation procedure. RESULTS: Four of the 5 infant-mother dyads (80%) were classified as disorganized, a rate considerably higher than in postpartum depression samples. CONCLUSION: These results are used to raise questions about the clinical implications of research on in utero exposure to SSRIs, perinatal depression, and disorganized attachment. Specifically, this case series raises questions about using research on the link between postpartum depression and infant-mother attachment as a rationale for the use of SSRIs during pregnancy. Current research indicates use of SSRIs during pregnancy may: 1) increase risk for disorganized attachment, 2) decrease risk for disorganized attachment, or 3) have no effect on disorganized attachment.

DEVELOPMENT OF PARENTING SELF-EFFICACY IN MOTHERS OF INFANTS WITH HIGH NEGATIVE EMOTIONALITY.

Maternal parenting self-efficacy (PSE) is a potential target for infant mental health interventions because it is associated with a number of positive outcomes for children and mothers. Understanding the development of maternal PSE under conditions of increased parenting stress, such as parenting an infant who is easily distressed and difficult to soothe, will contribute to providing more effective interventions. This study examines the development of maternal PSE in mothers of infants with high negative emotionality (NE). The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS; T. Brazelton, 1973) was administered twice to 111 infants to select a sample of irritable (n = 24) and nonirritable (n = 29) infants for a prospective study comparing the development of PSE in mothers of infants differing in neonatal NE. Consistent with our hypotheses and previous research, at 8 weeks' postpartum, mothers of irritable infants have significantly lower domain-specific PSE than do mothers of nonirritable infants. Contrary to our predictions, mothers of irritable infants exhibit a significant increase in domain-specific and domain-general PSE from 8 to 16 weeks' postpartum. The implications of these results for infant mental health screening, infant mental health interventions, and research on self-efficacy theory are discussed.

Association between the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and adult unresolved attachment.

Research on antecedents of organized attachment has focused on the quality of caregiving received during childhood. In recent years, research has begun to examine the influence of genetic factors on quality of infant attachment. However, no published studies report on the association between specific genetic factors and adult attachment. This study examined the link between the 5-HTTLPR promoter polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene and adult unresolved attachment assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview. Genetic material and information on attachment-related loss or trauma were available for 86 participants. Multivariate regression analyses showed an association between the short 5-HTTLPR allele and increased risk for unresolved attachment. Temperament traits and psychological symptoms did not affect the association between 5-HTTLPR and unresolved attachment. The authors hypothesize that the increased susceptibility to unresolved attachment among carriers of the short allele of 5-HTTLPR is consistent with the role of serotonin in modulation of frontal-amygdala circuitry. The findings challenge current thinking by demonstrating significant genetic influences on a phenomenon previously thought to be largely environmentally driven.

A sibling adoption study of adult attachment: the influence of shared environment on attachment states of mind.

This study extends existing research investigating sibling concordance on attachment by examining concordance for adult attachment in a sample of 126 genetically unrelated sibling pairs. The Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985; Main, Goldwyn, & Hesse, 2003) was used to assess states of mind with regard to attachment. The average age of the participants was 39 years old. The distribution of attachment classifications was independent of adoptive status. Attachment concordance rates were unassociated with gender concordance and sibling age difference. Concordance for autonomous/non-autonomous classifications was significant at 61% as was concordance for primary classifications at 53%. The concordance rate for not-unresolved/unresolved was non-significant at 67%. Our findings demonstrate similarity of working models of attachment between siblings independent of genetic relatedness between siblings and generations (i.e., parent and child). These findings extend previous research by further implicating shared environment as a major influence on sibling similarities on organized patterns of attachment in adulthood. The non-significant concordance for the unresolved classification suggests that unresolved loss or trauma may be less influenced by shared environment and more likely to be influenced by post-childhood experiences or genetic factors.

Attachment as an organizer of behavior: implications for substance abuse problems and willingness to seek treatment.

BACKGROUND: Attachment theory allows specific predictions about the role of attachment representations in organizing behavior. Insecure attachment is hypothesized to predict maladaptive emotional regulation whereas secure attachment is hypothesized to predict adaptive emotional regulation. In this paper, we test specific hypotheses about the role of attachment representations in substance abuse/dependence and treatment participation. Based on theory, we expect divergence between levels of maladaptive functioning and adaptive methods of regulating negative emotions. METHODS: Participants for this study consist of a sample of adoptees participating in an ongoing longitudinal adoption study (n = 208). The Semi-Structured Assessment of the Genetics of Alcohol-II 41 was used to determine lifetime substance abuse/dependence and treatment participation. Attachment representations were derived by the Adult Attachment Interview [AAI; 16]. We constructed a prior contrasts reflecting theoretical predictions for the association between attachment representations, substance abuse/dependence and treatment participation. RESULTS: Logistic regression was used to test our hypotheses. As predicted, individuals classified as dismissing, preoccupied or earned-secure reported the highest rates of substance abuse/dependence. Individuals classified as dismissing reported significantly lower rates of treatment participation despite their high rates of substance abuse/dependence. As expected, the continuous-secure group reported lowest rates of both substance abuse/dependence and treatment participation. CONCLUSION: The findings from this study identify attachment representations as an influential factor in understanding the divergence between problematic substance use and treatment utilization. The findings further imply that treatment may need to take attachment representations into account to promote successful recovery.

Contributions of attachment style and perceived social support to lifetime use of illicit substances.

Research has shown insecure attachment style is associated with ineffective emotional regulation leading to maladaptive behaviors in adulthood. In the present study, we examined the association between attachment style and illicit substance use within a sample of adoptees (n=148). It was predicted that insecure attachment style would be associated with a higher incidence of lifetime illicit substance use and that perceived social support would mediate this association. Logistic regression analyses showed higher prevalence of illicit substance use among both insecure attachment groups as compared to the secure group. No difference was found between the two insecure types. Perceived social support was found to mediate the association between attachment style and illicit substance use for the insecure-preoccupied group only. The findings from the present study further implicate attachment style in the risk for illicit substance use, as well as preventions designed to identify those at risk for use.