Mother-Infant Interaction and Maternal Postnatal Psychological Distress Associate with Child's Social-Emotional Development During Early Childhood: A FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

We studied the effects of mother-infant interaction and maternal pre- and postnatal psychological distress on children's social-emotional problems and competences, as well as whether interaction quality moderates the association between distress and children's outcomes. Maternal pre- and postnatal psychological distress were measured using the SCL and EPDS questionnaires, whereas mother-infant interaction was measured when the child was 8 months old using the EA Scales. Children's social-emotional development was measured using the BITSEA questionnaire at 2 years old and using the SDQ questionnaire at 4 years old, where higher maternal structuring was associated with fewer social-emotional problems in children and higher maternal sensitivity was associated with greater social-emotional competence in children at 2 years old. Further, higher postnatal distress was found associated with greater social-emotional problems at 2 years old, though neither these effects nor moderating effects at 4 years old were observed after multiple-comparison corrections. Our findings support direct associations of both mother-infant interaction and maternal postnatal psychological distress with children's social-emotional development during toddlerhood.

Prepandemic to early COVID-19: Changes in couple functioning and links with harsh parenting.

Research has revealed a rise in family relationship problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among couples with young children. However, longitudinal studies spanning the prepandemic and pandemic periods are rare. In this study, we examined changes in couple functioning during these periods. Moreover, we investigated the mediation and moderation effects of couple functioning on the association between COVID-19 stressors and harsh parenting. A total of 545 mothers (mean age 38 years, range 23-48 years) completed questionnaires on couple functioning during the prepandemic (2016-2020) and early pandemic (May-June 2020) periods. During the early pandemic, they also reported exposure to COVID-19 stressors and engaging in harsh parenting (e.g., conflicts and maltreatment). We found no overall deterioration in couple functioning during the early pandemic. Furthermore, COVID-19 stressors did not explain variance in couple functioning changes or correlate with harsh parenting. However, as hypothesized, couple functioning moderated the effect of COVID-19 stressors on harsh parenting. Only for couples with low prepandemic functioning was exposure to COVID-19 stressors associated with harsh parenting. In conclusion, our findings provided no evidence of COVID-19's detrimental effects on couples during the early pandemic. Instead, well-functioning couple relationships appear to mitigate the impact of pandemic stressors on parenting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Antecedents of maternal pregnancy-related anxiety trajectories: The FinnBrain birth cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: Little is known about the normative courses of pregnancy-related anxiety throughout pregnancy and their antecedents. We examined in a large scale pregnancy cohort which potentially distinct trajectories of pregnancy-related anxiety across pregnancy can be identified, and which factors predict these trajectories. METHODS: A general sample of pregnant women (n = 2928) from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort participated in this study. Several questionnaires were filled in at 14, 24, and 34 weeks of gestation, including the pregnancy-related anxiety questionnaire-revised as main outcome. Latent Growth Mixture Modeling was applied to identify the trajectories of pregnancy-related anxiety across pregnancy, and t-tests and chi-quare tests were conducted to find antecedents of these trajectories. RESULTS: Two distinct trajectories were identified: (1) a low symptoms group, N = 2594 (88.6%), with lower and slightly increasing levels of pregnancy-related anxiety (2) a moderately-high symptoms group, N = 334 (11.4%) reported higher and slightly decreasing levels of anxiety. Correlates of the moderately-high anxious group included a lower monthly income, drinking alcohol or smoking in early pregnancy, more daily hassles and less joy, more early life adversities, younger age, primiparity, single parenthood, using depression medication, and having higher scores on depression and general anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Although the majority of pregnant women fall within a low risk trajectory of pregnancy-related anxiety, another group with consistently higher levels of pregnancy anxiety throughout pregnancy may need more clinical attention, as their high pregnancy-related anxiety scores may indicate a risk profile that includes a variety of general and more pregnancy-specific risk factors, which together can negatively affect fetal and infant development and behavior.

Trajectories of maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms and child's socio-emotional outcome during early childhood.

Maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety during pregnancy and early postnatal years are suggested to impose differential negative effects on child's socio-emotional development depending on the characteristics of the symptoms, such as timing, intensity, and persistence. The aim of this study was to identify trajectories of maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms from pregnancy until 2 years postpartum and to examine their relationship with child socio-emotional problems and competence at 2 and 5 years of age. The sample included 1208 mother-infant dyads from FinnBrain Birth Cohort study. Latent growth mixture modelling (LGMM) was utilized to model the trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms, measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and general anxiety, measured with Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) at 14, 24, and 34 weeks' gestation (gw) and at 3, 6 and 24 months postpartum. Maternal depression was also assessed at 12 months. Child socio-emotional problems and competence were evaluated using the Brief Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) at 2 years and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at 5 years. Relevant background factors and maternal concurrent symptomatology were controlled for. The trajectories of maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms were associated negatively with differential aspects of child long term socio-emotional outcomes from early toddlerhood to preschool years. The trajectories of depressive symptoms and high-level persistent symptoms that continued from pregnancy to two years of child age had the strongest negative association with child outcomes. This highlights the importance of identifying and treating maternal symptomatology, especially that of depression, as early as possible.

Trajectories of COVID-19 pandemic-related depressive symptoms and potential predictors: the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

PURPOSE: In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health problems have been reported, and parents of young children may be more vulnerable to psychological distress due to increased caregiving responsibilities. However, research on the heterogeneity of the longitudinal course of psychological symptoms during the pandemic and the predispositions linked with these courses is still scarce. This study aimed to identify differential trajectories of depressive symptoms among the parents of young children and investigate the role of temperament traits, alexithymia, and coping styles in the heterogeneity of the symptom trajectories. METHODS: The sample consists of 844 parents from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study. Latent growth mixture modeling was utilized to identify trajectories of depressive symptoms from pre-pandemic between 2014 and 2019 (T0, the closest available measurement was used) to May/June 2020 (T1) and December 2020 (T2) during the pandemic. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine temperament, alexithymia, and coping as predictors of symptom trajectories, controlling for various background factors. RESULTS: Four trajectories of depressive symptoms were identified. Most parents experienced low and stable depressive symptoms. Negative affect, effortful control, alexithymia, emotion-diverting coping (self-distraction and venting), and avoidant coping (denial and behavioral disengagement) were predictors for subclinical stable depressive symptoms. Constructive coping (positive reframing, acceptance, and humor) protected the cohort parents from increasing or moderately high depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The findings have implications for identifying vulnerable individuals with specific traits and strengthening of constructive coping strategies as possible foci in interventions for depression during global crises.

Across ages and places: Unpredictability of maternal sensory signals and child internalizing behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Patterns of sensory inputs early in life play an integral role in shaping the maturation of neural circuits, including those implicated in emotion and cognition. In both experimental animal models and observational human research, unpredictable sensory signals have been linked to aberrant developmental outcomes, including poor memory and effortful control. These findings suggest that sensitivity to unpredictable sensory signals is conserved across species and sculpts the developing brain. The current study provides a novel investigation of unpredictable maternal sensory signals in early life and child internalizing behaviors. We tested these associations in three independent cohorts to probe the generalizability of associations across continents and cultures. METHOD: The three prospective longitudinal cohorts were based in Orange, USA (n = 163, 47.2 % female, Mage = 1 year); Turku, Finland (n = 239, 44.8 % female, Mage = 5 years); and Irvine, USA (n = 129, 43.4 % female, Mage = 9.6 years). Unpredictability of maternal sensory signals was quantified during free-play interactions. Child internalizing behaviors were measured via parent report (Orange & Turku) and child self-report (Irvine). RESULTS: Early life exposure to unpredictable maternal sensory signals was associated with greater child fearfulness/anxiety in all three cohorts, above and beyond maternal sensitivity and sociodemographic factors. The association between unpredictable maternal sensory signals and child sadness/depression was relatively weaker and did not reach traditional thresholds for statistical significance. LIMITATIONS: The correlational design limits our ability to make causal inferences. CONCLUSIONS: Findings across the three diverse cohorts suggest that unpredictable maternal signals early in life shape the development of internalizing behaviors, particularly fearfulness and anxiety.

Lower maternal emotional availability is related to increased attention toward fearful faces during infancy.

It has been suggested that infants' age-typical attention biases for faces and facial expressions have an inherent connection with the parent-infant interaction. However, only a few previous studies have addressed this topic. To investigate the association between maternal caregiving behaviors and an infant's attention for emotional faces, 149 mother-infant dyads were assessed when the infants were 8 months. Caregiving behaviors were observed during free-play interactions and coded using the Emotional Availability Scales. The composite score of four parental dimensions, that are sensitivity, structuring, non-intrusiveness, and non-hostility, was used in the analyses. Attention disengagement from faces was measured using eye tracking and face-distractor paradigm with neutral, happy, and fearful faces and scrambled-face control pictures as stimuli. The main finding was that lower maternal emotional availability was related to an infant's higher attention to fearful faces (p = .042), when infant sex and maternal age, education, and concurrent depressive and anxiety symptoms were controlled. This finding indicates that low maternal emotional availability may sensitize infants' emotion processing system for the signals of fear at least during this specific age around 8 months. The significance of the increased attention toward fearful faces during infancy is an important topic for future research.

Trait reactance as psychological motivation to reject vaccination: Two longitudinal studies and one experimental study.

Anti-science attitudes can be resilient to scientific evidence if they are rooted in psychological motives. One such motive is trait reactance, which refers to the need to react with opposition when one's freedom of choice has been threatened. In three studies, we investigated trait reactance as a psychological motivation to reject vaccination. In the longitudinal studies (n = 199; 293), we examined if trait reactance measured before the COVID-19 pandemic was related to people's willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19 up to 2 years later during the pandemic. In the experimental study (n = 398), we tested whether trait reactance makes anti-vaccination attitudes more resistant to information and whether this resistance can be mitigated by framing the information to minimize the risk of triggering state reactance. The longitudinal studies showed that higher trait reactance before the COVID-19 pandemic was related to lower willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Our experimental study indicated that highly reactant individuals' willingness to vaccinate was unaffected by the amount and framing of the information provided. Trait reactance has a strong and durable impact on vaccination willingness. This highlights the importance of considering the role of trait reactance in people's vaccination-related decision-making.

Infant gut microbiota and negative and fear reactivity.

BACKGROUND: Studies indicate that gut microbiota is related to neurodevelopmental and behavioral outcomes. Accordingly, early gut microbiota composition (GMC) has been linked to child temperament, but research is still scarce. The aim of this study was to examine how early GMC at 2.5 months is associated with child negative and fear reactivity at 8 and 12 months since they are potentially important intermediate phenotypes of later child psychiatric disorders. METHODS: Our study population was 330 infants enrolled in the longitudinal FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study. Gut microbiota composition was analyzed using stool sample 16s rRNA sequencing. Negative and fear reactivity were assessed using the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB) at child's age of 8 months (n =150) and the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Short Form (IBQ-R SF) at child's age of 12 months (n = 276). CONCLUSIONS: We found a positive association between alpha diversity and reported fear reactivity and differing microbial community composition based on negative reactivity for boys. Isobutyric acid correlated with observed negative reactivity, however, this association attenuated in the linear model. Several genera were associated with the selected infant temperament traits. This study adds to the growing literature on links between infant gut microbiota and temperament informing future mechanistic studies.

Maternal Perinatal Stress Trajectories and Negative Affect and Amygdala Development in Offspring.

OBJECTIVE: Maternal psychological stress during pregnancy is a common risk factor for psychiatric disorders in offspring, but little is known about how heterogeneity of stress trajectories during pregnancy affect brain systems and behavioral phenotypes in infancy. This study was designed to address this gap in knowledge. METHODS: Maternal anxiety, stress, and depression were assessed at multiple time points during pregnancy in two independent low-risk mother-infant cohorts (N=115 and N=2,156). Trajectories in maternal stress levels in relation to infant negative affect were examined in both cohorts. Neonatal amygdala resting-state functional connectivity MRI was examined in a subset of one cohort (N=60) to explore the potential relationship between maternal stress trajectories and brain systems in infants relevant to negative affect. RESULTS: Four distinct trajectory clusters, characterized by changing patterns of stress over time, and two magnitude clusters, characterized by severity of stress, were identified in the original mother-infant cohort (N=115). The magnitude clusters were not associated with infant outcomes. The trajectory characterized by increasing stress in late pregnancy was associated with blunted development of infant negative affect. This relationship was replicated in the second, larger cohort (N=2,156). In addition, the trajectories that included increasing or peak maternal stress in late pregnancy were related to stronger neonatal amygdala functional connectivity to the anterior insula and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the exploratory analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The trajectory of maternal stress appears to be important for offspring brain and behavioral development. Understanding heterogeneity in trajectories of maternal stress and their influence on infant brain and behavioral development is critical to developing targeted interventions.

Latent profile analysis of diurnal cortisol patterns at the ages of 2, 3.5, and 5 years: Associations with childcare setting, child individual characteristics, and maternal distress.

This study performed latent profile analysis from more than 4000 saliva cortisol samples collected from children at the ages of 2 (T1), 3.5 (T2), and 5 years (T3). Three clearly different cortisol profiles were identified. The largest group at every age point was the Low/Regular latent profile, in which the cortisol slopes followed typical diurnal variation. A smaller proportion of the children belonged to the latent profile with relatively Low/Flat slope, and a minority belonged to the High/Fluctuating latent group, where the overall cortisol values and variations between the slopes were clearly higher than in the other groups. Most of the children who belonged to the High/Fluctuating group were cared for at home, they had higher temperamental surgency and their mothers had more depressive symptoms than in the other latent profile groups. However, only moderate intraindividual stability in diurnal cortisol profiles was observed across the follow-up period. On average, half of the children moved between the groups from T1 to T3. Neither child temperament, social competence, nor sex explained the stability or movement between the groups across age. Variations in cortisol profiles may be caused by the child's age, and diurnal cortisol rhythm becomes more regular along with development. Methodological issues regarding saliva cortisol research in young children are discussed. Also, more longitudinal research is needed to clarify mechanisms between environmental as well as individual factors and possible dysregulation in a child's HPA axis functioning.

Structural brain correlates of non-verbal cognitive ability in 5-year-old children: Findings from the FinnBrain birth cohort study.

Non-verbal cognitive ability predicts multiple important life outcomes, for example, school and job performance. It has been associated with parieto-frontal cortical anatomy in prior studies in adult and adolescent populations, while young children have received relatively little attention. We explored the associations between cortical anatomy and non-verbal cognitive ability in 165 5-year-old participants (mean scan age 5.40 years, SD 0.13; 90 males) from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort study. T1-weighted brain magnetic resonance images were processed using FreeSurfer. Non-verbal cognitive ability was measured using the Performance Intelligence Quotient (PIQ) estimated from the Block Design and Matrix Reasoning subtests from the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-III). In vertex-wise general linear models, PIQ scores associated positively with volumes in the left caudal middle frontal and right pericalcarine regions, as well as surface area in left the caudal middle frontal, left inferior temporal, and right lingual regions. There were no associations between PIQ and cortical thickness. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine structural correlates of non-verbal cognitive ability in a large sample of typically developing 5-year-olds. The findings are generally in line with prior findings from older age groups, with the important addition of the positive association between volume / surface area in the right medial occipital region and non-verbal cognitive ability. This finding adds to the literature by discovering a new brain region that should be considered in future studies exploring the role of cortical structure for cognitive development in young children.

Mother-infant interaction and maternal postnatal psychological distress are associated with negative emotional reactivity among infants and toddlers- A FinnBrain Birth Cohort study.

Studies have reported mixed findings regarding the effects of mother-infant interaction and maternal distress on children's negative emotional reactivity. In the current study (N = 134 and 107), we examined the effects of maternal Emotional Availability (sensitivity, structuring, non-intrusiveness and non-hostility) and maternal psychological distress on negative reactivity among children in the FinnBrain birth cohort study. In addition, the possible moderating effect of mother-infant interaction on the associations between maternal psychological distress and children's negative reactivity was examined. We used questionnaires to asses maternal psychological distress, observations of mother-infant interaction and observations as well maternal reports of child temperament to overcome the key limitations of many studies relying on single-method assessments. Our results showed that higher maternal sensitivity and structuring at 8 months of child's age were associated with lower mother-reported negative reactivity among children at 24 months. Higher maternal postnatal distress associated with higher parent-reported negative reactivity in children at 12 and 24 months of age when the effects of prenatal distress and the quality of mother-infant interaction were controlled for. Mother-infant interaction and maternal psychological distress did not associate with observations of child negative reactivity. We found no moderation effects of mother-infant interaction regarding the associations between maternal distress and children's negative emotional reactivity. Our findings reflect the importance of developing interventions to reduce the maternal distress symptoms while enhancing maternal sensitivity and structuring to prevent the possible harmful effects of these on child negative reactivity.

Longitudinal patterns of alcohol use and psychological symptoms during COVID-19 pandemic and role of alexithymia: A latent transition analysis in the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has been posing widespread influence on mental well-being. However, research on the dynamic relations between alcohol use and psychological symptoms in the context of the pandemic and the role of alexithymic traits in predicting the development of mental health problems longitudinally remains scarce. METHODS: Latent profile and transition analyses were conducted to model the longitudinal patterns of transitions in the profiles of alcohol use and psychological symptoms across 10 months during the pandemic (from May 2020 to March 2021) and to investigate the role of alexithymia and its dimensions Difficulty Identifying and Describing Feelings (DIF and DDF), and Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT) in 720 parents from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study. RESULTS: Three profiles, Risky Drinking, Distressed Non-Risky Drinking, and Non-Distressed, Non-Risky Drinking, and their transitions were identified. The role of alexithymia appeared to be stronger in Risky Drinking than Non-Distressed, Non-Risky Drinking. DIF predicted the development of symptoms in Risky Drinking, whereas DDF predicted Risky Drinking remaining stable over time and showed a trend towards psychological distress in Risky Drinking and Non-Distressed, Non-Risky Drinking. EOT was more likely to be a risk factor for Risky Drinking remaining constant and Non-Distressed, Non-Risky Drinking becoming Risky Drinking. LIMITATIONS: This study was mainly limited by the generalizability of the findings. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings add deeper insights into the longitudinal development of alcohol use and psychological symptoms as well as evidence on the role of alexithymia in shaping mental health, providing implications for tailoring clinical preventive and therapeutic measures.

Investigating the role of relationship satisfaction and paternal psychological distress during pregnancy on offspring health in early life.

BACKGROUND: The research on the role of father in the foetal programming of health and behaviour has received increasing attention. However, the influences of paternal depressive symptoms and couple relationship satisfaction during pregnancy - potentially mediated via maternal well-being - on the offspring's risk of infections in early life is still seldom assessed. AIMS: The aim was to investigate if paternal psychological distress during pregnancy is associated with elevated risk of recurrent respiratory infections (RRIs) for offspring at 12 months of age, and whether maternal distress mediates the association between paternal distress and offspring RRIs. METHOD: The study population was drawn from the nested case-control cohort of the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study. Children with RRIs (n = 50) were identified by maternal reports at the age of 12 months, whereas mothers did not report RRIs for the comparison group (n = 716). Parental depressive symptoms were measured with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and couple relationship satisfaction was measured with the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale. RESULTS: The association between paternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy and offspring RRIs was mediated by maternal prenatal depressive symptoms. Additionally, paternal poorer relationship satisfaction was associated with child RRIs independently of maternal distress. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest different pathways through which paternal distress during pregnancy may contribute to elevated risk of offspring RRIs, and more research is needed to study their underlying mechanisms. Paternal distress and couple relationship satisfaction during pregnancy should be assessed and screened as a contributor to offspring health.

Association of cumulative prenatal adversity with infant subcortical structure volumes and child problem behavior and its moderation by a coexpression polygenic risk score of the serotonin system.

Prenatal adversity has been linked to later psychopathology. Yet, research on cumulative prenatal adversity, as well as its interaction with offspring genotype, on brain and behavioral development is scarce. With this study, we aimed to address this gap. In Finnish mother-infant dyads, we investigated the association of a cumulative prenatal adversity sum score (PRE-AS) with (a) child emotional and behavioral problems assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire at 4 and 5 years (N = 1568, 45.3% female), (b) infant amygdalar and hippocampal volumes (subsample N = 122), and (c) its moderation by a hippocampal-specific coexpression polygenic risk score based on the serotonin transporter (SLC6A4) gene. We found that higher PRE-AS was linked to greater child emotional and behavioral problems at both time points, with partly stronger associations in boys than in girls. Higher PRE-AS was associated with larger bilateral infant amygdalar volumes in girls compared to boys, while no associations were found for hippocampal volumes. Further, hyperactivity/inattention in 4-year-old girls was related to both genotype and PRE-AS, the latter partially mediated by right amygdalar volumes as preliminary evidence suggests. Our study is the first to demonstrate a dose-dependent sexually dimorphic relationship between cumulative prenatal adversity and infant amygdalar volumes.

Spillover effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on attitudes to influenza and childhood vaccines.

The current study sought to determine whether public perceptions of other vaccines and diseases than COVID-19 have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We longitudinally examined whether there had been a change from before the COVID-19 pandemic to during the pandemic in: (a) influenza vaccination behaviour and intentions; (b) the perceived benefit of childhood vaccines and influenza vaccines; (c) the perceived safety of childhood vaccines and influenza vaccines; (d) the perceived severity of measles and influenza; and (e) trust in healthcare professionals in two samples of Finnish adults (N = 205 in Study 1 and N = 197 in Study 2). The findings showed that during the pandemic, more people than before had received or wanted to receive the influenza vaccine. The respondents also believed that influenza was more dangerous during the pandemic and that vaccinations were safer and more beneficial. On the other hand, for childhood vaccines only perceived safety increased. Finally, in one of the studies, people had more confidence in medical professionals during the pandemic than they had before. Together, these findings imply a spillover of the COVID-19 pandemic on how people view other vaccines and illnesses.

Prenatal Stress and the Developing Brain: Postnatal Environments Promoting Resilience.

Heightened maternal stress during pregnancy is associated with atypical brain development and an elevated risk for psychopathology in offspring. Supportive environments during early postnatal life may promote brain development and reverse atypical developmental trajectories induced by prenatal stress. We reviewed studies focused on the role of key early environmental factors in moderating associations between prenatal stress exposure and infant brain and neurocognitive outcomes. Specifically, we focused on the associations between parental caregiving quality, environmental enrichment, social support, and socioeconomic status with infant brain and neurocognitive outcomes. We examined the evidence that these factors may moderate the effects of prenatal stress on the developing brain. Complementing findings from translational models, human research suggests that high-quality early postnatal environments are associated with indices of infant neurodevelopment that have also been associated with prenatal stress, such as hippocampal volume and frontolimbic connectivity. Human studies also suggest that maternal sensitivity and higher socioeconomic status may attenuate the effects of prenatal stress on established neurocognitive and neuroendocrine mediators of risk for psychopathology, such as hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning. Biological pathways that may underlie the effects of positive early environments on the infant brain, including the epigenome, oxytocin, and inflammation, are also discussed. Future research in humans should examine resilience-promoting processes in relation to infant brain development using large sample sizes and longitudinal designs. The findings from this review could be incorporated into clinical models of risk and resilience during the perinatal period and used to design more effective early programs that reduce risk for psychopathology.

Higher attention bias for fear at 8 months of age is associated with better socioemotional competencies during toddlerhood.

BACKGROUND: In previous studies, an attention bias for signals of fear and threat has been related to socioemotional problems, such as anxiety symptoms, and socioemotional competencies, such as altruistic behaviors in children, adolescents and adults. However, previous studies lack evidence about these relations among infants and toddlers. AIMS: Our aim was to study the association between the individual variance in attention bias for faces and, specifically, fearful faces during infancy and socioemotional problems and competencies during toddlerhood. STUDY DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: The study sample was comprised of 245 children (112 girls). We explored attentional face and fear biases at the age of 8 months using eye tracking and the face-distractor paradigm with neutral, happy and fearful faces and a scrambled-face control stimulus. Socioemotional problems and competencies were reported by parents with the Brief Infant and Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) when children were 24 months old. OUTCOME MEASURES AND RESULTS: A higher attentional fear bias at 8 months of age was related to higher levels of socioemotional competence at 24 months of age (ß = .18, p = .008), when infants' sex and temperamental affectivity, maternal age, education and depressive symptoms were controlled. We found no significant association between attentional face or fear bias and socioemotional problems. CONCLUSIONS: We found that the heightened attention bias for fearful faces was related to positive outcomes in early socioemotional development. Longitudinal study designs are needed to explore the changes in the relation between the attention bias for fear or threat and socioemotional development during early childhood.

Course of child social-emotional and sleep symptoms, parental distress and pandemic-related stressors during COVID-19.

Research on the longitudinal courses of child social-emotional symptoms and sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic within societies would be of key value for promoting child well-being in global crises. We characterized the course of children's social-emotional and sleep symptoms before and throughout the pandemic in a Finnish longitudinal cohort of 1825 5- to 9-year-old children (46% girls) with four follow-up points during the pandemic from up to 695 participants (spring 2020-summer 2021). Second, we examined the role of parental distress and COVID-related stressful events in child symptoms. Child total and behavioral symptoms increased in spring 2020 but decreased thereafter and remained stable throughout the rest of the follow-up. Sleep symptoms decreased in spring 2020 and remained stable thereafter. Parental distress was linked with higher child social-emotional and sleep symptoms. The cross-sectional associations between COVID-related stressors and child symptoms were partially mediated by parental distress. The findings propose that children can be protected from the long-term adverse influences of the pandemic, and parental well-being likely plays a mediating role between pandemic-related stressors and child well-being. Further research focusing on the societal and resilience factors underlying family and child responses to the pandemic is warranted.