Growing through adversity: the relation of early childhood educator post-traumatic growth to young children's executive function.

Introduction: Early childhood educators (ECEs) play a critical role in supporting the development of young children's executive functions (EF). EF, in turn, underpins lifelong resilience and well-being. Unfortunately, many ECEs report adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that may compound high stress levels associated with an emotionally and physically demanding profession. ACEs have well-established negative implications for adult well-being and may dampen ECEs' capacities to engage in emotionally responsive interactions with children. However, many individuals who experience ACEs also report post-traumatic growth experiences that foster empathy, self-determination, and resilience. Such post-traumatic growth may equip teachers with skills to engage in responsive interactions with children that support children's EF. The aim of this study was to explore the relations of ECE ACEs and post-traumatic growth to the EF of children in their classrooms. Methods: Fifty-three female ECEs self-reported on their ACEs and post-traumatic growth. Parents of 157 children (53% male, 47% female, M age = 4.38 years) rated children's EF. Results: In a set of linear mixed models that accounted for multiple demographic factors and ECE perceived workplace stressors, ECE ACEs were not significantly related to children's EF scores. However, controlling for ACEs, higher levels of ECE post-traumatic growth were associated with fewer parent-reported EF difficulties in children. Discussion: ECEs may draw on the coping skills they have developed in times of adversity to model and promote healthy EF for children. Mental health supports to facilitate ECEs' processing of their own trauma may be a fruitful means to foster positive early childhood environments that nurture the well-being and resilience of future generations.

The Longitudinal Contributions of Preschool Executive Functions and Early Math Abilities to Arithmetic Skills in Elementary School.

Executive functions (EFs) are linked to children's overall math performance, although few studies have considered the joint role of prior math abilities for specific math subskills, such as arithmetic. The current study examined the longitudinal contributions of preschool EFs and early math abilities to children's accuracy and reaction time on arithmetic problems. Two hundred and eighty-three children completed EF and numeracy assessments at 5.25 years old. Children completed an arithmetic problem task in first (Mage = 7.14), second (Mage = 8.09), and third grade (Mage = 9.08). Results indicated that preschool EFs and math abilities are uniquely linked to children's accuracy and reaction time at age 7, whereas preschool EFs alone continue to predict accuracy at age 8 and reaction time at age 9, even after accounting for intervening arithmetic performance. The study highlights the sustained, unique importance of early EFs for children's arithmetic acquisition.

Adenotonsillectomy for Snoring and Mild Sleep Apnea in Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: The utility of adenotonsillectomy in children who have habitual snoring without frequent obstructive breathing events (mild sleep-disordered breathing [SDB]) is unknown. Objectives: To evaluate early adenotonsillectomy compared with watchful waiting and supportive care (watchful waiting) on neurodevelopmental, behavioral, health, and polysomnographic outcomes in children with mild SDB. Design, Setting, and Participants: Randomized clinical trial enrolling 459 children aged 3 to 12.9 years with snoring and an obstructive apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) less than 3 enrolled at 7 US academic sleep centers from June 29, 2016, to February 1, 2021, and followed up for 12 months. Intervention: Participants were randomized 1:1 to either early adenotonsillectomy (n = 231) or watchful waiting (n = 228). Main Outcomes and Measures: The 2 primary outcomes were changes from baseline to 12 months for caregiver-reported Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) Global Executive Composite (GEC) T score, a measure of executive function; and a computerized test of attention, the Go/No-go (GNG) test d-prime signal detection score, reflecting the probability of response to target vs nontarget stimuli. Twenty-two secondary outcomes included 12-month changes in neurodevelopmental, behavioral, quality of life, sleep, and health outcomes. Results: Of the 458 participants in the analyzed sample (231 adenotonsillectomy and 237 watchful waiting; mean age, 6.1 years; 230 female [50%]; 123 Black/African American [26.9%]; 75 Hispanic [16.3%]; median AHI, 0.5 [IQR, 0.2-1.1]), 394 children (86%) completed 12-month follow-up visits. There were no statistically significant differences in change from baseline between the 2 groups in executive function (BRIEF GEC T-scores: -3.1 for adenotonsillectomy vs -1.9 for watchful waiting; difference, -0.96 [95% CI, -2.66 to 0.74]) or attention (GNG d-prime scores: 0.2 for adenotonsillectomy vs 0.1 for watchful waiting; difference, 0.05 [95% CI, -0.18 to 0.27]) at 12 months. Behavioral problems, sleepiness, symptoms, and quality of life each improved more with adenotonsillectomy than with watchful waiting. Adenotonsillectomy was associated with a greater 12-month decline in systolic and diastolic blood pressure percentile levels (difference in changes, -9.02 [97% CI, -15.49 to -2.54] and -6.52 [97% CI, -11.59 to -1.45], respectively) and less progression of the AHI to greater than 3 events/h (1.3% of children in the adenotonsillectomy group compared with 13.2% in the watchful waiting group; difference, -11.2% [97% CI, -17.5% to -4.9%]). Six children (2.7%) experienced a serious adverse event associated with adenotonsillectomy. Conclusions: In children with mild SDB, adenotonsillectomy, compared with watchful waiting, did not significantly improve executive function or attention at 12 months. However, children with adenotonsillectomy had improved secondary outcomes, including behavior, symptoms, and quality of life and decreased blood pressure, at 12-month follow-up. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02562040.

Teachers' Self-Efficacy and Perceptions of School Climate are Uniquely Associated with Students' Externalizing and Internalizing Behavior Problems.

Early externalizing and internalizing problems undermine children's school success and long-term well-being. Leveraging a large, U.S.-representative dataset (N ≈ 14,810), we examined how kindergarten teachers' self-efficacy and school climate perceptions were linked to students' behavior problems in kindergarten and first grade. Teachers' self-efficacy and school climate perceptions were uniquely linked to kindergarteners' externalizing and internalizing behaviors, after controlling for demographic covariates and children's executive functions. Kindergarten teachers' higher self-efficacy predicted lower levels of children's externalizing problems in first grade, while teachers' positive school climate perceptions predicted children's lower internalizing problems in first grade. Longitudinal models demonstrated that teachers' perceived school climate and self-efficacy were uniquely associated with decreases in children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors from kindergarten to first grade. Findings highlight the importance of teachers' self-efficacy and school climate for children's socio-emotional development and underscore an urgent need to determine how best to support teacher well-being to optimize children's outcomes.

Psychometric properties of a combined go/no-go and continuous performance task across childhood.

Despite the critical importance of attention for children's self-regulation and mental health, there are few task-based measures of this construct appropriate for use across a wide childhood age range including very young children. Three versions of a combined go/no-go and continuous performance task (GNG/CPT) were created with varying length and timing parameters to maximize their appropriateness for age groups spanning early to middle childhood. As part of the baseline assessment of a clinical trial, 452 children aged 3-12 years (50% male, 50% female; 52% White, non-Hispanic, 27% Black, 16% Hispanic/Latinx; 6% other ethnicity/race) completed the task. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that all task versions assessed two latent factors, labeled response inhibition and sustained attention. Versions for older children elicited lower overall accuracy while equating levels of inhibitory demand. All versions showed limited floor and ceiling effects, as well as developmental sensitivity. Boys showed higher commission error rates and children from lower income households showed lower performance across multiple task metrics. Task metrics, especially d prime and accuracy summary scores, correlated with parent-reported executive function and externalizing behavior. Task scores show promise as valid and sensitive indicators of inhibition and sustained attention across heterogeneous pediatric age groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Exploring the interplay of dopaminergic genotype and parental behavior in relation to executive function in early childhood.

Child genotype is an important biologically based individual difference conferring differential sensitivity to the effect of parental behavior. This study explored dopaminergic polygenic composite × parental behavior interactions in relation to young children's executive function. Participants were 135 36-month-old children and their mothers drawn from a prospective cohort followed longitudinally from pregnancy. A polygenic composite was created based on the number of COMT, DAT1, DRD2, and DRD4 alleles associated with increased reward sensitivity children carried. Maternal negative reactivity and responsiveness were coded during a series of structured mother-child interactions. Executive function was operationalized as self-control and working memory/inhibitory control. Path analysis supported a polygenic composite by negative reactivity interaction for self-control. The nature of the interaction was one of diathesis-stress, such that higher negative reactivity was associated with poorer self-control for children with higher polygenic composite scores. This result suggests that children with a higher number of alleles may be more vulnerable to the negative effect of negative reactivity. Negative reactivity may increase the risk for developing behavior problems in this population via an association with poorer self-control. Due to the small sample size, these initial findings should be treated with caution until they are replicated in a larger independent sample.

Simulating a Computational Biological Model, Rather Than Reading, Elicits Changes in Brain Activity during Biological Reasoning.

The creation and analysis of models is integral to all scientific disciplines, and modeling is considered a core competency in undergraduate biology education. There remains a gap in understanding how modeling activities may support changes in students' neural representations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of simulating a model on undergraduates' behavioral accuracy and neural response patterns when reasoning about biological systems. During brief tutorials, students (n = 30) either simulated a computer model or read expert analysis of a gene regulatory system. Subsequently, students underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while responding to system-specific questions and system-general questions about modeling concepts. Although groups showed similar behavioral accuracy, the Simulate group showed higher levels of activation than the Read group in right cuneal and postcentral regions during the system-specific task and in the posterior insula and cingulate gyrus during the system-general task. Students' behavioral accuracy during the system-specific task correlated with lateral prefrontal brain activity independent of instruction group. Findings highlight the sensitivity of neuroimaging methods for identifying changes in representations that may not be evident at the behavioral level. This work provides a foundation for research on how distinct pedagogical approaches may affect the neural networks students engage when reasoning about biological phenomena.

Children's neural responses to a novel mathematics concept.

BACKGROUND: Functional MRI studies have suggested a 'frontoparietal shift' over the course of development, whereby children tend to engage prefrontal neural regions to a greater extent than adults when completing mathematics tasks. Although this literature hints that lateral prefrontal regions may be involved in acquiring mathematics knowledge, a key limitation of existing studies is that they have included mathematics content that children already are familiar with as opposed to examining the dynamic learning process. We aimed to address this gap by examining children's neural responses when exposed to a new, unfamiliar mathematics concept. METHOD: Eighteen 8-11 year old children viewed blocked demonstrations of base-2/binary (unfamiliar) and base-10/decimal (familiar) number systems while undergoing functional MRI (fMRI). Children's behavioral understanding of binary numbers was measured between fMRI runs. RESULTS: Counter to hypotheses, there were no overall differences in prefrontal activity for binary relative to decimal blocks. However, children with higher levels of behavioral understanding of the novel, binary concept showed enhanced neural activity in the left rostral middle frontal gyrus specifically during binary concept exposure. They also showed enhanced connectivity between this region and pre-and post-central gyri and left parahippocampal regions. CONCLUSIONS: Individual differences in children's behavioral grasp of a new mathematics concept correlate with prefrontal activity and functional connectivity during exposure to the concept, suggesting that rostral prefrontal cortex may play a role in mathematics learning.

Dimension- and context-specific expression of preschoolers' disruptive behaviors associated with prenatal tobacco exposure.

OBJECTIVE: Precise phenotypic characterization of prenatal tobacco exposure (PTE)-related disruptive behavior (DB) that integrates nuanced measures of both exposures and outcomes is optimal for elucidating underlying mechanisms. Using this approach, our goals were to identify dimensions of DB most sensitive to PTE prior to school entry and assess contextual variation in these dimensions. METHODS: A community obstetric sample of N = 369 women (79.2% lifetime smokers; 70.2% pregnancy smokers) from two Midwestern cities were assessed for PTE using cotinine-calibrated interview-based reports at 16, 28, and 40 weeks of gestation. A subset of n = 244 who completed observational assessments with their 5-year-old children in a subsequent preschool follow-up study constitute the analytic sample. Using two developmentally-meaningful dimensions previously associated with emergent clinical risk for DB-irritability and noncompliance-we assessed children with 2 parent-report scales: the Multidimensional Assessment Profile of Disruptive Behavior (MAP-DB) and the Early Childhood Inventory (ECI). We also assessed children by direct observation across 3 interactional contexts with the Disruptive Behavior Diagnostic Observation Schedule (DB-DOS). We used generalized linear models to examine between-child variability across behavioral dimensions, and mixed effects models to examine directly observed within-child variability by interactional context. RESULTS: Increasing PTE predicted increasing impairment in preschoolers' modulation of negative affect (irritability), but not negative behavior (noncompliance) across reported (MAP-DB) and observed (DB-DOS) dimensional measures. Moreover, children's PTE-related irritability was more pronounced when observed with parents than with the examiner. The ECI did not detect PTE-related irritability nor noncompliance. CONCLUSIONS: Nuanced, dimension- and context-specific characterization of PTE-related DB described can optimize early identification of at-risk children.

The "eyes have it," but when in development?: The importance of a developmental perspective in our understanding of behavioral memory formation and the hippocampus.

Lynn Nadel has been a trailblazer in memory research for decades. In just one example, Nadel and Zola-Morgan [Infantile amnesia, In Infant memory, Springer, Boston, MA, 1984, pp. 145-172] were the first to present the provocative notion that the extended development of the hippocampus may underlie the period of infantile amnesia. In this special issue of Hippocampus to honor Lynn Nadel, we review some of his major contributions to the field of memory development, with an emphasis on his observations that behavioral memory assessments follow an uneven, yet protracted developmental course. We present data emphasizing this point from memory-related eye movements [Hannula & Ranganath, Neuron, 2009, 63(5), 592-599]. Eye tracking is a sensitive behavioral measure, allowing for an indication of memory function even without overt responses, which is seemingly ideal for the investigation of memory in early childhood or in other nonverbal populations. However, the behavioral manifestation of these eye movements follows a U-shaped trajectory-and one that must be understood before these indictors could be broadly used as a marker of memory. We examine the change in preferential looking time to target stimuli in school-aged children and adults, and compare these eye movement responses to explicit recall measures. Our findings indicate change in the nature and timing of these eye movements in older children, causing us to question how 6-month-old infants may produce eye movements that initially appear to have the same properties as those measured in adulthood. We discuss these findings in the context of our current understanding of memory development, particularly the period of infantile amnesia.

Socioeconomic status and executive function in early childhood: Exploring proximal mechanisms.

Although there is substantial evidence that socioeconomic status (SES) predicts children's executive function (EF), the mechanisms underlying this association are poorly understood. This study tested the utility of two theories proposed to link SES to children's EF: the family stress model and the family investment model. Data came from the Midwestern Infant Development Study (N = 151). To measure SES, parental education and income were assessed during pregnancy, and income was also assessed when children were 6 and 36 months old. Children's EF, operationalized as working memory/inhibitory control (WMIC) and self-control, was assessed at 36 months of age, along with potential mediators including maternal psychological distress, harsh parenting, and cognitive stimulation. Using structural equation modeling, we tested simultaneous pathways from SES to EF: (a) via maternal psychological distress to harsh parenting (family stress model) and (b) via cognitive stimulation (family investment model). Of the SES measures, lower education predicted poorer WMIC directly and indirectly via greater maternal psychological distress. Lower education also predicted poorer self-control via greater maternal psychological distress. This effect was partially suppressed by an indirect path from lower education to better self-control via greater psychological distress and increased harsh parenting. Cognitive stimulation did not act as a mediator. Income was not directly or indirectly associated with EF. These findings provide partial support for the family stress model and suggest that family functioning is an important proximal mechanism for children's EF development. This study also highlights the importance of considering SES as a multidimensional construct.

Does early maternal responsiveness buffer prenatal tobacco exposure effects on young children's behavioral disinhibition?

Children with prenatal tobacco exposure (PTE) exhibit early self-regulatory impairments, reflecting a life-course persistent propensity toward behavioral disinhibition. Previously, we demonstrated the protective role of parental responsiveness for reducing the risk of exposure-related disruptive behavior in adolescence. Here, we expanded this line of inquiry, examining whether responsiveness moderates the relation of PTE to a broader set of behavioral disinhibition features in early childhood and testing alternative diathesis-stress versus differential susceptibility explanatory models. PTE was assessed prospectively using interviews and bioassays in the Midwestern Infant Development Study (MIDS). Mother-child dyads (N = 276) were re-assessed at approximately 5 years of age in a preschool follow-up. We quantified maternal responsiveness and child behavioral disinhibition using a combination of directly observed activities in the lab and developmentally sensitive questionnaires. Results supported a diathesis-stress pattern. Children with PTE and less responsive mothers showed increased disruptive behavior and lower effortful control compared with children without PTE. In contrast, exposed children with more responsive mothers had self-regulatory profiles similar to their non-exposed peers. We did not observe sex differences. Findings provide greater specification of the protective role of maternal responsiveness for self-regulation in children with PTE and help clarify mechanisms that may underscore trajectories of exposure-related behavioral disinhibition.

Positive parenting behaviors in women who spontaneously quit smoking during pregnancy: Clues to putative targets for preventive interventions.

BACKGROUND: While the majority of pregnant smokers do not respond to intervention, little is known about how a subset of pregnant smokers known as spontaneous quitters achieve sustained biologically-confirmed abstinence through delivery in the absence of intervention. We explore a developmental framework to address this question by viewing spontaneous quitting as an adaptive parenting behavior, facilitated by abilities necessary for sensitive parenting, or responsiveness. Utilizing existing data, we examined responsiveness from parenting assessments in women who exhibited a variety of smoking patterns during pregnancy, including spontaneous quitting. METHODS: Participants were N = 305 pregnant women assessed for smoking prospectively and biochemically at 16 weeks, 28 weeks, delivery, and 4 weeks postpartum, then reassessed with their children 5 years later with directly-observed home- and lab-based measures of parenting. We used linear regression analysis to compare spontaneous quitters with women who exhibited other prenatal smoking patterns on parenting responsiveness, controlling for potential confounders. RESULTS: In home-based observations, spontaneous quitters (n = 22) exhibited greater responsiveness with their children relative to intermittent pregnancy smokers [n = 70; ß = 0.258, p = .022]; persistent pregnancy smokers [n = 66; ß = 0.228, p = .040]; former smokers (quit before pregnancy) [n = 78; ß = 266, p = .028]; and never smokers [n = 69; ß = 0.312, p = .009]. Hypothesized differences were not observed in lab-based and self-report measures. CONCLUSIONS: Putative protective characteristics in spontaneous quitters were captured in mother-child interactions at home, but not in lab-based and maternal report measures of responsiveness. Specification of these characteristics using prospective designs that oversample for spontaneous quitters is recommended to enable translation to preventive interventions.

Functional neural bases of numerosity judgments in healthy adults born preterm.

High rates of mathematics learning disabilities among individuals born preterm (<37weeksGA) have spurred calls for a greater understanding of the nature of these weaknesses and their neural underpinnings. Groups of healthy, high functioning young adults born preterm and full term (n=20) completed a symbolic and non-symbolic magnitude comparison task while undergoing functional MRI scanning. Collectively, participants showed activation in superior and inferior frontal and parietal regions previously linked to numeric processing when comparing non-symbolic magnitude arrays separated by small numeric distances. Simultaneous deactivation of the default mode network also was evident during these trials. Individuals born preterm showed increased signal change relative to their full term peers in right inferior frontal and parietal regions when comparing the non-symbolic magnitude arrays. Elevated signal change during non-symbolic task blocks was associated with poorer performance on a calculation task administered outside of the scanner. These findings indicate that healthy, high-functioning adults born preterm may recruit fronto-parietal networks more extensively when processing non-symbolic magnitudes, suggesting that approximate number system training may be an inroad for early intervention to prevent mathematics difficulties in this population.

The medial temporal memory system in Down syndrome: Translating animal models of hippocampal compromise.

Recent studies have highlighted the dentate gyrus as a region of increased vulnerability in mouse models of Down syndrome (DS). It is unclear to what extent these findings are reflected in the memory profile of people with the condition. We developed a series of novel tasks to probe distinct medial temporal functions in children and young adults with DS, including object, spatial, and temporal order memory. Relative to mental age-matched controls (n = 45), individuals with DS (n = 28) were unimpaired on subtests involving short-term object or configural recall that was divorced from spatial or temporal contexts. By contrast, the DS group had difficulty recalling spatial locations when contextual information was salient and recalling the order in which objects were serially presented. Results are consistent with dysfunction of spatial and temporal contextual pattern separation abilities in individuals with DS, mediated by the hippocampus, including the dentate gyrus. Amidst increasing calls to bridge human and animal work, the memory profile demonstrated here in humans with DS is strikingly similar to that of the Ts65Dn mouse model of DS. The study highlights the trisynaptic circuit as a potentially fruitful intervention target to mitigate cognitive impairments associated with DS.

Executive control goes to school: Implications of preschool executive performance for observed elementary classroom learning engagement.

The transition to elementary school is accompanied by increasing demands for children to regulate their attention and behavior within the classroom setting. Executive control (EC) may be critical for meeting these demands; however, few studies have rigorously examined the association between EC and observed classroom behavior. This study examined EC in preschool (age 5 years 3 months) as a predictor of classroom learning engagement behaviors in first grade, using a battery of performance-based EC tasks and live classroom observations in a longitudinal sample of 313 children. Multilevel modeling results indicated that stronger EC predicted more focused engagement and fewer task management and competing responses, controlling for socioeconomic status, child sex, and age at observations. Results suggest that early EC may support subsequent classroom engagement behaviors that are critical for successful transition to elementary school and long-term learning trajectories. (PsycINFO Database Record

Does MAOA increase susceptibility to prenatal stress in young children?

BACKGROUND: We previously demonstrated a gene-by-prenatal-environment interaction whereby the monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) modified the impact of prenatal tobacco exposure (PTE) on adolescent disruptive behavior (DB), with the MAOA risk genotype varying by sex. We extend this work by examining whether this mechanism is evident with another common adversity, prenatal stress exposure (PSE), and whether sex differences are present earlier in development in closer proximity to exposure. METHODS: Participants were 281 mothers and their 285 children derived from a prenatal cohort with in-depth prospective measures of PSE and PTE. We assessed DB at age 5 via dimensional developmentally-sensitive measurement. Analyses were stratified by sex based on prior evidence for sex differences. RESULTS: Concurrent stress exposure predicted DB in children (ß=0.310, p=0.001), while main effects of prenatal exposures were seen only in boys. We found a three-way interaction of MAOA×PSE×sex on DB (ß=0.813, p=0.022). Boys with MAOA-H had more DB as a function of PSE, controlling for PTE (ß=0.774, p=0.015), and as a function of PTE, controlling for PSE (ß=0.362, p=0.037). Boys with MAOA-L did not show this susceptibility. MAOA did not interact with PSE (ß=-0.133, p=0.561) nor PTE (ß=-0.144; p=0.505) in predicting DB in girls. Examination of gene-environment correlation (rGE) showed a correlation between paternal MAOA-L and daughters' concurrent stress exposure (r=-0.240, p=0.013). DISCUSSION: Findings underscore complex mechanisms linking genetic susceptibility and early adverse exposures. Replication in larger cohorts followed from the pregnancy through adolescence is suggested to elucidate mechanisms that appear to have varying developmental expression.

Executive function in children born preterm: Risk factors and implications for outcome.

Executive function (EF) refers to the set of cognitive processes involved in the self-regulation of emotion and goal-directed behavior. These skills and the brain systems that support them develop throughout childhood and are frequently compromised in preterm children, even in those with broadly average global cognitive ability. Risks for deficits in EF in preterm children and attendant problems in learning and psychosocial functioning are higher in those with more extreme prematurity, neonatal complications, and related brain abnormalities. Associations of higher levels of EF with more supportive home and school environments suggest a potential for attenuating these risks, especially with early identification. Further research is needed to understand how deficits in EF evolve in preterm children, refine assessment methods, and develop interventions that either promote the development of EF in this population or help children to compensate for these weaknesses.

Intersections between cardiac physiology, emotion regulation and interpersonal warmth in preschoolers: Implications for drug abuse prevention from translational neuroscience.

BACKGROUND: Early childhood is characterized by dramatic gains in emotion regulation skills that support social adjustment and mental health. Understanding the physiological substrates of healthy emotion regulation may offer new directions for altering trajectories toward initiation and escalation of substance abuse. Here, we describe the intersections between parasympathetic and sympathetic tone, emotion regulation and prosocial behavior in a high-risk sample of preschoolers. METHOD: Fifty-two 3-6 year old children completed an assessment of attention regulation in response to affective stimuli. Cardiac respiratory sinus arrhythmia, an index of parasympathetic tone, and pre-ejection period, a marker of sympathetic activation, were recorded at rest and while children engaged in social interactions with their mothers and an unfamiliar research assistant. Mothers reported on children's emotional reactivity and prosocial behavior. RESULTS: Controlling for age and psychosocial risk, higher parasympathetic tone predicted better attention regulation in response to angry emotion and higher levels of prosocial behavior, whereas a reciprocal pattern of higher parasympathetic tone and lower sympathetic arousal predicted better attention in response to positive emotion and lower emotional reactivity. Children exposed to fewer risk factors and higher levels of maternal warmth were more able to sustain a high level of parasympathetic tone during interaction episodes. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that autonomic measures represent biomarkers for socio-emotional competence in young children. They also point to the importance of early experiences in the establishment of physiological regulation and the promise of family-based intervention to promote healthy emotion regulation and prevent substance dependence in high-risk populations.

Attachment status and mother-preschooler parasympathetic response to the strange situation procedure.

BACKGROUND: Early attachment relationships are important for children's development of behavioral and physiological regulation strategies. Parasympathetic nervous system activity, indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), is a key indicator of self-regulation, with links to numerous developmental outcomes. Attachment-related changes in and associations between mother and child RSA during the Strange Situation procedure (SSP) can elucidate individual differences in physiological response to stress that are important for understanding the development of and intervention for psychopathology. METHODS: A sample of 142 at-risk mothers and preschool-age children participated in the SSP and provided time-synchronized RSA data during the 7 episodes, which included 2 separations and 2 reunions. Attachment classifications were obtained using the Cassidy et al. (1992) coding system. Linear mixed-effects models were constructed to examine attachment-related change in RSA during the SSP and the concordance between mother and child RSA over time. RESULTS: Findings demonstrated attachment-related differences in children's RSA. Secure children's RSA was relatively stable over time, whereas insecure-avoidant children showed RSA increases during the first separation and insecure-resistant children's RSA declined across the SSP. Mothers showed RSA withdrawal during separation regardless of child's attachment classification. Mother-child RSA showed a positive concordance that was strongest in the insecure-resistant group, compared with the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Results support attachment theories concerning parasympathetic response to stress and the role of the mother-child relationship in physiological regulation. Our findings advance previous research by focusing on at-risk mother-preschooler dyads within diverse attachment classifications.