Attachment stability and emotional and behavioral regulation from infancy to preschool age.

Relations between attachment and child emotional and behavioral regulation were studied longitudinally in a sample of 223 children from urban, low-income families. Attachment in the Strange Situation at 12 and 18 months was scored using the infant classification system and at 24 months was scored using a preschool classification system. Only modest stability was found in attachment whether within or across classification systems, with the percentage of insecure attachments consistently increasing over time. Results indicated both concurrent and predictive associations with indices of child regulation based on observer ratings or maternal report. However, only the 24-month classification predicted maternal report of externalizing and internalizing behavior problems at age 3.5 years. with additional variance accounted for by selected measures of child emotional and behavior regulation from the same assessment. Attachment security (B) and atypical attachment classifications (D, A/C, and AD) appear to provide the most consistently useful information about child functioning. Results are discussed in terms of continuity and change from the perspective of developmental psychopathology.

The development of early externalizing problems among children from low-income families: a transformational perspective.

The present study examined pathways leading to early externalizing problems from age 1 to 3 1/2 in a design that took advantage of our knowledge of normative progression and normative socialization as well as findings from research on risk. A sample of 130 low-income participants was followed longitudinally from 12 to 42 months using observational measures of developmentally salient parenting and child disruptive behavior to predict early externalizing problems. Results are best accommodated by concepts such as transformation and transaction from developmental psychology. For boys, both child and parent variables predicted later externalizing. For girls and boys, the interaction between child noncompliance and maternal rejection was significant.

Antecedents of preschool children's internalizing problems: a longitudinal study of low-income families.

OBJECTIVE: To examine antecedents of young children's internalizing problems using research related to emotion regulation to guide prediction. METHOD: Longitudinal data were collected on 86 low-income mother-child dyads to examine risk factors related to early internalizing problems as measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). RESULTS: The following risk factors, assessed during infancy, were related to the development of preschool-age internalizing problems: negative emotionality, disorganized attachment classification, negative life events, exposure to child-rearing disagreements, and parenting hassles. In addition, the interaction of high negative emotionality and exposure to parental conflict added unique variance to the prediction of scores on the CBCL Withdrawal and Depression/Anxiety subscales. CONCLUSIONS: Children's preschool-age internalizing problems can be identified during infancy from multiple domains related to the development of emotion regulation. Further longitudinal work is encouraged that incorporates direct measurement of children's negative emotionality, parenting, and family factors that influence both parenting and children's emotion regulation.

Self-perceptions, motivation, and school functioning of low-income maltreated and comparison children.

Maltreated children are at risk for disturbances and delays in their socioemotional and scholastic functioning. This study examined the impact of child maltreatment and age on perceptions of competence, and the relations among perceived competence, motivation, and school functioning. The sample included 76 school children living in poverty, approximately two-thirds of whom had been victims of child maltreatment. Results indicated that both maltreated and nonmaltreated children exhibited maladaptive motivational orientations toward scholastic tasks and poor academic performance, supporting the idea that threats to scholastic functioning reside as much within the ecology of poverty as in that of maltreatment. Over and above the general effects of poverty, maltreatment was found to disrupt the psychological processes accounting for children's scholastic performance. Results revealed that younger maltreated children (6- and 7-year-olds) reported more inflated self-perceptions of competence and social acceptance than nonmaltreated children. In contrast, older maltreated children (8- through 11-year-olds) reported lower perceived social acceptance than nonmaltreated children. Among older nonmaltreated children, perceived competence was positively related to teacher's ratings of their effort, intrinsic motivation, and grades. For older maltreated children, these relations among self-perceptions and school functioning were in the opposite direction from those of nonmaltreated children, suggesting that the determinants of academic engagement are different for maltreated and nonmaltreated children.

Infant attachment security and maternal predictors of early behavior problems: a longitudinal study of low-income families.

In a longitudinal study of 100 low-income, mother-infant dyads, assessments of infant attachment security and maternal responsivity, involvement, depressive symptomatology, and perceived infant difficulty were used to predict later behavior problems at age 3. Attachment insecurity was related to behavior problems at age 3 when all insecure classifications were combined into one group and when insecurity was maintained at 12 and 18 months. For boys only, maternal depressive symptoms and low maternal involvement were associated with age 3 behavior problems. For girls, perceived difficult temperament at ages 1 and 2 were associated with later problem behavior.

Chronic family adversity and early child behavior problems: a longitudinal study of low income families.

A beginning step in the prevention of child psychopathology is the identification of conditions associated with a disproportionately high incidence of behavior problems. Rutter and colleagues (British Journal of Psychiatry, 1975, 126, 493-509) have reported a dramatic increase in the probability of child adjustment difficulties as a function of multiple family stressors. However, few investigators have tested this association beginning in infancy. The present investigation examines this relationship at the ages of 1 and 2 with behavioral adjustment at age 3 among 100 low-income families. Broad support was found for the family adversity hypothesis, though sex differences were evident regarding individual correlates of problem behavior.

Chronic family adversity and infant attachment security.

A beginning step in the prevention of psychopathology in children is the identification of conditions and events associated with a disproportionately high incidence of behavior problems. Rutter, Cox, Tupling, Berger and Yule (1975a, British Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 493-509) have reported a dramatic increase in the probability of children's adjustment difficulties as a function of multiple family stressors. However, this association has never been tested with infants. Among instruments of infant behavior, attachment classification has been found to be a significant predictor of later adjustment problems, particularly among low-income samples. The present investigation examines the relation between six significant familial stressors and infant attachment security in a sample of 100 low-income parent-infant dyads. Family stressors included parental criminality, maternal depressive symptomatology, maternal personality risk, overcrowding in the home, and the quality of the relationship with a significant other. Cumulative family adversity was found to differentiate secure from insecure infants, but only among families with three or four stressors present. There also was moderate support for one hypothesis derived from attachment theory, namely that stressors more closely associated with maternal functioning are more common among families with insecurely attached infants. Conceptual links between stressors and attachment are discussed, including pathways by which chronic stressors may interfere with the formation and maintenance of secure mother-infant attachment relations.

Self-concept, motivation, and competence among preschoolers from maltreating and comparison families.

Maltreated children are at risk for impaired cognitive and school functioning. In this study, the role that home environment, self-concept, and mastery motivation play in this relation was investigated. Thirty-six preschool children and their mothers, representing three family backgrounds (12 low-income maltreating, 12 low-income comparison, 12 middle-income comparison), were assessed in a preschool/home study. Children from maltreating families scored lower than their peers on several measures of cognitive and physical competence and on ratings of motivation. At the same time, these children significantly overrated their physical competence, and self-ratings of competence and acceptance tended to be higher (and less realistic) than those of their low-income peers. An overall difference in developmental quality of the home environment of maltreating families was largely accounted for by socioeconomic status (SES), but the tendency of these homes to be less clean and safe remained significant even after SES was controlled. Various aspects of the home environment were associated with superior task performance, but not with motivation or self-perceptions. Whereas the general home environment may affect competence, relationship factors implicated in maltreatment may be more important in shaping self-concept and motivation.