— Family systems theory suggests the importance of the role of sibling relationships in the regulation of behavior and affect, not only as children develop but, in fact, throughout the life span. ...However, little research has been done on the potentially unique contributions that sibling relationships make to development. The 3 articles in this Special Section detail the existing literature on this topic and indicate important directions for further investigation.
Highlights • We mapped the developmental trajectories of baseline salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) and cortisol from 12 to 36 months of age. • The largest changes in both systems were seen in the second ...year of life, with sAA increasing and cortisol decreasing. • Children residing in poor households exhibited lower initial levels of sAA, but not cortisol. • Initial levels of sAA predicted higher levels of internalizing behaviors at 36 months and both initial levels of and total change in sAA predicted higher levels of externalizing behaviors at 36 months.
Using data from the longitudinal NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1364), this study examined the association between mothers' sensitivity and children's externalizing ...behavior from preschool to preadolescence. Externalizing behavior declined on average across this period with a slowing of this decline around middle childhood. Maternal sensitivity remained relatively stable on average, and there was significant variation across mothers. A decrease in maternal sensitivity from ages 3 to 11 was related to an increase in externalizing behavior from ages 4 to 12. A model-based test of the direction of the effect suggested that the association between changes in maternal sensitivity and externalizing behavior from ages 4 to 11 was driven by child effects on mothers and not vice-versa. Between late preschool age and preadolescence, the behavior problems of children appear to strongly influence the sensitive support of mothers. Practical implications were discussed in light of these findings.
► Externalizing behavior declines over time with a slowing down in middle childhood. ► Maternal sensitivity changes and child externalizing behavior changes are associated. ► Child externalizing behavior drives the relationship with maternal sensitivity.
This article examined teachers’ judgments of the prevalence and types of problems children present upon entering kindergarten. A large, national sample of teachers (
N = 3,595) was surveyed by using ...the
National Center for Early Development and Learning’s
Transition Practices Survey (1996)
. Teachers reported they perceived that 16% of children had difficult entries into kindergarten. Up to 46% of teachers reported that half their class or more had specific problems in any of a number of areas in kindergarten transition. Rates of perceived problems were related to school minority composition; district poverty level; and, for certain behaviors, school metropolitan status. The effects of these demographic characteristics were independent and additive. Teachers’ ethnicity showed a significant relation to their rates of reported problems. Results are discussed in terms of risk factors that predict transition problems and the match between children’s competencies and teacher’s expectations. These findings confirm the view that entering kindergarten is indeed a period of transition for children.
This research examined the child, parent, and family conditions under which attachment disorganization was related to both level and change in externalizing behavior during preschool among a ...community sample. Using the ordinary least squares regression, we found that attachment disorganization at 12 months significantly predicted children's externalizing behavior at 36 months and this prediction was not contingent on any other factors tested. For predicting changes in externalizing behavior from 36 to 60 months, we found a significant main effect of family cumulative risk and an interaction effect between attachment disorganization at 12 months and maternal sensitivity at 24 months. Specifically, high disorganization was related to a significant decrease in externalizing behavior from 36 to 60 months when maternal sensitivity at 24 months was high. Our main-effect findings replicated the significant effect of attachment disorganization and cumulative risk on externalizing behavior with preschool-aged children. Our interaction finding provided support for understanding the parenting conditions under which infant attachment disorganization may be related to change in externalizing behavior during preschool ages. Implications of the findings were discussed.
In the present study we investigated key sources of continuity and change from mother-child attachment security in early childhood (at 15, 24, and 36 months) to state of mind regarding attachment in ...late adolescence. Given the opportunity provided by the large longitudinal SECCYD sample that included assessments over time of important potential sources of change and continuity in attachment security, we were uniquely positioned to address this question. Moreover, although the SECCYD did not recruit a high-risk sample at birth, the relative socio-demographic breadth of the sample compared with the more uniform low-risk attachment samples studied by most other investigators is a clear advantage. Analyses included comparisons of those who changed from secure to insecure versus those who were stably secure; those who changed from insecure to secure versus those who were stably insecure, and (for reference) those who were stably secure versus those who were stably insecure. On the basis of theory and extant empirical evidence, we included, as predictors, assessments over time of observed maternal and paternal sensitivity, presence of the father in the home, maternal and paternal depression, and number of negative life events.
This study examined the relationship between mother and infant adrenocortical levels and reactivity to an emotion eliciting task. The impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) on these relationships ...was assessed as a moderator. The sample (
n
= 702 mother-infant dyads) was racially diverse and from predominantly low-income, rural communities. During a home visit, the dyad's saliva was sampled before, 20 min, and 40 min after standardized tasks designed to elicit the infant's emotional arousal and later assayed for cortisol. Mothers completed self-report measures of their partner's violence, and parenting behaviors were assessed via structured interview and mother-child interactions. In response to the task, infants had positive, and mothers had negative, cortisol slopes. Contrary to expectations, there were no IPV-related differences in mean pretask cortisol levels or reactivity in the mothers or infants. Mother-infant dyads from households characterized by either (1) violence or (2) restrictive and punitive parenting behaviors exhibited correlated cortisol reactivity measured in response to the infant challenge task. The findings suggest that social contextual features of the early caregiving environment may influence individual differences in the
coordination
between maternal and infant adrenocortical reactivity.
Full text
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CEKLJ, FFLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PEFLJ
This study investigated the interaction between children's parasympathetic functioning and maternal sensitive parenting behaviors during infancy and toddlerhood in the prediction of children's ...executive functions (EF) at the age of 5 years. Participants included 137 children and their mothers who were followed from the age of 3 months to 5 years. Children's cardiac activity was recorded at rest at multiple times from ages 3 to 36 months, and estimates of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; a measure of parasympathetic functioning) were calculated. Sensitive parenting was assessed during a mother–child play task at ages 6, 12, 24, and 36 months, and 5 years. Children completed age appropriate EF tasks at the age of 5 years. The link between sensitive parenting during toddlerhood (ages 24 and 36 months) and children's later EF was moderated by children's RSA such that this positive link was evident only among children who had low levels of baseline RSA, and not among those who had high levels of baseline RSA. These findings were obtained while controlling for concurrent sensitive parenting and maternal and child verbal abilities. Results from this study provide evidence for the significant role of biopsychosocial processes in early childhood in the development of EF.
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