Development and Assessment of Short and Very Short Forms of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire–Revised

Effectiveness of Digital Guided Self-help Mindfulness Training During Pregnancy on Maternal Psychological Distress and Infant Neuropsychological Development: Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND

Maternal psychological distress during pregnancy is associated with unfavorable outcomes in infants. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can effectively alleviate psychological distress, but there are often barriers to the access of face-to-face interventions.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a digital guided self-help (GSH) MBI (GSH-MBI) in reducing maternal psychological distress and improving infant neuropsychological performance.

METHODS

This was a randomized controlled trial. We recruited 160 women who were 12 to 20 weeks pregnant and exhibited psychological distress. We randomized them into a digital GSH-MBI group and a control group (usual perinatal care). The digital GSH-MBI consisted of a 6-week intervention through a WeChat mini program, with a daily reminder sent to the participants by a research assistant via WeChat. The primary outcomes consisted of maternal psychological distress, including depression, anxiety, and pregnancy-related anxiety symptoms, which were assessed at 6 time points from baseline to 6 months post partum (only pregnancy-related anxiety symptoms were assessed 3 times during pregnancy). The secondary outcomes were infant neuropsychological outcomes, including temperament and developmental behaviors, which were assessed at 6 weeks and 6 months post partum.

RESULTS

Compared with the control group, the digital GSH-MBI group showed a significant reduction in depression, anxiety, and pregnancy-related anxiety symptoms. In addition, the scores of the digital GSH-MBI group were lower than those of the control group for the 3 types of infant temperament at 6 weeks post partum, including quality of mood, distractibility, and adaptability.

CONCLUSIONS

Digital GSH-MBIs are effective in alleviating psychological distress among pregnant women and protecting infant outcomes.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Chinese Clinical Trial Register ChiCTR2000040717; https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=65376.

The effect of maternal empathy on infants' attachment security: Moderation by maternal emotion regulation and infant temperament

This study examined the relationship between maternal empathy and infants' attachment security and tested the moderating effects of maternal emotion regulation and infant negative emotional temperament. Participants were sampled from 215 families whose infants were 6 months old (T1) and from 170 families of the same cohort whose infants were 14 months old (T2). At T1, mothers were measured for their empathy (empathic concern and perspective taking), emotion regulation (reappraisal and suppression), and infant negative emotional temperament (sadness, falling reactivity, fear, and distress to limitations). At T2, mothers were again measured for their emotion regulation, and infant attachment was measured using the Strange Situation Procedure. Maternal empathic concern (EC) and perspective taking (PT) were found to be positively related to infant attachment security, while maternal reappraisal and infant temperamental sadness moderated the relationship between maternal PT and infant attachment security. No significant moderation effects were found between maternal EC and infant attachment security. Simple slope results showed that for infants with higher maternal reappraisal or infant sadness, maternal PT could positively predict infant attachment security. These findings highlight the importance of how the individual characteristics of mothers and infants may interact with maternal empathy during the critical period of infant attachment formation.

Relationships between parental responsive feeding and infant appetitive traits: The moderating role of infant temperament

Introduction

Between the ages of 6 and 12 months is a crucial stage for children to develop appetitive self-regulation. Evidence suggests that a combination of parental responsive feeding and infant temperament (surgency, effortful control, negative affect) shapes infant appetitive traits (food approach, food avoidance). There is a need for research to explore these relationships, in order to provide guidance for the design of an effective intervention to improve appetitive traits. The objective of the current study was to explore the moderating role of infant temperament in the relationship between parental responsive feeding and infant appetitive traits.

Methods

A total of 616 questionnaires, measuring parental responsive feeding, infant appetitive traits, and infant temperament, were collected from parents with infants aged 6-12 months.

Results

Results revealed that responsive feeding was associated with both food approach and food avoidance. Furthermore, only lower levels of surgency significantly moderated the relationship between responsive feeding and food approach, while responsive feeding was associated with food avoidance irrespective of infant temperament.

Discussion

These findings suggest that a strategy embedding responsive feeding interventions should be adopted to reduce infant food avoidance and low-surgent infant food approach, and interventions that are tailored toward food approach for infants with effortful control, negative affect, or higher levels of surgency should be further sought.

Responding to distressed infants: Does mothers' positive versus negative affect matter for infants' behavior and physiology?

How mothers respond to infants' distress has implications for infants' development of self-regulation and social competence. In a sample of 35 mothers and their 4- to 8-month-old infants, we induced infant distress using an arm restraint task and compared infants' observed affect and physiological responses under two conditions, when mothers were instructed to respond with: 1) positive affect and 2) negative affect. Based on theoretical and empirical support, we empirically evaluated two opposing hypotheses. Based on the Mutual Regulation Model and work on affect matching, we predicted that when mothers respond with negative affect versus positive affect, distressed infants' duration of negative affect would be smaller, negative affect would be less intense, and respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA) withdrawal would be lower. Based on social referencing theory and research, we expected that when mothers respond with positive affect versus negative affect, distressed infants' duration of negative affect would be smaller, negative affect would be less intense, and RSA withdrawal would be lower. We found that when mothers responded to their distressed infants with negative affect versus positive affect, infants spent significantly more time in negative affect, their intensity of expressed negative affect was greater, and their RSA withdrawal was greater, suggesting that mothers' display of mild positive affect when infants are distressed may be helpful for infants. The current findings add to accumulating evidence that mothers' positive relative to negative affective response to their infants' distress can produce observable differences in infants' duration and intensity of negative affect, as well as their physiology. Findings have the potential to inform future research that investigates how mothers can most effectively reduce their infants' distress and intervention that targets the moment-to-moment behaviors in mother-infant reciprocal interactions.

Postnatal maternal distress, infant subcortical brain macrostructure and emotional regulation

BACKGROUND

Maternal distress is associated with an increased risk for adverse emotional development in infants, including difficulties with emotion regulation. Prenatal maternal distress has been associated with alterations in infant brain development. However, less is known about these associations with postnatal maternal distress, despite this being an important modifiable risk factor that can promote healthy brain development and emotional outcomes in infants.

METHODS & RESULTS

Infants underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and mothers completed standardized questionnaires concerning their levels of perceived distress 2-5 months postpartum. Infant emotion regulation was assessed at 8-11 months via maternal report. When examining the associations between maternal distress and infant macrostructure, maternal anxiety was associated with infant right pallidum volumes. Increased display of negative emotions at 8-11 months of age was associated with smaller hippocampal volumes and this association was stronger in girls than boys.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggest that postnatal maternal distress may be associated with early infant brain development and emphasize the importance of maternal mental health, supporting previous work. Furthermore, macrostructural properties of infant subcortical structures may be further investigated as potential biomarkers to identify infants at risk of adverse emotional outcomes.

Pandemic beyond the virus: maternal COVID-related postnatal stress is associated with infant temperament

BACKGROUND

Studies have shown that infant temperament varies with maternal psychosocial factors, in utero illness, and environmental stressors. We predicted that the pandemic would shape infant temperament through maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy and/or maternal postnatal stress. To test this, we examined associations among infant temperament, maternal prenatal SARS-CoV-2 infection, maternal postnatal stress, and postnatal COVID-related life disruptions.

METHODS

We tested 63 mother-infant dyads with prenatal maternal SARS-CoV-2 infections and a comparable group of 110 dyads without infections. To assess postnatal maternal stress, mothers completed the Perceived Stress Scale 4 months postpartum and an evaluation of COVID-related stress and life disruptions 6 months postpartum. Mothers reported on infant temperament when infants were 6-months-old using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) Very Short Form.

RESULTS

Maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy was not associated with infant temperament or maternal postnatal stress. Mothers with higher self-reported postnatal stress rated their infants lower on the Positive Affectivity/Surgency and Orienting/Regulation IBQ-R subscales. Mothers who reported greater COVID-related life disruptions rated their infants higher on the Negative Emotionality IBQ-R subscale.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite no effect of prenatal maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection, stress and life disruptions incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with infant temperament at 6-months.

IMPACT

SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy is not associated with postnatal ratings of COVID-related life disruptions, maternal stress, or infant temperament. Postnatal ratings of maternal stress during the COVID-19 pandemic are associated with normative variation in maternal report of infant temperament at 6 months of age. Higher postnatal ratings of maternal stress are associated with lower scores on infant Positive Affectivity/Surgency and Orienting/Regulation at 6 months of age. Higher postnatal ratings of COVID-related life disruptions are associated with higher scores on infant Negative Emotionality at 6 months of age.

Prosocial behavior in toddlerhood and early childhood: Consistency across subtypes and over time

Introduction

Young children show their capacity for compassion and their desire to enhance the welfare of others in multiple ways. The present study sought to address gaps in knowledge regarding prosociality in the early years. Specifically, the study examined whether different subtypes of prosociality are interrelated, whether they are consistent over time, as well as the meaning of young children's spontaneous versus cued prosocial behavior.

Methods

In a longitudinal sample (N = 151), three subtypes of prosocial behavior-instrumental helping, compassionate helping (comforting), and sharing-were assessed using behavioral tasks in toddlerhood (18 months) and early childhood (36 months).

Results

Consistent with hypothesis, partial convergence was found between the different prosociality subtypes at each age. There was also modest continuity over time, both within and across prosocial subtypes. Moreover, at both ages, when children helped or shared spontaneously, they also provided more assistance in the task. Children's tendency to assist spontaneously was partially consistent across situations by early childhood.

Discussion

The findings indicate that a moderately stable disposition toward prosociality is already evident during early ontogeny. Moreover, different subtypes of prosocial behavior are distinct yet interrelated in the early years, suggesting they have both common and unique underlying mechanisms. Lastly, young children's spontaneous (versus cued) prosocial action appears to reflect both motivational and cognitive processes.

Fact-based nutrition for infants and lactating mothers-The NUTRISHIELD study

Background

Human milk (HM) is the ideal source of nutrients for infants. Its composition is highly variable according to the infant's needs. When not enough own mother's milk (OMM) is available, the administration of pasteurized donor human milk (DHM) is considered a suitable alternative for preterm infants. This study protocol describes the NUTRISHIELD clinical study. The main objective of this study is to compare the % weight gain/month in preterm and term infants exclusively receiving either OMM or DHM. Other secondary aims comprise the evaluation of the influence of diet, lifestyle habits, psychological stress, and pasteurization on the milk composition, and how it modulates infant's growth, health, and development.

Methods and design

NUTRISHIELD is a prospective mother-infant birth cohort in the Spanish-Mediterranean area including three groups: preterm infants <32 weeks of gestation (i) exclusively receiving (i.e., >80% of total intake) OMM, and (ii) exclusively receiving DHM, and (iii) term infants exclusively receiving OMM, as well as their mothers. Biological samples and nutritional, clinical, and anthropometric characteristics are collected at six time points covering the period from birth and until six months of infant's age. The genotype, metabolome, and microbiota as well as the HM composition are characterized. Portable sensor prototypes for the analysis of HM and urine are benchmarked. Additionally, maternal psychosocial status is measured at the beginning of the study and at month six. Mother-infant postpartum bonding and parental stress are also examined. At six months, infant neurodevelopment scales are applied. Mother's concerns and attitudes to breastfeeding are registered through a specific questionnaire.

Discussion

NUTRISHIELD provides an in-depth longitudinal study of the mother-infant-microbiota triad combining multiple biological matrices, newly developed analytical methods, and ad-hoc designed sensor prototypes with a wide range of clinical outcome measures. Data obtained from this study will be used to train a machine-learning algorithm for providing dietary advice to lactating mothers and will be implemented in a user-friendly platform based on a combination of user-provided information and biomarker analysis. A better understanding of the factors affecting milk's composition, together with the health implications for infants plays an important role in developing improved strategies of nutraceutical management in infant care.

Clinical trial registration

https://register.clinicaltrials.gov, identifier: NCT05646940.

The effect of perinatal interventions on parent anxiety, infant socio-emotional development and parent-infant relationship outcomes: A systematic review

Background

Infants of parents with perinatal anxiety are at elevated likelihood of experiencing disruption in the parent-infant relationship, as well as difficulties with socio-emotional functioning in later development. Interventions delivered in the perinatal period have the potential to protect the early dyadic relationship and support infants' ongoing development and socio-emotional outcomes. This review primarily aimed to examine the efficacy of perinatal interventions on parent anxiety, infant socio-emotional development/temperament, and parent-infant relationship outcomes. Secondarily, the review sought to understand how interventions focused principally on one member of the dyad affected the outcomes of the other, and which intervention components were common to successful interventions.

Method

Five electronic databases as well as manual search procedures were used to identify randomised controlled trials according to a PICO eligibility criteria framework. Risk of bias assessments were undertaken, and a narrative synthesis was conducted. The review was pre-registered on PROSPERO (CRD42021254799).

Results

Twelve studies were analysed in total, including five interventions focused on the adult, and seven interventions focused on the infant, or the infant's relationship with their parent. Interventions incorporating cognitive behavioural strategies for affective disorders showed reductions in parent anxiety (N = 3), and interventions focusing on altering distorted maternal internal representations showed positive change in parent-child dyadic interactions, and infant outcomes (N = 2). Evidence that interventions focused on one partner of the dyad led to improved outcomes for the other partner was limited. However, evidence was of mixed methodological quality.

Conclusions

It is important to integrate both parents and infants into treatment programmes for perinatal anxiety. Implications for clinical practice and future intervention trials are discussed.

Coupling between prefrontal brain activity and respiratory sinus arrhythmia in infants and adults

Self-regulation is an essential aspect of healthy child development. Even though infants depend on their caregivers for co-regulation during the first years, they begin to gain regulatory abilities through social interactions as well as their own developing agency and inhibitory control. These early regulatory abilities continue to increase with the development of both the prefrontal cortex and the vagal system. Importantly, theoretical accounts have suggested that the prefrontal cortex and the vagal system are linked through forward and backward feedback loops via the limbic system. Decreased coupling within this link is suggested to be associated with psychopathology. The primary goal of this study was to examine whether intrapersonal coupling of prefrontal brain activity and respiratory sinus arrhythmia is evident in infancy. Using the simultaneous assessment of functional near-infrared spectroscopy and electrocardiography, we used Cross-Recurrence Quantification Analysis to assess the coupling of prefrontal brain activity and respiratory sinus arrhythmia in 69 4- to 6-month-old infants and their mothers during a passive viewing condition. However, we did not find significant coupling between the PFC and RSA in infants and adult caregivers. Future studies could examine social contexts associated with greater emotional reactivity to deepen our understanding of the pathways involved in self-regulation.

Intensity of Maternal Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Pregnancy Is Associated with Infant Emotional Regulation Problems

This study aimed to investigate the effects of the intensity and directionality of antenatal maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms on infant negative affectivity and crying, also taking into account potential confounders. The role of socioeconomic status (SES) as a possible moderating factor of the association between antenatal maternal distress and infant negative outcomes was also explored. More than one hundred women filled in the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to assess depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively, during the third trimester of pregnancy and three months after delivery. Mothers also filled in the Infant Behavior Questionnaire and a parental diary to evaluate negative affectivity and crying, respectively, when their infants were 3 months old. SES was assessed through the Hollingshead classification. The intensity of antenatal maternal symptoms and SES were associated with infant negative affectivity, but not with crying. However, SES moderated the association between the intensity of maternal symptoms and infant crying. The direction of maternal symptoms (anxiety versus depression) was not associated with both infant negative affectivity and crying. Our findings contribute to elucidating the role played by the intensity of maternal stress in pregnancy-alone and in interaction with SES-in determining individual differences in infant emotional regulation, thus emphasizing the importance of timely psychological interventions for pregnant women who experience psychological distress.

Relations between bedtime parenting behaviors and temperament across 14 cultures

Objectives

The present study examined parental sleep-supporting practices during toddlerhood in relation to temperament across 14 cultures. We hypothesized that passive sleep-supporting techniques (e.g., talking, cuddling), but not active techniques (e.g., walking, doing an activity together), would be associated with less challenging temperament profiles: higher Surgency (SUR) and Effortful Control (EC) and lower Negative Emotionality (NE), with fine-grained dimensions exhibiting relationships consistent with their overarching factors (e.g., parallel passive sleep-supporting approach effects for dimensions of NE).

Methods

Caregivers (N = 841) across 14 cultures (M = 61 families per site) reported toddler (between 17 and 40 months of age; 52% male) temperament and sleep-supporting activities. Utilizing linear multilevel regression models and group-mean centering procedures, we assessed the role of between- and within-cultural variance in sleep-supporting practices in relation to temperament.

Results

Both within-and between-culture differences in passive sleep-supporting techniques were associated with temperament attributes, (e.g., lower NE at the between-culture level; higher within-culture EC). For active techniques only within-culture effects were significant (e.g., demonstrating a positive association with NE). Adding sleep-supporting behaviors to the regression models accounted for significantly more between-culture temperament variance than child age and gender alone.

Conclusion

Hypotheses were largely supported. Findings suggest parental sleep practices could be potential targets for interventions to mitigate risk posed by challenging temperament profiles (e.g., reducing active techniques that are associated with greater distress proneness and NE).

The Pandemial babies: effects of maternal stress on temperament of babies gestated and born during the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic may configure an adverse prenatal context for early development. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of pandemic-related negative experiences, prenatal anxiety and depression on the temperament of six-month-old babies. The sample consisted of 105 mother-child dyads. A longitudinal evaluation was carried out using pre- and postnatal online surveys. Mothers completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory - II, the Pandemic Impact Questionnaire and the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Revised. Serial mediation models were tested, in which the pandemic-related negative experiences constituted the independent variable, the prenatal anxiety and depression were the mediators, and the children's temperament dimensions were the dependent variables. Pandemic-related negative experiences were indirectly associated with the offspring's negative affect and surgency through anxious symptomatology, which acted as a mediating variable. This was the first study to identify the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on temperament. Such an adverse context implies risks for child development. Public health policies aiming to evaluate socioemotional variables during early childhood become necessary to allow on-time interventions for lessening these risks.

The development of the gut microbiome and temperament during infancy and early childhood: A systematic review

Temperament in early childhood is a good predictor of later personality, behavior, and risk of psychopathology. Variation in temperament can be explained by environmental and biological factors. One biological mechanism of interest is the gut microbiome (GM), which has been associated with mental and physical health. This review synthesized existing literature evaluating the relationship between GM composition and diversity, and temperament in early life. Web of Science, PsycInfo, PubMed, and Scopus were searched, and data were extracted according to PRISMA guidelines. In total, 1562 studies were identified, of which six remained following application of exclusion/inclusion criteria. The findings suggest that there is an association between higher alpha diversity and temperament: greater Surgency/Extraversion and High-Intensity Pleasure in males, and lower Effortful Control in females. Unique community structures (beta diversity) were found for Surgency/Extraversion in males and Fear in females. An emerging pattern of positive temperament traits being associated with GM communities biased toward short-chain fatty acid production from a metabolism based on dietary fiber and complex carbohydrates was observed and is worthy of further investigation. To gain deeper understanding of the relationship, future research should investigate further the functional aspects of the microbiome and the influence of diet.

Empathy for others versus for one's child: Associations with mothers' brain activation during a social cognitive task and with their toddlers' functioning

Caregivers who are higher in dispositional empathy tend to have children with better developmental outcomes; however, few studies have considered the role of child-directed (i.e., "parental") empathy, which may be relevant for the caregiver-child relationship. We hypothesized that mothers' parental empathy during their child's infancy will be a stronger predictor of their child's social-emotional functioning as a toddler than will mothers' dispositional empathy. We further explored whether parental and dispositional empathy have shared or distinct patterns of neural activation during a social-cognitive movie-watching task. In 118 mother-infant dyads, greater parental empathy assessed when infants were 6 months old was associated with more social-emotional competencies and fewer problems in the children 1 year later, even after adjusting for dispositional empathy. In contrast, dispositional empathy was not associated with child functioning when controlling for parental empathy. In a subset of 20 mothers, insula activation was positively associated with specific facets of both dispositional and parental empathy, whereas right temporoparietal junction activation was associated only with parental empathy. Thus, dispositional and parental empathy appear to be dissociable by both brain and behavioral metrics. Parental empathy may be a viable target for interventions, especially for toddlers at risk for developing social-emotional difficulties.

Prenatal exposure to air pollution and maternal stress predict infant individual differences in reactivity and regulation and socioemotional development

BACKGROUND

Humans are ubiquitously exposed to air pollutants including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Although most studies of prenatal exposures have focused on psychopathology in childhood or adolescence, the effects of air pollutants on early emerging individual differences in reactivity and regulation are of growing concern. Our study is the first to report effects of prenatal exposure to PAH and maternal stress on infant reactivity and regulation.

METHODS

Participants included 153 infants (74 girls and 79 boys). Prenatal exposure to PAH was measured via personal air monitoring during the third trimester of pregnancy. Maternal perceived stress was measured via self-report. We assessed infant orienting/regulation (OR), surgency (SE), and negative affectivity (NA) at 4 months using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire. We measured infant socioemotional outcomes at 12 months using the Brief Infant-Toddler Social & Emotional Assessment Questionnaire.

RESULTS

Infants with higher prenatal PAH exposure and of mothers with higher stress had lower OR at 4 months, which predicted lower competence at 12 months. Infants with higher prenatal PAH exposure had lower SE at 4 months, which predicted more behavioral problems at 12 months. Prenatal exposure to PAH had no effects on infant NA at 4 months, although NA was associated with greater behavioral problems at 12 months.

CONCLUSIONS

Infant reactivity and regulation, as early makers of child psychopathology, can facilitate timely and targeted screening and possibly prevention of disorders caused, in part, by environmental pollution. A multifaceted approach to improve environmental quality and reduce psychosocial stress is necessary to improve the developmental outcomes of children and most specially children from disadvantaged communities that disproportionately experience these environmental exposures.

Conceptual comparison of constructs as first step in data harmonization: Parental sensitivity, child temperament, and social support as illustrations

This article presents a strategy for the initial step of data harmonization in Individual Participant Data syntheses, i.e., making decisions as to which measures operationalize the constructs of interest - and which do not. This step is vital in the process of data harmonization, because a study can only be as good as its measures. If the construct validity of the measures is in question, study results are questionable as well. Our proposed strategy for data harmonization consists of three steps. First, a unitary construct is defined based on the existing literature, preferably on the theoretical framework surrounding the construct. Second, the various instruments used to measure the construct are evaluated as operationalizations of this construct, and retained or excluded based on this evaluation. Third, the scores of the included measures are recoded on the same metric. We illustrate the use of this method with three example constructs focal to the Collaboration on Attachment Transmission Synthesis (CATS) study: parental sensitivity, child temperament, and social support. This process description may aid researchers in their data pooling studies, filling a gap in the literature on the first step of data harmonization.•Data harmonization in studies using combined datasets is of vital importance for the validity of the study results.•We have developed and illustrated a strategy on how to define a unitary construct and evaluate whether instruments are operationalizations of this construct as the initial step in the harmonization process.•This strategy is a transferable and reproducible method to apply to the data harmonization process.

Assessing the relationship between maternal risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and functional connectivity in their biological toddlers

BACKGROUND

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with increased risk for poor educational attainment and compromised social integration. Currently, clinical diagnosis rarely occurs before school-age, despite behavioral signs of ADHD in very early childhood. There is no known brain biomarker for ADHD risk in children ages 2-3 years-old.

METHODS

The current study aimed to investigate the functional connectivity (FC) associated with ADHD risk in 70 children aged 2.5 and 3.5 years via functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in bilateral frontal and parietal cortices; regions involved in attentional and goal-directed cognition. Children were instructed to passively watch videos for approximately 5 min. Risk for ADHD in each child was assessed via maternal symptoms of ADHD, and brain data was evaluated for FC.

RESULTS

Higher risk for maternal ADHD was associated with lower FC in a left-sided parieto-frontal network. Further, the interaction between sex and risk for ADHD was significant, where FC reduction in a widespread bilateral parieto-frontal network was associated with higher risk in male, but not female, participants.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest functional organization differences in the parietal-frontal network in toddlers at risk for ADHD; potentially advancing the understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the development of ADHD.

Infant Age Moderates Associations between Infant Temperament and Maternal Technology Use during Infant Feeding and Care

Previous research illustrated that infants' temperamental traits shape parents' behaviors, but parents' behaviors can also elicit or intensify infants' behaviors in ways that shape temperament. One understudied aspect of parenting that may exhibit bidirectional influences with temperament is parent technology use (e.g., use of mobile devices) within family contexts. To date, few studies have examined whether maternal technology use is associated with infant temperament and whether age-related differences in these associations exist. The present study was a secondary analysis of pooled data from three infant feeding studies. Mothers (n = 374) of young infants (age 16.2 ± 6.2 weeks) completed measures of maternal technology use during infant feeding and care interactions, infant temperament, and family demographics. Maternal technology use was positively associated with negative affectivity and negatively associated with orienting/regulatory capacity but was not associated with positive affectivity/surgency. The association between maternal technology use and negative affectivity was stronger for younger infants than older infants, while the association between maternal technology use and orienting/regulatory capacity was not significant for younger infants but was for older infants. Findings suggest maternal technology use is associated with infant negative affectivity and orienting/regulatory capacity, but the strength of these associations may change with infant age. Further longitudinal research is needed to verify this interpretation and understand mechanisms underlying these associations.

Validation of the PCQ-5: A Short Form to Measure State Positive Psychological Capital

Positive psychological capital (PsyCap) is a key measure of workplace positivity, yet its organizational impact may be somewhat limited by current measurement practices. Given its state-like and malleable nature, organizations need accurate yet brief measures to allow for repeated measurement of PsyCap. A very short PsyCap instrument could be used in various ways by organizations to measure and track employee positivity, thus enabling management to make decisions with more insight. Similarly, for researchers, a much shorter scale could dramatically improve research efficiency and response rate, opening up new perspectives in PsyCap research. In this paper, initial evidence is provided for the validity of a short PsyCap measure across multiple samples of working adult populations ( N = 1331 in total) from four different countries (United States, China, Germany, and Hungary). Consistent with prior research, we propose a five-item PsyCap measure, the PCQ-5, consisting of one item from the dimensions of self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism and one item for each facet of the hope dimension (agency and pathways). The proposed PCQ-5 shows internal consistency reliability and good fit for a single factor global PsyCap model across all samples. Moreover, like the PCQ-24, the PCQ-5 is associated with meaningful workplace outcomes such as job performance, job satisfaction, OCBs, voice, and helping behaviors, and it is negatively related to deviant behaviors like CWBs.

The kleineWeltentdecker App - A smartphone-based developmental diary

Today, a vast number of tools exist to measure development in early childhood in a variety of domains such as cognition, language, or motor, cognition. These tools vary in different aspects. Either children are examined by a trained experimenter, or caregivers fill out questionnaires. The tools are applied in the controlled setting of a laboratory or in the children's natural environment. While these tools provide a detailed picture of the current state of children's development, they are at the same time subject to several constraints. Furthermore, the measurement of an individual child's change of different skills over time requires not only one measurement but high-density longitudinal assessments. These assessments are time-consuming, and the breadth of developmental domains assessed remains limited. In this paper, we present a novel tool to assess the development of skills in different domains, a smartphone-based developmental diary app (the kleineWeltentdecker App, henceforth referred to as the APP (The German expression "kleine Weltentdecker" can be translated as "young world explorers".)). By using the APP, caregivers can track changes in their children's skills during development. Here, we report the construction and validation of the questionnaires embedded in the APP as well as the technical details. Empirical validations with children of different age groups confirmed the robustness of the different measures implemented in the APP. In addition, we report preliminary findings, for example, on children's communicative development by using existing APP data. This substantiates the validity of the assessment. With the APP, we put a portable tool for the longitudinal documentation of individual children's development in every caregiver's pocket, worldwide.

Just as they expected: How parents' expectations about their unborn child's characteristics provide a context for early transactions between parenting and child temperament

Prenatal expectations about what children will be like after birth may provide a context for how parents perceive their infant's actual temperament. We examined how these expectations and perceptions are associated and together predict early parenting behavior, with parenting behavior in turn predicting changes in temperament. Reports of 125 families (N = 122 fathers; N = 123 mothers; sample 1) about their expectations of their unborn child's temperament (negative affectivity, surgency, regulation, T1), their infant's temperament at 4 and 12 months post-partum (T2 and T3), and their hostile, responsive, warm, and overprotective parenting (T2) were included. We also included data from an independent sample of 168 mothers (sample 2), with the same measures, except that mothers reported on Big Five personality traits at T1. Results indicated that in both samples, parents' expectations were positively associated with perceptions of infant temperament. Prenatal expectations and newborn temperament independently predicted parenting behavior, and maternal and paternal parenting in turn predicted infant temperament at T3, controlling for infant temperament at T2. Although overall findings indicated associations between (expectations of) a more difficult temperament and more negative/less positive parenting, significant combinations of specific traits and parenting behaviors were sample-specific—indicating that more research is necessary to draw a conclusion about specific links. Both maternal and paternal expectations about their unborn child's temperament appear to carry over into the postpartum reality and provide a context for shaping early interactions between caregivers and their children, which may further shape the developing temperament of the child.

An online survey of dietary quality during complementary feeding; associations with maternal feeding self-efficacy and adherence to dietary recommendations

Background

Parents are the gatekeepers of nutrition in early life and their feeding practices form children’s dietary behaviours. Although maternal characteristics have been associated with certain feeding practices, their relationship with overall quality of complementary feeding diets has not been explored. This study aimed to: assess dietary quality in complementary feeding age; explore its association with maternal and child characteristics; and evaluate the association between complementary feeding practices and child weight.

Methods

An online cross-sectional survey captured data from a self-selected sample of mothers living in the UK with a healthy full-term child in complementary feeding age. A total of 466 mothers completed a questionnaire on their complementary feeding practices, demographics, anthropometrics, rates of maternal food neophobia, feeding self-efficacy, social support, postnatal depression and infant temperament. Dietary quality was assessed using the Complementary Feeding Utility Index (CFUI). Children were classified into underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese.

Results

Majority of participants reported high levels of dietary quality as determined by a mean CFUI score of 80%. High dietary quality was associated with reliance on the NHS recommendation on timing of complementary feeding and maternal self-efficacy in promoting a healthy diet and limiting non-recommended foods. Responsive feeding, longer breastfeeding duration, frequent exposure to fruits and to a high variety of protein-rich animal foods were significantly associated with lighter child weight status. Consumption of sweetened drinks and delayed introduction of lumpy foods were associated with heavier child weight status.

Conclusions

This study provided an evaluation of dietary quality in complementary feeding in a UK sample of children and explored its relationship with maternal and child attributes. Increasing understanding of the current complementary feeding recommendations and strengthening maternal feeding self-efficacy may be key for healthcare professionals and researchers to improving complementary feeding practices.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40795-022-00595-8.

Lability of prenatal stress during the COVID-19 pandemic links to negative affect in infancy

The association between prenatal stress and children's socioemotional development is well established. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a particularly stressful period, which may impact the gestational environment. However, most studies to-date have examined prenatal stress at a single time point, potentially masking the natural variation in stress that occurs over time, especially during a time as uncertain as the pandemic. This study leveraged dense ecological momentary assessments from a prenatal randomized control trial to examine patterns of prenatal stress over a 14-week period (up to four assessments/day) in a U.S. sample of 72 mothers and infants. We first examined whether varied features of stress exposure (lability, mean, and baseline stress) differed depending on whether mothers reported on their stress before or during the pandemic. We next examined which features of stress were associated with 3-month-old infants' negative affect. We did not find differences in stress patterns before and during the pandemic. However, greater stress lability, accounting for baseline and mean stress, was associated with higher infant negative affect. These findings suggest that pathways from prenatal stress exposure to infant socioemotional development are complex, and close attention to stress patterns over time will be important for explicating these pathways.

Oxytocin but not naturally occurring variation in caregiver touch associates with infant social orienting

Caregiver touch is crucial for infants' healthy development, but its role in shaping infant cognition has been relatively understudied. In particular, despite strong premises to hypothesize its function in directing infant attention to social information, little empirical evidence exists on the topic. In this study, we investigated the associations between naturally occurring variation in caregiver touch and infant social attention in a group of 6- to 13-month-old infants (n = 71). Additionally, we measured infant salivary oxytocin as a possible mediator of the effects of touch on infant social attention. The hypothesized effects were investigated both short term, with respect to touch observed during parent-infant interactions in the lab, and long term, with respect to parent-reported patterns of everyday touching behaviors. We did not find evidence that caregiver touch predicts infant social attention or salivary oxytocin levels, short term or long term. However, we found that salivary oxytocin predicted infant preferential attention to faces relative to nonsocial objects, measured in an eye-tracking task. Our findings confirm the involvement of oxytocin in social orienting in infancy, but raise questions regarding the possible environmental factors influencing the infant oxytocin system.

Bi-directional relations between attention and social fear across the first two years of life

This study examined longitudinal relations between attention and social fear across the first two years of life. Our sample consisted of 357 infants and their caregivers across three sites. Data was collected at 4, 8, 12, 18, and 24 months of age. At all 5 assessments, the infants participated in 2 eye-tracking tasks (Vigilance and Overlap) which measured different components of attention bias (orientation, engagement, and disengagement), and parents completed questionnaires assessing infant temperament. For the first three assessments, social fear was measured using the Infant Behavioral Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R; Gartstein & Rothbart, 2003) focused on interactions with strangers, and for the final two time points, we used the social fearfulness subscale on the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (TBAQ; Goldsmith, 1996). The results of a random intercept cross-lagged panel model showed intermittent evidence of uni-directional and reciprocal relations between attention to both threatening and positive emotion facial configurations and social fear. Our findings suggest that characteristics of behaviorally inhibited temperament-in this case, social fear-begin to interact with attention biases to emotion in the very first year of life, which carries implications for the timing of future interventions designed to mitigate the early development of maladaptive patterns of attention.

Temperamental and physiological regulatory capacity in infancy: Links with toddler behavior problems

Although correlates of temperamental regulatory processes in childhood have been well established, there is considerably less work examining correlates and moderators of rudimentary forms of temperamental regulation in infancy. We examined whether infants' physiological regulation indexed via changes in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) across phases of the Still-Face Paradigm moderated the association between maternal-reported infant regulatory capacity at 8 months (N = 50, M_age = 8.51 months, SD_age = 0.28 months, 25 girls) and behavior problems at 14 months. We found that cardiac vagal regulation from baseline to still-face moderated the relation between infant regulatory capacity at 8 months and behavior problems at 14 months. Among infants who displayed relatively high cardiac vagal regulation from baseline to still-face, regulatory capacity was negatively associated with behavior problems. There was no relation between regulatory capacity and behavior problems among infants who displayed average or relatively low cardiac vagal regulation. We speculate that high levels of regulatory capacity and cardiac vagal regulation may allow infants to focus their attention outward and cope with emotionally evocative environmental demands as they arise even in the absence of external regulation provided by their caregivers.

Parents' early representations of their children moderate socialization processes: Evidence from two studies

Difficult infants are commonly considered at risk for maladaptive developmental cascades, but evidence is mixed, prompting efforts to elucidate moderators of effects of difficulty. We examined features of parents' representations of their infants - adaptive (appropriate mind-mindedness, MM) and dysfunctional (low reflective functioning, RF, hostile attributions) - as potential moderators. In Family Study (N = 102), we tested parents' appropriate MM comments to their infants as moderating a path from infants' observed difficulty (negative affect, unresponsiveness) to parents' observed power assertion at ages 2-4.5 to children's observed and parent-rated (dis)regard for conduct rules at age 5.5. In father-child relationships, MM moderated that path: for fathers with low MM, the infants' increasing difficulty was associated with fathers' greater power assertion, which in turn was associated with children's more disregard for rules. The path was absent for fathers with average or high MM. In Children and Parents Study (N = 200), dysfunctional representations (low RF, hostile attributions) moderated the link between child objective difficulty, observed as anger in laboratory episodes, and difficulty as described by the parent. Reports of mothers with highly dysfunctional representations were unrelated to children's observed anger. Reports of mothers with average or low dysfunctional representations aligned with laboratory observations.

Strategies to promote responsive bottle-feeding in WIC predict less frequent use of food to soothe and healthier weight status for infants with negative temperaments

BACKGROUND

Infants with greater temperamental negative affectivity are at higher risk for overfeeding and excess weight gain.

OBJECTIVE

To examine whether strategies to promote responsive bottle-feeding within WIC promoted healthier maternal feeding practices and infant weight status among infants with greater negative affectivity.

METHODS

Secondary analysis of data from a matched-pair cluster randomized trial. Policy, systems and environmental change (PSE) strategies to promote responsive bottle-feeding were implemented at three WIC clinics; these clinics were compared with three matched control clinics. Linear mixed models tested whether infant negative affectivity interacted with PSE strategies to predict feeding and weight outcomes when infants were 4-6 months old.

RESULTS

Significant interactions between infant negative affectivity and PSE strategies were noted. Among infants with high negative affectivity, mothers in PSE clinics reported less frequent use of food to soothe (p = 0.009) compared with mothers in control clinics. Among infants with moderate (p = 0.008) or high (p = 0.029) negative affectivity, infants in PSE clinics had healthier weight status compared with infants in control clinics.

CONCLUSIONS

Promotion of responsive bottle-feeding is an effective way to support WIC mothers and reduce risk for overfeeding and excess weight gain, particularly for mothers of infants with greater negative affectivity.

Early Developmental Trajectories in Infants With Neurofibromatosis 1

Objective

To examine the trajectories of cognitive, motor and behavioural development in infants with NF1 compared to infants without a family history of neurodevelopmental difficulties.

Study design

Infants with NF1 and low-risk controls were recruited from 5 months of age and followed longitudinally. Data from standardised tests was gathered at 5, 10 and 14 months and developmental trajectories of motor, language, behaviour, sleep, social development and parent-infant interaction were examined. Linear mixed modelling was used to estimate group differences in cognitive and behavioural measures over time.

Results

No group differences were observed on Mullen Scale of Early Learning, overall adaptive functioning, temperament or behavioural measures. There were no group differences observed on measures of social communication or parent-infant interaction. Over the course of development, the NF1 group slept less and took more time to settle to sleep as compared to the control group. Maternal education was significantly associated with cognitive and behavioural developmental outcomes in both groups.

Conclusion

Cognitive, social and behavioural impairments are a cause of significant functional morbidity in children with NF1. This report is the first study to investigate the trajectories of cognitive, motor and behavioural development in infancy in NF1. Our results demonstrate that overall cognitive and behavioural developmental trajectories of the NF1 group in the infancy period are similar to controls. Given previous reports of delayed development in the NF1 cohort by 40 months, early clinical interventions strategies to promote sleep hygiene may be beneficial to optimise developmental outcomes.

Neural specialization to human faces at the age of 7 months

Sensitivity to human faces has been suggested to be an early emerging capacity that promotes social interaction. However, the developmental processes that lead to cortical specialization to faces has remained unclear. The current study investigated both cortical sensitivity and categorical specificity through event-related potentials (ERPs) previously implicated in face processing in 7-month-old infants (N290) and adults (N170). Using a category-specific repetition/adaptation paradigm, cortical specificity to human faces, or control stimuli (cat faces), was operationalized as changes in ERP amplitude between conditions where a face probe was alternated with categorically similar or dissimilar adaptors. In adults, increased N170 for human vs. cat faces and category-specific release from adaptation for face probes alternated with cat adaptors was found. In infants, a larger N290 was found for cat vs. human probes. Category-specific repetition effects were also found in infant N290 and the P1-N290 peak-to-peak response where latter indicated category-specific release from adaptation for human face probes resembling that found in adults. The results suggest cortical specificity to human faces during the first year of life. Encoding of unfamiliar cat stimuli might explain N290 amplification found in infants.

Supplemental oxygen strategies in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia after the neonatal intensive care unit period: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial (SOS BPD study)

INTRODUCTION

Supplemental oxygen is the most important treatment for preterm born infants with established bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). However, it is unknown what oxygen saturation levels are optimal to improve outcomes in infants with established BPD from 36 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA) onwards. The aim of this study is to compare the use of a higher oxygen saturation limit (≥95%) to a lower oxygen saturation limit (≥90%) after 36 weeks PMA in infants diagnosed with moderate or severe BPD.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This non-blinded, multicentre, randomised controlled trial will recruit 198 preterm born infants with moderate or severe BPD between 36 and 38 weeks PMA. Infants will be randomised to either a lower oxygen saturation limit of 95% or to a lower limit of 90%; supplemental oxygen and/or respiratory support will be weaned based on the assigned lower oxygen saturation limit. Adherence to the oxygen saturation limit will be assessed by extracting oxygen saturation profiles from pulse oximeters regularly, until respiratory support is stopped. The primary outcome is the weight SD score at 6 months of corrected age. Secondary outcomes include anthropometrics collected at 6 and 12 months of corrected age, rehospitalisations, respiratory complaints, infant stress, parental quality of life and cost-effectiveness.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethical approval for the trial was obtained from the Medical Ethics Review Committee of the Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (MEC-2018-1515). Local approval for conducting the trial in the participating hospitals has been or will be obtained from the local institutional review boards. Informed consent will be obtained from the parents or legal guardians of all study participants.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NL7149/NTR7347.

Maternal Mental Health Symptom Profiles and Infant Sleep: A Cross-Sectional Survey

The distinct influence of different, but comorbid, maternal mental health (MMH) difficulties (postpartum depression, anxiety, childbirth-related posttraumatic stress disorder) on infant sleep is unknown, although associations between MMH and infant sleep were reported. This cross-sectional survey aimed: (1) to examine associations between MMH symptoms and infant sleep; (2) to extract data-driven maternal MMH symptom profiles from MMH symptoms; and (3) to investigate the distinct influence of these MMH symptom profiles on infant sleep when including mediators and moderators. Mothers of 3-12-month-old infants (n = 410) completed standardized questionnaires on infant sleep, maternal perception of infant negative emotionality, and MMH symptoms. Data was analyzed using: (1) simple linear regressions; (2) factor analysis; and (3) structural equation modelling. MMH symptoms were all negatively associated with nocturnal sleep duration and only postpartum depression and anxiety symptoms were associated with night waking. Three MMH symptom profiles were extracted: depressive, anxious, and birth trauma profiles. Maternal perception of infant negative emotionality mediated the associations between the depressive or anxious profiles and infant sleep but only for particular infant ages or maternal education levels. The birth trauma profile was not associated with infant sleep. The relationships between MMH and infant sleep may involve distinct mechanisms contingent on maternal symptomatology.

Factors associated with parenting stress in parents of 18-month-old children: Parenting stress in parents of toddlers

AIM

Parenting stress is associated with less optimal outcomes for children. Risk factors contributing to parenting stress in healthy toddlers have received little empirical attention. This study sought to determine the factors that are associated with parenting stress in parents of 18-month-old children.

METHODS

We analysed cross-sectional survey data from a prospective cohort study focused on parent-child mealtime interactions. Families with an 18-month-old child were recruited in Columbus, Ohio, USA, between December 2017 and May 2019. Adjusted stepwise linear regression models estimated associations between child factors (e.g., temperament), parental factors (e.g., depressive symptoms), quality of romantic relationship factors (e.g., adult attachment style) and home environment factors (e.g., household income) and parenting stress (Parental Distress subscale of the Parenting Stress Index-4 Short Form).

RESULTS

The 299 children included 129 (43%) females. Parents were on average 30.6 (SD 6.1) years old and included a diverse racial/ethnic cohort. Mean Parental Distress score was 24.3 (SD 6.8; score range 12-60). Higher Parental Distress scores were associated with greater parental depressive symptoms (B = 5.1 [95% CI: 2.4, 7.7]) and avoidant (B = 2.8 [95% CI: 0.9, 4.6]) attachment style. Other child, parental and home environment factors did not demonstrate statistically significant relationships with parental distress in the final model.

CONCLUSION

Our findings align with recommendations for paediatric providers to screen for parenting stress and mental health.

Early signs of autism in infants whose mothers suffered from a threatened preterm labour: a 30-month prospective follow-up study

Infants born after a threatened preterm labour (TPL infants) are at high risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Studying this population may provide insight on the pathophysiological underpinnings of this condition. This study aimed to (i) ascertain the presence and autistic symptom load in TPL infants aged age 30 months relative to non-TPL infants, regardless of preterm birth; (ii) explore the association between early (at 6 months) psychomotor development and temperament features with the autistic symptom load of TPL infants at age 30 months and (iii) examine the association among perinatal risk factors for ASD development with the autistic symptom load of TPL infants at age 30 months. A group of 111 mother-infant pairs recruited at TPL diagnosis and a group of 47 healthy mother-infant controls completed the follow-up. Irrespective of preterm birth, TPL infants showed higher autistic symptom load at age 30 months than non-TPL infants. TPL infants presented poorer communication and problem-solving skills, reduced smiling and laughter, and greater vocal reactivity at age 6 months, predicting higher autistic symptom load at age 30 months. Higher levels of anxiety symptoms in TPL mothers after a TPL diagnosis also predicted higher autistic symptom load for the infants at age 30 months. These results suggest that TPL infants may be an undescribed cluster, with features that differentiate them from other "at-risk" populations. These findings support the need for routine assessment of TPL infants and screening of anxiety symptoms in mothers.

Temperament and psychopathology: The "community" to which you belong matters

We utilized a community detection approach to longitudinally (a) identify distinct groups of children with common temperament profiles in infancy and at 2 and 3 years of age and (b) determine whether co-occurrence of certain temperament traits may be early predictors of internalizing problems at 5 years of age. Seven hundred and seventy-four infants (360 girls; 88.6% White, 9.8% Hispanic, and 1.6% other races) were recruited from the Boston area. Data collection spanned from 2012 to 2021. The analysis yielded three distinct groups of children with different temperament traits and was associated with significant variation in levels of internalizing symptoms and anxiety diagnosis rate. Our findings suggest that stable temperament "communities" can be detected in early childhood and may predict risk for psychopathology later in life.

Parent ADHD Is Associated With Greater Parenting Distress in the First Year Postpartum

OBJECTIVE

Little is known about the experience of parenting infants when a mother or father has ADHD. This study examined cross-sectional predictors of parenting distress experienced by parents with and without ADHD who also have infants.

METHODS

Participants were 73 mother-father pairs (N = 146) of infants 6 to 10 months old. Half of the families included a parent with ADHD. Psychosocial predictors were tested using multilevel modeling.

RESULTS

Parent or partner ADHD, lower parent sleep quality, fewer social supports, and less infant surgency and effortful control were associated with greater parental distress. Infant negative affect and sleep were not associated.

CONCLUSIONS

Parents with ADHD and their partners experience greater parenting distress in the first year of their child's life than parents without ADHD. Addressing parent ADHD symptoms and co-occurring difficulties, including sleep disturbances, are potential targets for early interventions to maximize both parent and infant mental health outcomes.

Infant temperament and mealtime distractions as predictors of preschool Children's bite speed during family mealtime

Eating behaviors are shaped at an early age, persist into adulthood, and are implicated in the development of physical health outcomes, including obesity. Faster bite speed has been identified as an obesogenic eating behavior, prompting researchers to examine child and family factors associated with children's variability in bite speed. Child temperament, involving phenotypes of reactivity and regulation, and distractions in family food contexts are fruitful areas of investigation, but few studies have examined the interplay among these factors and their associations with bite speed. To address the gap in the literature, we examined relations between early child temperament, family mealtime distractions, and children's observed bite speed. Caregiver report of child temperament at 3 months was measured using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form - Revised. Child mealtime distractions and bite speed were assessed using family mealtime videos that were collected during home visits when children were 18-24 months of age (n = 109). Results revealed that children who were reported to be higher on orienting/regulation at 3 months, and who were more distracted during mealtimes at 18-24 months, had relatively slower bite speeds. No significant interactions were found. The findings from this correlational study inform further investigations into the implications of early temperament and food contexts for the development of eating behaviors implicated in obesity risk.

The interaction between infant negative emotionality and cognition predicts ADHD-related behaviors in toddlerhood

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalent disorder commonly identified in childhood. Affective and cognitive characteristics that are identifiable as early as infancy could be signals of risk for developing ADHD. Specifically, the interplay between emotionality and cognition may be important in predicting early symptoms of ADHD. This study examined the independent and interactive effects of infant negative emotionality and cognition on the development of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity in toddlerhood among infants at high and low familial likelihood for ADHD. Participants were 64 infants (M = 8.7, SD = 1.8) at high (n = 32) and low (n = 32) familial likelihood for ADHD, defined as at least one parent with ADHD or two parents without ADHD, respectively. Negative emotionality and cognition in infancy were assessed using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire and the Bayley's Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, and ADHD symptoms were assessed at toddler follow-up (M= 20.0, SD= 3.2) using the Child Behavior Checklist. Accounting for the quality of parent-child interaction, infants' negative emotionality (β = .033, p = .938) and cognition (β = .006, p = .884) did not independently predict toddlers' ADHD-related behaviors, but their interaction did (β = .110, p = .019). For infants with higher levels of cognition (>95th percentile), higher negative emotionality predicted more ADHD-related behaviorss. For infants with lower levels of cognition (<11th percentile), higher negative emotionality predicted fewer ADHD-related behaviors. There may be two affective-cognitive pathways to inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity in toddlerhood. The combination of higher levels of negative emotionality and cognition may result in greater frustration when goals are blocked, resulting in the expression of dysregulated behaviors (i.e., ADHD symptoms). Alternatively, low levels of negative emotionality and cognition combined may lead to dysregulation that is primarily cognitive in nature (such as the inattention symptoms of ADHD). Investigating affective and cognitive processes simultaneously may be important for increasing understanding of the early signals of ADHD risk.

Maternal depressive symptoms and early childhood temperament before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unexpected and major global event, with the potential to have many and varied impacts on child development. However, the implications of the pandemic for maternal depressive symptoms, early childhood temperament dimensions, and their associations, remain largely unknown. To investigate this, questionnaires were completed by mothers (N = 175) before and during the pandemic when their child was 10- and 16-months old (Study 1), and by an extended group of mothers with young children (6-48 months; 66 additional mothers) during the first and second national lockdowns in the United Kingdom in 2020 (Study 2). Results indicated that while maternal pandemic-related stress decreased over the first 6 months of the pandemic, there was an increase in mothers who reported feeling some level of pandemic-specific depression. Despite this, we did not observe an increase in the severity of global maternal depressive symptoms, or any negative impact of the pandemic on the development of temperament in infancy and early childhood.

Context Matters: Preliminary Evidence That the Association between Positive Affect and Adiposity in Infancy Varies in Social vs. Non-Social Situations

Previous studies have suggested that infants high in negative affect have higher levels of adiposity, arising in part via changes in nutrition (e.g., “feeding to soothe”). Few studies have examined whether positive affect shows similar or inverse associations with adiposity. The current study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between adiposity and observations of positive affect in both a social and a non-social context, using data from infants at four (n = 125) and 12 (n = 80) months of age. Our analyses did not find any cross-sectional associations between positive affect and adiposity (all p > 0.05). However, in the longitudinal analyses, positive affect in a non-social context, when observed at four months of age, was positively associated with weight-for-length at 12 months of age (zWFL; ß = 1.49, SE = 0.67, p = 0.03), while positive affect observed at four months of age in a social context was inversely associated with body fat percentage at 12 months of age (ß = −11.41, SE = 5.44, p = 0.04). These findings provide preliminary evidence that the p positive affect is related to adiposity in infancy and suggest that the direction of association (i.e., direct or inverse) may be specific to the context in which positive affect is measured. Future research should examine the role of nutritional status in any relationships between adiposity and emotion at this early stage.

Prenatal antibiotic exposure in pregnancy and early childhood socioemotional development

Background

Antibiotic exposure in pregnancy is associated with reduced microbiome diversity in the infant gut. Given that recent research has shown that early microbiome health can impact child socioemotional development, we examined the relationship between prenatal antibiotic exposure in pregnancy and childhood socioemotional developmental outcomes using a large, nationally representative longitudinal dataset.

Methods

A sample of 4800 diverse families were assessed from the population cohort of the Growing Up in New Zealand Study (GUiNZ), which prospectively follows children starting in the last trimester of pregnancy into early childhood. Socioemotional development was measured using a composite score derived from seven commonly used socioemotional tasks administered between 9 months and 4.5 years of child age, addressing emotional expression understanding, regulation of emotions and behavior, and social problem solving and relationship skills. A national comprehensive pharmaceutical database was used to determine children's prenatal antibiotic exposure. Multivariate linear regressions models were used to examine the effects of the timing (trimester) and dosage (number of courses) of prenatal antibiotic exposure on socioemotional development, with and without statistically adjusting for confounding factors addressing maternal health, socioeconomic status, maternal age, and child sex.

Results

In unadjusted analyses, antibiotic exposure was inversely associated with child socioemotional development. However, after statistically adjusting for important confounds, socioemotional development was not associated with prenatal antibiotic exposure at any dosage or trimester of pregnancy (all β ≤ -0.02).

Conclusion

Prenatal antibiotic exposure does not appear to impact early childhood socioemotional development. Maternal health and sociodemographic factors are confounded with antibiotic exposure and socioemotional development, a fact that should be considered in future research examining the effects of prenatal antibiotic exposure on child health. These findings may be reassuring to families who are concerned about the long-term effects of antibiotics in pregnancy on child health outcomes.

Association of accelerometry-derived social jetlag and sleep with temperament in children less than 6 years of age

STUDY OBJECTIVES

Social jetlag (SJL) measures the discrepancy between circadian and social clocks. Using accelerometry-derived data, our objective was to assess the prevalence of SJL in young healthy children and determine the association of SJL and sleep with temperament.

METHODS

Of 117 children participating in TARGet Kids!, a Canadian cohort of healthy preschool-aged children, 78 children (39 girls (50%)); mean age [SD]: 35.1[20.5] months) were included. Sleep was measured objectively using accelerometry. Temperament dimensions (surgency, negative affectivity, and effortful control) were assessed with the very short forms of Rothbart's child and infant behavior questionnaires. We examined associations of SJL and sleep with temperament using multivariable linear regression models adjusted for sex, age, ethnicity, and preschool/daycare attendance.

RESULTS

20 out of 78 (25.6%) experienced SJL of greater than 30 minutes. SJL was greater in children who attended preschool/daycare compared with children who did not (26.3[18.8]min vs. 17.6[14.8]min; p<0.05). There was no evidence of an association between SJL and any temperament dimension. We found evidence of an association between increased sleep duration and increased negative affectivity scores (longer 24h sleep (ß:0.347, 95% CI:0.182,0.512, p<0.0001); longer nighttime sleep duration (ß:0.413, 95% CI:0.163,0.663, p=0.002)).

CONCLUSIONS

In our cohort, 1 in 4 preschool-aged children experienced SJL. Increased sleep duration was associated with increased negative affect, which could have implications for children developing internalizing behavior such as depression or low-self-esteem. We found that sleep duration, but not SJL, was associated with temperament and may impact daytime behavior of young children.

Same Behaviors, Different Outcomes: Mothers' and Fathers' Observed Challenging Behaviors Measured Using a New Coding System Relate Differentially to Children's Social-Emotional Development

This study used a newly developed coding system for measuring the quality of parenting behavior to examine associations with children’s social-emotional development. The Risky Interaction Support and Challenge Scale (RISCS) measures the extent to which parents engage in behaviors that present physical and regulatory challenges to children, as well as parents’ tendency to allow children to pursue action goals autonomously. These behaviors were observed while parents (n = 57 fathers; n = 55 mothers; n = 50 pairs) interacted with their 1-year-olds who played on a structure that included a slide, a small climbing wall, and a tunnel. Trained raters reliably used the RISCS to measure several dimensions of parent behaviors related to children’s exploration, and all but one of the dimensions captured adequate variability in parent behavior. Although mothers and fathers did not differ in any of the dimensions, the associations between parent behavior and children’s social-emotional development did not overlap. Fathers who engaged in greater autonomy allowance and lower overprotection had toddlers with lower levels of internalizing behavior, whereas mothers who challenged children’s regulatory competence had toddlers with lower levels of externalizing behavior and greater competence. We discuss the implications of the findings for the literature on attachment theory and father-child relationships.

Maternal depressive symptoms and infant temperament in the first year of life predict child behavior at 36 months of age

In a longitudinal study, mothers (N = 50) self-reported on their depressive symptoms (DS) and their child's behavior during the first year and at 36 months postpartum. Maternal DS during infancy were associated with child conduct problems (CP), suggesting a long-term association between maternal mental health and the development of child behavior. Infant temperament was also associated with child behavior so that negative affect predicted child CP, while infant surgency was associated with later hyperactivity-inattention. This study contributes to the literature by jointly assessing the role of maternal DS and infant temperament and showing that these are independent predictors of childhood behavior.