Context of Maternal Intrusiveness During Infancy and Associations with Preschool Executive Function

Assessing anxiety problems in a community sample during toddlerhood: The impact of child temperament and maternal intrusiveness

Previous research indicates that child temperament and maternal behaviors are related to internalizing behaviors in children. We assessed whether maternal intrusiveness (MI) observed at 10-months would moderate the impact of temperamental fear and the impact of inhibitory control (IC) at 24 months on anxiety problems at 36 months. A mother-child interaction task was coded for MI. Behavioral tasks were given to assess children's IC. Parents completed questionnaires about their children's temperamental fear and anxiety problems. Results showed that greater temperamental fear reported at 24 months predicted greater anxiety problems reported at 36 months, regardless of MI levels. Lower levels of IC at 24 months predicted more anxiety problems reported at 36 months when children experienced greater MI. These findings illustrate the importance of examining both intrinsic and extrinsic factors, independently and interactively, that contribute to children's anxiety problems in toddlerhood.

Setting the stage: Biopsychosocial predictors of early childhood externalizing behaviors

Research has indicated that biological (self-regulation), psychological (temperament), and social (maternal parenting behaviors) factors predict childhood externalizing behaviors. Few studies, however, have evaluated psychological, biological, and social factors in conjunction as predictors of childhood externalizing behaviors. Further, limited research has examined whether these biopsychosocial predictors during infancy and toddlerhood predict the onset of externalizing behaviors in early childhood. The present study aimed to examine the longitudinal relations between biopsychosocial predictors of child externalizing behaviors. Children and their mothers (n = 410) participated when children were 5, 24, and 36 months old. Child self-regulation was assessed via baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) at age 5 months, and child psychology was measured via maternal report of effortful control at age 24 months. Additionally, maternal intrusiveness was assessed during a mother-child interaction at age 5 months. At 36 months, mothers reported on child externalizing behaviors. Longitudinal path modeling was used to examine the direct and indirect effects of maternal intrusiveness and child effortful control on child externalizing behavior, as well as whether these effects were conditional upon child baseline RSA. Results showed a significant indirect effect of maternal intrusiveness on externalizing behavior through effortful control, and this pathway was moderated by baseline RSA after controlling for orienting regulation at age 5 months. These results suggest that early childhood externalizing behaviors are jointly affected by biological, psychological, and social factors during toddlerhood.

Intrusive parenting in early childhood: A review and meta-analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis examines similarities and differences in intrusive parenting between mothers and fathers and relations between intrusive parenting and early childhood development. The authors integrated 55 studies and differentiated cognitive skills and socio-emotional problems as developmental outcomes. The present study employs three-level meta-analyses to reliably estimate effect sizes and examine a range of moderators. It finds a moderate effect size of similarities in intrusive parenting within a family (r = 0.256, confidence interval [CI] = [0.180, 0.329]). No significant differences were observed in intrusiveness level between mothers and fathers (g = 0.035, CI = [-0.034, 0.103]). Intrusive parenting had a significant positive association with children's socio-emotional problems (r_mother  = 0.098, CI_mother  = [0.051, 0.145]; r_father  = 0.094, CI _father  = [0.032, 0.154]) but was not related to cognitive skills. Moderator analyses suggest that East Asian mothers exhibit higher intrusiveness levels than fathers, whereas Western parents display no significant differences. Overall, these results reveal more similarities than differences in intrusive parenting and that culture likely plays a role in shaping gender-specific parenting behaviors.

Self-regulation and frontal EEG alpha activity during infancy and early childhood: A multilevel meta-analysis

Integrating behavioral and neurophysiological measures has created new and advanced ways to understand the development of self-regulation. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been used to examine how self-regulatory processes are related to frontal alpha power during infancy and early childhood. However, findings across previous studies have been inconsistent. To address this issue, the current meta-analysis synthesized all prior literature examining associations between individual differences in self-regulation and frontal EEG alpha power (baseline and/or task). In total, 23 studies consisting of 1275 participants between 1 month and 6 years of age were included, which yielded 149 effect sizes. Findings of the three-level meta-analytic model demonstrated a non-significant overall association between self-regulation and frontal alpha power. Yet, significant moderating effects were found for self-regulation construct (emotion regulation, effortful control, executive function), self-regulation measurement (behavioral task, computer assessment, lab observation, questionnaire), and children's mean age. Self-regulation was only significantly correlated with frontal alpha power when studies focused on the executive functioning construct. Moreover, the use of behavioral tasks or questionnaires and a higher mean age of the children resulted in small but significant effect size estimates. Higher frontal alpha power values were related to higher order top-down mechanisms of self-regulation, indicating that these mechanisms might become stronger when the frontal cortex is sufficiently developed. The findings of the current meta-analysis highlight the importance of longitudinal analyses and multimethod approaches in future work to reach a more comprehensive understanding of the role of frontal EEG alpha activity in the etiology of individual differences in early self-regulation. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: The first meta-analysis of individual differences in self-regulation and frontal EEG alpha power during infancy and early childhood demonstrated a non-significant overall association. Moderation analyses revealed that variations in frontal alpha power were significantly associated with executive function, but not with effortful control and emotion regulation. Frontal alpha power was related to variations in self-regulation when measured by behavioral tasks and questionnaires, but not via computer assessments and lab observations. The association between individual differences in self-regulation and frontal alpha power becomes significantly stronger with age.

The role of parenting in the intergenerational transmission of executive functioning: A genetically informed approach

Deficits in executive functioning both run in families and serve as a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology. The present study employed twin modeling to examine parenting as an environmental pathway underlying the intergenerational transmission of executive functioning in an at-risk community sample of children and adolescents (N = 354 pairs, 167 monozygotic). Using structural equation modeling of multi-informant reports of parenting and a multi-method measure of child executive functioning, we found that better parent executive functioning related to less harsh, warmer parenting, which in turn related to better child executive functioning. Second, we assessed the etiology of executive functioning via the nuclear twin family model, finding large non-shared environmental effects (E = .69) and low-to-moderate heritability (A = .22). We did not find evidence of shared environmental effects or passive genotype-environment correlation. Third, a bivariate twin model revealed significant shared environmental overlap between both warm and harsh parenting and child executive functioning (which may indicate either passive genotype-environment correlation or environmental mediation), and non-shared environmental overlap between only harsh parenting and child executive functioning (indicating an effect of harsh parenting separable from genetic confounds). In summary, genetics contribute to the intergenerational transmission of executive functioning, with environmental mechanisms, including harsh parenting, also making unique contributions.

Maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness in early childhood as predictors of children's weight at school age

BACKGROUND

While previous research indicates that low maternal sensitivity in mother-child interactions puts children at risk of overweight and obesity, maternal intrusiveness has rarely been investigated in association with children's weight. We investigated whether maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness in early childhood predict children's increased body mass index standard deviation scores (BMI-SDS) at school age. BMI-SDS are standardized for age and gender with respect to a reference standard.

METHODS

At baseline (t1), we assessed maternal sensitivity and (non-)intrusiveness of 116 mothers with their children (48.3% female) aged 5-47 months (M = 24.00, SD = 11.36) using the emotional availability scales. We obtained anthropometric data for mothers at t1 by measuring height and weight in the laboratory and for children at birth assessed by medical staff. Six years later (t2) we obtained anthropometric data for children in the laboratory or based on parental report. Linear regression analyses were run with child BMI-SDS at t2 as outcome and sensitivity and (non-)intrusiveness as predictors, adjusting for confounders and exploring child age and gender as moderators.

RESULTS

Maternal sensitivity only negatively predicted children's BMI-SDS in girls, while maternal intrusiveness predicted higher child BMI-SDS at school age regardless of child gender. The effect of maternal non-intrusiveness remained significant when controlling for confounders.

CONCLUSION

Maternal intrusiveness in early childhood seems to represent a risk factor for increased BMI-SDS in children, while lower maternal sensitivity tends to be a risk factor for increased BMI-SDS in girls. This may have implications for prevention or intervention programmes.

Examining the bidirectional relationships between maternal intrusiveness and child internalizing symptoms in a community sample: A longitudinal study from infancy to middle childhood

BACKGROUND

Myriad parenting behaviors have been linked to the development of internalizing disorders in children. Intrusive parenting, characterized by autonomy-limiting behaviors that hold the parent's agenda above that of the child, may uniquely contribute to the development of child internalizing symptoms. The current study investigates bidirectional effects between maternal intrusiveness and internalizing symptomology from infancy to middle childhood.

METHODS

Participants were a community sample of 218 infant-mother dyads assessed at 7 time points (5 and 10 months; 2, 3, 4, 6, and 9 years). Maternal intrusiveness was behaviorally coded at all timepoints; mothers completed the CBCL for their child at ages 3, 4, 6, and 9 years. The empirically derived Internalizing subscale was used to assess child internalizing symptoms.

RESULTS

About 1/3 to ½ of mothers displayed maternal intrusiveness across infancy and childhood, with the exception of ages 2-3 years, when an increase in the number of mothers displaying intrusiveness was observed. A cross-lagged panel model showed that intrusiveness and internalizing symptoms were concurrently related at 3 years, but this relationship disappeared when we controlled for maternal education. There was no evidence of prospective relationships between our constructs.

CONCLUSIONS

Mothers in a community-based sample may increase intrusiveness in the toddler and early preschool years as children strive for more autonomy. Intrusiveness may play more of a maintenance role in child internalizing symptoms, and associations between maternal intrusiveness and child internalizing symptomatology may be weaker than hypothesized, varying by maternal education. Suggestions for assessing intrusive parenting in future studies are discussed.

Infant social interactions and brain development: A systematic review

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Associations between caregiver-infant behaviours during social interactions and brain development outcomes were investigated.

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Caregivers' and infants' behaviours in interactions related to children’s structural, functional and connectivity measures.

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Concurrent associations between behavioural and brain measures were apparent as early as three months postnatally.

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Long-term associations between behaviours in early interactions and brain development outcomes were observed decades later.

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Individual differences in early interactions and associated brain development is an important avenue for further research.

From birth, interactions with others are an integral part of a person’s daily life. In infancy, social exchanges are thought to be critical for optimal brain development. This systematic review explores this association by drawing together infant studies that relate adult-infant behaviours – coded from their social interactions - to children’s brain measures collected during a neuroimaging session in infancy, childhood, adolescence or adulthood. In total, we identified 55 studies that explored associations between infants’ social interactions and neural measures. These studies show that several aspects of caregiver-infant behaviours are associated with, or predict, a variety of neural responses in infants, children and adolescents. The presence of both concurrent and long-term associations - some of which are first observed just a few months postnatally and extend into adulthood - open an important research avenue and motivate further longitudinal studies.