Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Very Short Form: A New Factor Structure's Associations With Parenting Perceptions and Child Language Outcomes

Joint observation in NICU (JOIN): A randomized controlled trial testing an early, one-session intervention during preterm care to improve perceived maternal self-efficacy and other mental health outcomes

BACKGROUND

Parents of preterm infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) environment may experience psychological distress, decreased perceived self-efficacy, and/or difficulties in establishing an adaptive parent-infant relationship. Early developmental care interventions to support the parental role and infant development are essential and their impact can be assessed by an improvement of parental self-efficacy perception. The aims were to assess the effects of an early intervention provided in the NICU (the Joint Observation) on maternal perceived self-efficacy compared to controls (primary outcome) and to compare maternal mental health measures (perceived stress, anxiety, and depression), perception of the parent-infant relationship, and maternal responsiveness (secondary outcomes).

METHODS

This study was a monocentric randomized controlled trial registered in clinicatrials.gov (NCT02736136), which aimed at testing a behavioural intervention compared with treatment-as-usual. Mothers of preterm neonates born 28 to 32 6/7 weeks gestation were randomly allocated to either the intervention or the control groups. Outcome measures consisted of self-report questionnaires completed by the mothers at 1 and 6 months after enrollment and assessing perceived self-efficacy, mental health, perception of the parent-infant relationship and responsiveness, as well as satisfaction with the intervention.

RESULTS

No statistically significant group effects were observed for perceived maternal self-efficacy or the secondary outcomes. Over time, perceived maternal self-efficacy increased for mothers in both groups, while anxiety and depression symptoms decreased. High satisfaction with the intervention was reported.

CONCLUSIONS

The joint observation was not associated with improved perceived maternal self-efficacy or other mental health outcomes, but may constitute an additional supportive measure offered to parents in a vulnerable situation during the NICU stay.

Resting EEG correlates of neurodevelopment in a socioeconomically and linguistically diverse sample of toddlers: Wave 1 of the Kia Tīmata Pai best start New Zealand study

Development of communication and self-regulation skills is fundamental to psychosocial maturation in childhood. The Kia Tīmata Pai Best Start (KTP) longitudinal study aims to promote these skills through interventions delivered at early childcare centers across New Zealand. In addition to evaluating effects of the interventions on behavioral and cognitive outcomes, the study utilizes electroencephalography (EEG) to characterize cortical development in a subsample of participating children. Here, we present results of the baseline resting EEG assessment with 193 children aged 15 to 33 months. We identified EEG correlates of individual differences in demographics, communication abilities, and temperament. We obtained communication and behavior ratings from multiple informants, and we applied contemporary analytic methods to the EEG data. Periodic spectral power adjusted for aperiodic activity was most closely associated with demographic, language, and behavioral measures. As in previous studies, gamma power was positively associated with verbal language. Alpha power was positively associated with effortful control. Nonverbal and verbal language measures showed distinct associations with EEG indices, as did the three temperament domains. Our results identified a number of candidate EEG measurements for use as longitudinal markers of optimal cortical development and response to interventions in the KTP cohort.

Evaluating the impact of sling provision and training upon maternal mental health, wellbeing and parenting: A randomised feasibility trial

BACKGROUND

Close body contact interventions such as Kangaroo Mother Care have been shown to improve maternal mental health following birth. Infant carriers ('slings') facilitate hands-free close body contact. No studies have specifically examined whether sling use improves maternal mental health. A full-scale efficacy study is needed to examine whether sling use is beneficial to maternal mental health. The current study is a feasibility study designed to gather information to support the design of a future RCT, such as acceptability and study parameters, including recruitment rates, consent rate and attrition.

METHOD

Mothers of infants aged 0-6 weeks were randomised to one of two conditions: intervention (n = 35) vs. waitlist control (n = 32). Intervention participants received sling training, support, and free sling hire for 12 weeks. Participants completed self-report measures of mood, wellbeing and parenting at baseline (Time 1), and 6- (Time 2) and 12- (Time 3) weeks post-baseline.

RESULTS

Eligibility and consent rates met feasibility objectives, though there were some difficulties with retention of participants in the study. Preliminary effectiveness analyses showed a non-significant improvement with a small effect size in postnatal depression from T1 to T3, and a significant improvement with a medium effect size in maternal self-efficacy from T1 to T3. Qualitative feedback indicated acceptability of the intervention and study participation. Intervention participants attributed greater autonomy, bonding with their baby, and parental self-confidence, to the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings indicate a randomised study of the impact of a sling and related support intervention upon maternal mental health is feasible. These findings should be interpreted within the context of sampling bias (due to the use of volunteer sampling methods), an absence of feedback from those who discontinued participation in the study, and the study not being adequately powered.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Registration number ISRCTN88575352.

Associations between observed and reported infant negative affectivity, fear and self-regulation, and early communicative development-Evidence from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study

Self-regulation and language are intertwined abilities, but the nature of their relations in early childhood when both skills are still emerging is insufficiently understood. Our knowledge of the relations between early negative affectivity and preverbal and verbal communicative development is still limited. Further, observed and reported temperament capture how aspects of temperament operate in different settings but are rarely used in parallel in studies examining early language. During the period of rapid development, longitudinal studies are needed to identify early risk factors for delayed communicative development. We studied relations between aspects of emerging self-regulation and negative affectivity using both observations at 8 months and mother-reports at 6 and 12 months, and communicative development measured by gesturing and vocabulary at 14 and vocabulary at 30 months in 183 children. Mother-reported self-regulation was related to a higher use of communicative gestures and observed self-regulation by gaze aversion to poorer receptive and expressive vocabulary at 14 months, but neither was significantly associated with vocabulary at 30 months. We found little evidence for associations between negative affectivity and fear in infancy and communicative development. Our findings highlight different aspects of self-regulation as both potential risk and protective factors for communicative development. Mixed results indicate a need for a more detailed examination of different strategies of self-regulation in different conditions and developmental stages to yield a deeper understanding of the relations between self-regulation in infancy and communicative development.

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.

Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Very Short Form of Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQR-VSF): A Study among Vietnamese Children

The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) assesses the temperament of infants in Western and non-Western countries. Although its factor analyses revealed three factors—surgency, negative affectivity, and effortful control—in the Western culture, the degree to which these are universal or culturally specific is unclear. This study developed a Vietnamese version of the IBQ-Revised Very Short Form (R-VSF) and examined its factor structure in a Vietnamese population. The Vietnamese IBQ-R VSF was administered to 292 mothers of infants between the ages of 3 and 18 months in Nha Trang city, Vietnam, between July and September 2019. After deleting items to achieve sufficient Cronbach’s alphas for each scale (surgency, negative affectivity, and orienting/regulation), the remaining 28 items were aggregated to parcels subjected to exploratory factor analyses (EFAs). EFAs revealed a 3-factor model corresponding to the original theory, and confirmatory factor analyses indicated a good fit of this structural model. The final 3-factor model with parcels indicated measurement and structural invariance between mothers of boys and girls.

Associations between antenatal maternal diet and other health aspects with infant temperament in a large multiethnic cohort study: a path analysis approach

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to assess the association of antenatal maternal dietary patterns (DPs) and other health aspects with infant temperament in a large multiethnic cohort, taking maternal personality and prenatal stress into account.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Using data from 3968 children born in 2009/2010 and their mothers from the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort, infant temperament was assessed at 9 months using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Very Short Form. Maternal antenatal diet and other health aspects were assessed antenatally. Maternal DPs (n=4) were derived using principal components analysis based on food intake reported on a 44-item food frequency questionnaire. Path analyses investigated factors associated with infant temperament, namely maternal personality, prenatal maternal stress, DPs and other health aspects, including potential inter-relations and mediating effects.

RESULTS

Women who scored higher in the fusion DP (standardised beta (β)=0.05; 95% CI 0.02 to 0.09) and healthy DP (β=0.05; 95% CI 0.02 to 0.09), who exercised more (β=0.04; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.07), and who drank less alcohol (β=-0.05; 95% CI -0.08 to -0.02) were more likely to have infants with an overall less difficult temperament. Sex-specific differences were found in the associations between maternal DP and infant temperament. Maternal personality and prenatal stress were significantly associated with all dimensions of infant temperament. The strongest predictors for a more difficult temperament were prenatal stress (β=0.12; 95% CI 0.08 to 0.15) and the personality dimensions neuroticism (β=0.10; 95% CI 0.07 to 0.14) and extraversion (β=-0.09; 95% CI -0.12 to -0.06).

CONCLUSIONS

Associations of antenatal maternal diet and health aspects with infant temperament were statistically significant but small. While they should not be overinterpreted as being deterministic, the findings of this study support the link between maternal modifiable health-related behaviours and infant temperament outcomes.

The Best and Worst of Times: Predictors of New Fathers' Parenting Satisfaction and Stress

This study examined predictors of new fathers' parenting satisfaction and stress using data from 182 fathers in dual-earner couples who were followed across their transition to parenthood. Expectant fathers completed surveys about their personal characteristics (anxiety, belief in maternal essentialism, parenting self-efficacy expectations) and family relationships (confidence in the couple relationship) during the third trimester of pregnancy. At three months postpartum, fathers completed surveys about their family relationships (maternal gatekeeping) and child characteristics (infant negative emotionality, infant gender), as well as their parenting satisfaction and stress. Results of regression analyses indicated that expectant fathers with greater parenting self-efficacy expectations reported less parenting stress and greater satisfaction at three months postpartum. More anxious expectant fathers were at risk of experiencing elevated levels of parenting stress postpartum, as were fathers with lower endorsement of maternal essentialism and infants highly negative in mood. Fathers were more satisfied in their roles as parents when mothers engaged in greater gate-opening behavior, particularly when those fathers expressed less confidence in their couple relationships prior to their child's birth. Results indicate the importance of screening expectant and new fathers for anxiety, strengthening expectant fathers' parenting self-efficacy, and encouraging greater maternal support for engaged fathering.

The role of negative emotionality in the development of child executive function and language abilities from toddlerhood to first grade: An adoption study

Understanding the role of negative emotionality in the development of executive functioning (EF) and language skills can help identify developmental windows that may provide promising opportunities for intervention. In addition, because EF and language skills are, in part, genetically influenced, intergenerational transmission patterns are important to consider. The prospective parent-offspring adoption design used in this study provides a unique opportunity to examine the intergenerational transmission of EF and language skills. Participants were 561 children adopted around the time of birth. Accounting for birth mother EF and language contributions, we examined the role of child negative emotionality in toddlerhood (age 9 to 27 months) and childhood (age 4.5 to 7 years) on child EF and language skills in first grade (age 7 years). There was continuity in EF from age 27 months to 7 years, and in language ability from age 27 months to 7 years, with no cross-lagged effects between child EF and language ability. Negative emotionality at age 9 months predicted lower EF and lower language abilities at age 7 years, and growth in negative emotionality from age 4.5 to 7 years predicted lower child EF at age 7 years. Overall, findings suggested that lower negative emotionality at age 9 months was associated with higher toddler and child EF and language skills and that preventing growth in negative emotionality from age 4.5 to 7 years may lead to improvements in child EF. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Antenatal and Postnatal Determinants of Behavioural Difficulties in Early Childhood: Evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand

Behavioural difficulties during early childhood have significant implications for multiple outcomes later in life. Child behavioural difficulties at 2 years of age (N = 6246) were assessed by mothers enrolled in a longitudinal, population-based New Zealand cohort study. 10.1% of children had total difficulties scores in the abnormal range on the preschool version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. After controlling for maternal education, poverty, and child's birth age/weight, several antenatal and postnatal maternal health and family risk factors were significant for: (i) emotional problems (antenatal maternal perceived stress, lack of periconceptional folate, and moderate to severe maternal postnatal anxiety); (ii) hyperactivity-inattention (antenatal maternal perceived stress, mothers' antenatal exposure to secondhand smoke, moderate to severe maternal postnatal anxiety, and low maternal self-evaluation); (iii) conduct problems and total difficulties (antenatal maternal perceived stress, verbal inter-parental conflict and low maternal self-evaluation). The identification of risk and protective factors associated with early childhood difficulties are vital for guiding intervention and prevention efforts.

Prenatal alcohol consumption and infant and child behavior: Evidence from the Growing Up in New Zealand Cohort

BACKGROUND

High levels of alcohol exposure during pregnancy can damage developing brains and influence child behavior and learning.

AIM

To examine the effects of lower levels of alcohol and very early exposure to alcohol on infant temperament and child behavior.

STUDY DESIGN, SUBJECTS, AND OUTCOME MEASURES

The Growing Up in New Zealand study involves a prospective birth cohort of 6822 pregnant women of whom 6156 provided information on their child's temperament using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R VSF) at 9 months and their child's behavior using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire at 2 years.

RESULTS

A series of adjusted linear regression models controlling for socio-demographic factors found alcohol consumption during pregnancy was most consistently related to Lower Positive Affect, Affiliation/Regulation, and Orienting Capacity temperament scores. Mothers who stopped drinking after becoming aware of their pregnancy, but had an unplanned pregnancy (hence may have a baby exposed to alcohol for longer), also reported infants with lower Orienting Capacity, Affiliation/Regulation, and Fear temperament scores compared to those that did not drink. Children whose mothers drank four or more drinks per week during pregnancy were more likely to report their child as having conduct problems, with higher total difficulties scores at age 2.

CONCLUSIONS

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy has a negative effect especially on infant temperament, even if small amounts of alcohol are consumed. Our findings have implications for men and women who drink, medical professionals, and for the availability of contraception to those who drink, but do not plan to get pregnant.

A Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form: An Item Response Theory Analysis of Infant Temperament in New Zealand

The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Very Short Form (IBQ-R VSF; Putnam, Helbig, Gartstein, Rothbart, & Leerkes, 2014 ) is a newly published measure of infant temperament with a 3-factor structure. Recently Peterson et al. ( 2017 ) suggested that a 5-factor structure (Positive Affectivity/Surgency, Negative Emotionality, Orienting Capacity, Affiliation/Regulation, and Fear) was more parsimonious and showed promising reliability and predictive validity in a large, diverse sample. However, little is known about the 5-factor model's precision across the temperament dimensions range and whether it discriminates equally well across ethnicities. A total of 5,567 mothers responded to the IBQ-R VSF in relation to their infants (N = 5,639) between 23 and 52 weeks old. Using item response theory, we conducted a series of 2 parameter logistic item response models and found that 5 IBQ-R VSF temperament dimensions showed a good distribution of estimates across each latent trait range and these estimates centered close to the population mean. The IBQ-R VSF was also similarly precise across 4 ethnic groups (European, Māori, Pacific peoples, and Asians), suggesting that it can be used as comparable measure for infant temperament in a diversity of ethnic groups.