Maternal Accuracy and Behavior in Anticipating Children's Responses to Novelty: Relations to Fearful Temperament and Implications for Anxiety Development

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.

Early childhood anxiety disorders: continuity and predictors in adolescence

Anxiety disorders are among the most common disorders in early childhood. Although many older children and adolescents with anxiety disorders recover and remain well, little is known about the continuity of early childhood anxiety and the factors that predict persistence/recurrence in later childhood and adolescence. We followed 129 children who met anxiety disorder criteria at age 3 and/or 6 and determined how many continued to experience an anxiety disorder between age 7 and 15, as well as the continuity of specific anxiety disorders. We explored whether biological sex, number of anxiety disorders, early childhood persistence (i.e., anxiety diagnosis at both age 3 and 6), childhood comorbidities, temperamental behavioral inhibition, a maternal history of anxiety, and authoritarian and overprotective parenting predicted persistence/recurrence of an anxiety disorder from age 7 to 15. Sixty-five (50.4%) of the adolescents with an early childhood anxiety disorder met anxiety disorder criteria during the age 7-15 interval. Homotypic continuity from early childhood to school-age/mid-adolescence was observed for social anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Early childhood agoraphobia predicted school-age/mid-adolescent GAD and early childhood GAD predicted school-age/mid-adolescent specific phobia. In bivariate analyses, number of anxiety disorders, persistence of anxiety from age 3 to 6, and having a mother with a history of anxiety predicted the persistence/recurrence of anxiety disorders from age 7 to 15. Only early childhood persistence of anxiety uniquely predicted the persistence/recurrence of an anxiety disorder over and above the other predictors. Early intervention efforts should focus on identifying and intervening with young children who demonstrate a protracted course of anxiety.

Testing reciprocal associations between child anxiety and parenting across early interventions for inhibited preschoolers

BACKGROUND

Given the robust evidence base for the efficacy of evidence-based treatments targeting youth anxiety, researchers have advanced beyond efficacy outcome analysis to identify mechanisms of change and treatment directionality. Grounded in developmental transactional models, interventions for young children at risk for anxiety by virtue of behaviorally inhibited temperament often target parenting and child factors implicated in the early emergence and maintenance of anxiety. In particular, overcontrolling parenting moderates risk for anxiety among highly inhibited children, just as child inhibition has been shown to elicit overcontrolling parenting. Although longitudinal research has elucidated the temporal unfolding of factors that interact to place inhibited children at risk for anxiety, reciprocal transactions between these child and parent factors in the context of early interventions remain unknown.

METHOD

This study addresses these gaps by examining mechanisms of change and treatment directionality (i.e., parent-to-child vs. child-to-parent influences) within a randomized controlled trial comparing two interventions for inhibited preschoolers (N = 151): the multicomponent Turtle Program ('Turtle') and the parent-only Cool Little Kids program ('CLK'). Reciprocal relations between parent-reported child anxiety, observed parenting, and parent-reported accommodation of child anxiety were examined across four timepoints: pre-, mid-, and post-treatment, and one-year follow-up (NCT02308826).

RESULTS

Hypotheses were tested via latent curve models with structured residuals (LCM-SR) and latent change score (LCS) models. LCM-SR results were consistent with the child-to-parent influences found in previous research on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for older anxious youth, but only emerged in Turtle. LCS analyses revealed bidirectional effects of changes in parent accommodation and child anxiety during and after intervention, but only in Turtle.

CONCLUSION

Our findings coincide with developmental transactional models, suggesting that the development of child anxiety may result from child-to-parent influences rather than the reverse, and highlight the importance of targeting parent and child factors simultaneously in early interventions for young, inhibited children.

Variability in caregiver attention bias to threat: A Goldilocks effect in infant emotional development?

Attention biases to threat are considered part of the etiology of anxiety disorders. Attention bias variability (ABV) quantifies intraindividual fluctuations in attention biases and may better capture the relation between attention biases and psychopathology risk versus mean levels of attention bias. ABV to threat has been associated with attentional control and emotion regulation, which may impact how caregivers interact with their child. In a relatively diverse sample of infants (50% White, 50.7% female), we asked how caregiver ABV to threat related to trajectories of infant negative affect across the first 2 years of life. Families were part of a multi-site longitudinal study, and data were collected from 4 to 24 months of age. Multilevel modeling examined the effect of average caregiver attention biases on changes in negative affect. We found a significant interaction between infant age and caregiver ABV to threat. Probing this interaction revealed that infants of caregivers with high ABV showed decreases in negative affect over time, while infants of caregivers with low-to-average ABV showed potentiated increases in negative affect. We discuss how both high and extreme patterns of ABV may relate to deviations in developmental trajectories.

On the beauty of sadness: it's okay to say, I am sad, thank you

We live in times when our culture is obsessed with happiness. The value of almost every aspect of our lives is increasingly judged in terms of their contribution to our happiness. Happiness has become the ultimate goal by which values and priorities are constructed and the only thing for which any action in pursuit of does not require justification. In contrast, sadness is increasingly abnormalized and pathologized. In this paper, an effort is made to counteract the narrative that sadness, a critical aspect of human life is abnormal or a pathological condition. The evolutionary benefits of sadness and its place in human flourishing are discussed. A rebranding of sadness is proposed that emphasizes the free expression of sadness in everyday greetings to remove it from its current negative state and promote many of its benefits including post-traumatic growth and resilience.

Intergenerational Transmission of Anxious Information Processing Biases: An Updated Conceptual Model

Anxiety disorders are globally one of the most prevalent and disabling forms of psychopathology in adults and children. Having a parent with an anxiety disorder multiplies the risk of anxiety disorders in the offspring, although the specific mechanisms and processes that play a role in this intergenerational transmission remain largely unknown. According to information processing theories, threat-related biases in cognitive processing are a causal mechanism in the development and maintenance of anxiety. These theories propose that individuals with anxiety are more likely to cognitively process novel stimuli in their environment as threatening. Creswell and colleagues proposed a theoretical model that highlighted the role of these cognitive biases as a mechanism in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety (Creswell et al., in Hadwin, Field (eds) Information processing biases and anxiety: a developmental perspective, Wiley, pp 279-295, 2010). This model postulated significant associations between (1) parents' and children's threat-related cognitive biases (2) parents' threat-related cognitive biases in their own and their child's environment, (3) parents' threat-related cognitive biases and parenting behaviors that convey anxiety risk to the offspring (e.g., modeling of fear, and verbal threat information transmission), and (4) parenting behaviors and child threat-related biases. This theoretical review collated the recent empirical work testing these four core hypotheses of the model. Building on the reviewed empirical work, an updated conceptual model focusing on threat-related attention and interpretation is proposed. This updated model incorporates the links between cognition and anxiety in parents and children and addresses the potential bidirectional nature of parent-child influences.

Family context in association with the development of child sensory processing sensitivity

Informed by the biological sensitivity to the context (BSC) theory, this multimethod, longitudinal study sought to examine how family context may be associated with the development of child sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) over a year. Participants were 235 young children (Mage = 2.97 at the first measurement occasion, 55.3% were girls) and their parents (median annual household income: $55,000 to 74,999), who were followed for two annual measurement occasions. These children consisted of 56.2% White, 21.3% African American, and 16.2% mixed race. Child SPS was measured via behavioral observation within multiple laboratory tasks at both waves and exhibited moderate stability over time. A curvilinear association between environmental harshness and the change in child SPS emerged, which proved consistent with the U-shaped pattern hypothesized by the BSC theory. Children remain at similar levels of SPS over the year under low and high levels of environmental harshness but exhibited decreases in SPS under moderate levels of environmental harshness. A follow-up exploration for the developmental implication of SPS change showed that children with higher SPS benefited more from the supportive environment by developing greater cognitive and behavioral functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Bidirectional effects of toddler temperament and maternal overprotection on maternal and child anxiety symptoms across preschool

INTRODUCTION

Existing research highlights interactions among child temperament, parents' own anxiety symptoms, and parenting in predicting increased risk for anxiety symptom development. Theoretical models of child-elicited effects on parents have proposed that parents' behaviors are likely not independent of children's temperament; fearful children likely elicit more protective responses from parents and these parenting behaviors reinforces child anxiety and parents' own anxiety.

METHOD

The current study tests this model and examines whether there are bidirectional influences between early fearful temperament (i.e., dysregulated fear [DF]), maternal overprotection, and subsequent trajectories of maternal and child anxiety symptoms across early childhood. A total of 166 children and mothers participated in a multimethod, longitudinal study of temperament risk from 2 to 6 years.

RESULTS

Results largely support our hypotheses, replicating and extending the prior literature. DF was associated with more maternal overprotective behavior, subsequent child anxiety symptoms, and maternal anxiety symptoms. Moreover, there were indirect (mediated) associations through maternal overprotective behavior and both child and mother anxiety symptoms.

CONCLUSION

Results support the hypothesis that intergenerational transmission of anxiety was meditated through maternal behaviors and that the child-driven temperament effects are central to trajectories of child and maternal anxiety trajectories.

Transactional relations between maternal anxiety and toddler anxiety risk through toddler-solicited comforting behavior

INTRODUCTION

Transactional developmental and anxiety theories suggest that mothers and toddlers may influence each other's anxiety development across early childhood. Further, toddlers' successful solicitations of comfort during uncertain, yet manageable, situations, may be a behavioral mechanism by which mothers and toddlers impact each other over time. To test these ideas, the current study employed a longitudinal design to investigate bidirectional relations between maternal anxiety and toddler anxiety risk (observed inhibited temperament and mother-perceived anxiety, analyzed separately), through the mediating role of toddler-solicited maternal comforting behavior, across toddlerhood.

METHODS

Mothers (n = 174; 93.6% European American) and their toddlers (42.4% female; 83.7% European American) participated in laboratory assessments at child ages 1, 2, and 3 years. Mothers self-reported anxiety symptoms. Toddler anxiety risk was observed in the laboratory as inhibited temperament and reported by mothers. Solicited comforting interactions were observed across standardized laboratory tasks.

RESULTS

Direct and indirect bidirectional effects were tested simultaneously in two longitudinal path models. Toddler anxiety risk, but not maternal anxiety, predicted solicited comforting behavior, and solicited comforting behavior predicted maternal anxiety. No convincing evidence for parent-directed effects on toddler anxiety risk emerged.

CONCLUSION

Results support continued emphasis on child-elicited effects in child and parent anxiety development in early childhood.

Effects of Maternal Overprotection on Social Competence in Young Children: The Mediating Role of Young Children’s Anxiety

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the direct and indirect effects of maternal overprotection on the development of young children’s social competence through their anxiety. In this study, maternal overprotection was defined as anxiously shielding their young children from having negative experiences and maintaining developmentally inappropriate intrusive and permissive parenting for their children.Methods: Participants were 183 mothers and 18 teachers with young children aged from four to six years. Mothers rated themselves on the degree of their overprotecting behaviors measured by a maternal overprotection scale for young children (Y. S. Chung & Park, 2021). Teachers rated young children’s anxiety and social competence. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and a structural equation model. Bootstrapping method was applied to examine the significance of the mediating effects.Results: First, there were significant correlations between maternal overprotection, young children’s anxiety and social competence. Second, structural equation modeling supported the hypothesized relations among maternal overprotection, young children’s anxiety and social competence after controlling with young children’s gender, maternal academic background, and monthly household income. And the level of young children’s anxiety mediated the relationship between overprotective parenting and young children’s social competence.Conclusion: This study showed that mother’s overprotective parenting was associated with varying levels of young children’s anxiety and social competence. Additionally the maternal overprotection linked with children’s social competence indirectly through their anxiety. These findings offer basic knowledge applicable to parent education and the for the development of program for improving parenting behaviors. The limitations and other implications of this study are also discussed.

Fearful Temperament and the Risk for Child and Adolescent Anxiety: The Role of Attention Biases and Effortful Control

Fearful temperament represents one of the most robust predictors of child and adolescent anxiety; however, not all children with fearful temperament unvaryingly develop anxiety. Diverse processes resulting from the interplay between automatic processing (i.e., attention bias) and controlled processing (i.e., effortful control) drive the trajectories toward more adaptive or maladaptive directions. In this review, we examine the associations between fearful temperament, attention bias, and anxiety, as well as the moderating effect of effortful control. Based on the reviewed literature, we propose a two-mechanism developmental model of attention bias that underlies the association between fearful temperament and anxiety. We propose that the sub-components of effortful control (i.e., attentional control and inhibitory control) play different roles depending on individuals' temperaments, initial automatic biases, and goal priorities. Our model may help resolve some of the mixed findings and conflicts in the current literature. It may also advance our knowledge regarding the cognitive mechanisms linking fearful temperament and anxiety, as well as facilitate the continuing efforts in identifying and intervening with children who are at risk. Finally, we conclude the review with a discussion on the existing limitations and then propose questions for future research.

Maternal Accuracy for Children's Fearful Distress in Toddlerhood and Kindergarten: Moderation of a Serial Indirect Effect by Toddler Fearful Temperament

OBJECTIVE

Drawing on existing literature concerning the interrelations among toddler fearful temperament, maternal protective parenting, and maternal cognitions, the current study sought to test how mothers' abilities to predict their children's distress expressions and behaviors in future novel situations ("maternal accuracy"), may be maintained from toddlerhood to children's kindergarten year.

DESIGN

A sample of 93 mother-child dyads completed laboratory assessments at child age 2 and were invited back for two laboratory visits during children's kindergarten year. Fearful temperament, age 2 maternal accuracy, and protective behavior were measured observationally at age 2, and children's social withdrawal and kindergarten maternal accuracy were measured observationally at the follow-up kindergarten visits.

RESULTS

We tested a moderated serial mediation model. For highly fearful children only, maternal accuracy may be maintained because it relates to protective parenting, which predicts children's social withdrawal, which feeds back into maternal accuracy.

CONCLUSIONS

Maternal accuracy may be maintained across early childhood through the interactions mothers have with their temperamentally fearful children. Given concurrent measurement of some of the variables, the role of maternal cognitions like maternal accuracy should be replicated and then further considered for inclusion in theories and studies of transactional influences between parents and children on development.

Transactional relations between early child temperament, structured parenting, and child outcomes: A three-wave longitudinal study

While child self-regulation is shaped by the environment (e.g., the parents' caregiving behaviors), children also play an active role in influencing the care they receive, indicating that children's individual differences should be integrated in models relating early care to children's development. We assessed 409 children's observed temperamental behavioral inhibition (BI), effortful control (EC), and the primary caregiver's parenting at child ages 3 and 5. Parents reported on child behavior problems at child ages 3, 5, and 8. Mediation analyses were conducted to examine relations between child temperament and parenting in predicting child problems. BI at age 3 was positively associated with structured parenting at age 5, which was negatively related to child internalizing and attention-academic problems at age 8. In contrast, parenting at child age 3 did not predict child BI or EC at age 5, nor did age 3 EC predict parenting at age 5. Findings indicate that child behavior may shape the development of caregiving and, in turn, long-term child adjustment, suggesting that studies of caregiving and child outcomes should consider the role of child temperament toward developing more informative models of child-environment interplay.

Parental gentle encouragement promotes shy toddlers' regulation in social contexts

Gentle encouragement to approach appears to reduce risk for anxiety and is commonly incorporated into parenting interventions for inhibited preschoolers, yet little is known regarding whether gentle encouragement facilitates in-the-moment regulation as shy or inhibited children face social novelty, particularly during the toddler period. The current study used a sample of 55 temperamentally shy toddlers (21-24 months old) to examine toddler regulation in novel social contexts in relation to parental gentle encouragement to engage. Contexts included low-threat social novelty (i.e., a clown and puppets) and moderately threatening social novelty (i.e., strangers). Using an experimental design, parents were randomly assigned to provide behaviors thought to represent gentle encouragement: warm responsiveness to toddler fear and encouragement of toddler autonomy, prompt to engage, both warmth and prompt, or remaining uninvolved (no-encouragement control). Relative to toddlers in the no-encouragement control condition, toddlers whose parents were instructed to provide warmth showed less fear and more engagement in moderately threatening social contexts, and toddlers whose parents were instructed to provide both warmth and prompts showed greater suppression of respiratory sinus arrhythmia in low-threat social contexts. Findings suggest that parental gentle encouragement may promote regulated responses in social contexts in shy toddlers. Encouragement of toddler autonomy and warm responsiveness to toddlers in particular may help shy toddlers to engage with, rather than withdraw from, new people.

Psychological Intrusion - An Overlooked Aspect of Dental Fear

Dental fear/anxiety is a widely recognised problem affecting a large proportion of the population. It can result in avoidance and/or difficulty accepting dental care. We believe that psychological intrusion may play a role in the aetiology and maintenance of dental fear for at least some individuals. In this narrative review we will take a developmental perspective in order to understand its impact across the lifespan. We will consider the nature of 'self,' parenting styles, the details of intrusive parenting or parental psychological control, and briefly touch upon child temperament and parental anxiety. Finally, we draw together the supporting (largely unrecognised) evidence available in the dental literature. We illustrate the paper with clinical examples and discuss possibly effective ways of addressing the problem. We conclude that psychological intrusion appears to play an important role in dental fear, for at least some individuals, and we call for detailed research into the extent and exact nature of the problem. A simple means of identifying individuals who are vulnerable to psychological intrusion would be useful for dentists.

Maternal Behavior and Socioeconomic Status Predict Longitudinal Changes in Error-Related Negativity in Preschoolers

The development self-regulation has been called a primary task of childhood. One system of self-regulation, self-monitoring, is indexed at the level of neural activity as early as preschool as the error-related negativity (ERN). However, how context elicits developmental changes in neural processes of self-monitoring like the ERN is not well understood. Here, socioeconomic status (SES) and parenting were tested as environmental influences on ERN development between ages 3 and 4 (N = 119). Results showed the expected increases in ERN between ages 3 and 4 only when both maternal sensitivity and SES were high. This work demonstrates the importance of considering the early environment in order to understand the development of a neural process supporting self-regulation in young children.

Personality development in the context of individual traits and parenting dynamics

Our conceptualization of adult personality and childhood temperament can be closely aligned in that they both reflect endogenous, likely constitutional dispositions. Empirical studies of temperament have focused on measuring systematic differences in emotional reactions, motor responses, and physiological states that we believe may contribute to the underlying biological components of personality. Although this work has provided some insight into the early origins of personality, we still lack a cohesive developmental account of how personality profiles emerge from infancy into adulthood. We believe the moderating impact of context could shed some light on this complex trajectory. We begin this article reviewing how researchers conceptualize personality today, particularly traits that emerge from the Five Factor Theory (FFT) of personality. From the temperament literature, we review variation in temperamental reactivity and regulation as potential underlying forces of personality development. Finally, we integrate parenting as a developmental context, reviewing empirical findings that highlight its important role in moderating continuity and change from temperament to personality traits.

Supportive and intrusive parenting during early childhood: Relations with children's fear temperament and sex

The current study examined the extent to which child sex and fear reactivity were linked to mothers' observed use of supportive and intrusive parenting behaviors. Two dimensions of observed fear reactivity were considered: distress (i.e., fearfulness) and approach (i.e., fearlessness). The sample consisted of 160 predominantly African American, low-income families that included mothers, 1 sibling approximately 2 years old, and the closest age older sibling who was approximately 4 years old. Results from fixed-effects within-family models indicated that above and beyond the main effect of child engagement on observed parenting behaviors, child sex moderated associations between 2 dimensions of fear reactivity and mothers' observed parenting. Specifically, mothers were observed to be less supportive during interactions with girls rated as high on fear approach and more intrusive during interactions with girls rated as high on fear distress. These patterns suggest that during early childhood, girls' individual characteristics may be more closely linked to mothers' parenting quality than are boys' characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Attitudes About Parenting Strategies for Anxiety Scale: A Measure of Parenting Attitudes About Protective and Intrusive Behavior

Protective and intrusive parenting behaviors consistently relate to children's anxiety development. We present two studies describing the development of the Attitudes about Parenting Strategies for Anxiety (APSA) scale, which assesses parent distress about children's displays of anxiety and shyness as well as parent attitudes about the effectiveness of protective and intrusive responses across several domains. Study 1 included 594 parents who completed the APSA and additional measures online and established the factor structure, internal reliability, and validity of the measure. We also performed a latent profile analysis of the attitude items to understand common patterns and their correlates. Study 2 comprised 108 mothers participating in a laboratory-based study and provided additional evidence for the factor structure, reliability, and validity, as well as 1-year stability. The APSA appears to be a reliable and valid measure that could have utility for understanding the determinants of parenting behaviors relevant to child anxiety development.

Predicting toddler temperamental approach-withdrawal: Contributions of early approach tendencies, parenting behavior, and contextual novelty

Research suggests that temperamental approach-withdrawal is subject to parenting influences, but few studies have explored how specific parenting behaviors and contextual novelty contribute to the observed pattern of effects. The present study examined associations between infant temperamental approach, mother behavior while introducing novel objects (12 months) and temperamental approach-withdrawal in toddlerhood (18 months) in a sample of 132 infants (68 males). Maternal positive affect predicted more toddler approach-withdrawal for high-approach infants and maternal stimulation predicted less toddler approach-withdrawal for low-approach infants; however, these patterns varied with intensity of novelty in both parenting and toddler outcome contexts. Thus, maternal behavior may lead to stronger associations between earlier and later measures of approach-withdrawal; however, these effects are tied to contexts of measurement.

Social-Emotional Development of Toddlers: Randomized Controlled Trial of an Office-Based Intervention

PURPOSE

During the toddler years, temper tantrums and impulsive behaviors are the norm. These behaviors can frustrate even the most experienced mothers.

DESIGN AND METHODS

A prospective, double blind, randomized controlled trial using pre-test/post-test experimental design was used to examine the effectiveness of an office-based educational program to improve maternal confidence and the social-emotional development of toddlers. The Toddler Care Questionnaire (TCQ) was administered to all mothers as a pre and post intervention test. The treatment intervention was a videotaped (DVD) parenting skills intervention on the social-emotional development of toddlers and on maternal confidence in caring for toddlers.

RESULTS

Sixty mothers and 60 toddlers entered the study with 29 mothertoddler dyads randomized to the treatment group and 31 to the control group. Twenty-six (26) mother-toddler dyads in the treatment and 25 mother-toddler dyads in the control group completed the study. Pairwise comparisons of adjusted means showed significant improvements for both toddler groups on the Brigance toddler screen, and no statistically significant difference in gains between the groups. The mixed model results for the TCQ showed an overall significant improvement from preto post-test, and a non-significant interaction between group and time indicting no significant difference in gains seen by treatment groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Brief educational programs on DVD's are an efficient way to offer information to mothers while in the office waiting area.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Pediatric nurses who encounter mothers who struggle with caring for their toddlers may find brief-office based interventions a valuable tool for educating parents.

Parents' behavioral inhibition moderates association of preschoolers' BI with risk for age 9 anxiety disorders

BACKGROUND

Temperamental behavioral inhibition (BI) in children predicts later anxiety disorders. However, many children with BI do not develop anxiety disorders, suggesting the importance of identifying moderating factors. The current study examined whether parents' history of BI moderates the associations between preschoolers' BI and anxiety disorders at age 9.

METHODS

The sample was 392 children and their parents from the community. Child BI was measured at age 3 using observational (Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery; Lab-TAB) and parent report (Behavior Inhibition Questionnaire; BIQ) measures. In addition, both parents reported on their own history of childhood BI using the Retrospective Measure of Behavioral Inhibition (RMBI). When the children were 9 years old, a parent and the child were interviewed using the Kiddie Schedule for the Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia - Present and Lifetime version (K-SADS-PL).

RESULTS

Parents' reports of their own BI moderated the associations of both observed and parent-reported child BI at age 3 with children's anxiety disorders at age 9. Among children whose parents reported having had higher childhood BI, those who exhibited high BI at age 3 were more likely to meet criteria for anxiety disorders at age 9.

LIMITATIONS

The major limitation is the use of a retrospective measure of parental BI.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings demonstrate that parents' histories of childhood BI moderate the association between their young children's BI and subsequent anxiety disorders. Thus, parental BI appears to identify a subgroup of BI children at particularly high risk for developing anxiety disorders by late childhood.

Maternal Encouragement to Approach Novelty: A Curvilinear Relation to Change in Anxiety for Inhibited Toddlers

Various parenting behaviors (e.g., protection, intrusiveness, sensitivity) have been shown to impact young children's anxiety development, particularly for temperamentally inhibited children. These behaviors have sometimes predicted both increases and decreases in anxiety in inhibited children, suggesting that linear relations may not adequately model their influence. In the current study, we proposed the dimension of encouragement to approach novelty to characterize parenting behavior ranging from very little encouragement (i.e., protective behavior) to very strong encouragement (i.e., intrusiveness), with gentle encouragement residing in the middle. In a sample of 110 toddlers (48 female, 62 male) and their mothers, the linear and curvilinear effects of this parenting dimension were investigated in relation to change in child separation anxiety and shyness from age 2 to age 3. Inhibited temperament was also investigated as a moderator. Encouragement to approach novelty displayed the hypothesized curvilinear relation to change in separation anxiety, but not shyness, at extreme levels of inhibited temperament. Toddlers increased in separation anxiety when mothers' encouragement resided at either extreme end of the continuum, with lower child anxiety occurring when mothers displayed behavior closer to the middle of the continuum. Implications for the study of parenting outcomes for inhibited toddlers are discussed.

Emotion Socialization in Anxious Youth: Parenting Buffers Emotional Reactivity to Peer Negative Events

Anxious youth exhibit heightened emotional reactivity, particularly to social-evaluative threat, such as peer evaluation and feedback, compared to non-anxious youth. Moreover, normative developmental changes during the transition into adolescence may exacerbate emotional reactivity to peer negative events, particularly for anxious youth. Therefore, it is important to investigate factors that may buffer emotional reactivity within peer contexts among anxious youth. The current study examined the role of parenting behaviors in child emotional reactivity to peer and non-peer negative events among 86 anxious youth in middle childhood to adolescence (Mean age = 11.29, 54 % girls). Parenting behavior and affect was observed during a social-evaluative laboratory speech task for youth, and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods were used to examine youth emotional reactivity to typical daily negative events within peer and non-peer contexts. Results showed that parent positive behaviors, and low levels of parent anxious affect, during the stressful laboratory task for youth buffered youth negative emotional reactivity to real-world negative peer events, but not non-peer events. Findings inform our understanding of parenting influences on anxious youth's emotional reactivity to developmentally salient negative events during the transition into adolescence.

A Longitudinal Investigation of Predictors of the Association Between Age 3 and Age 6 Behavioural Inhibition

Children who exhibit elevated levels of the temperament trait behavioural inhibition (BI) across time may be at greatest risk for anxiety. However, little research has investigated the influence of other temperamental traits, particularly positive emotionality (PE), on the continuity of BI in childhood, nor whether parental overprotection influences associations between early and later child BI. To explore whether PE and overprotection shape associations between early and later BI, this longitudinal study of three-year-olds (N = 446) followed up at age 6 included tasks tapping child temperament, and parental overprotection was assessed via interview ratings and parent-report. Lower levels of child PE and higher levels of caregiver overprotection at baseline predicted stronger associations between laboratory-assessed BI at ages 3 and 6. Findings elucidate influences shaping the developmental continuity of BI.

Gender Moderates the Progression from Fearful Temperament to Social Withdrawal through Protective Parenting

Child gender may exert its influence on development, not as a main effect, but as a moderator among predictors and outcomes. We examined this notion in relations among toddler fearful temperament, maternal protective parenting, maternal accuracy in predicting toddler distress to novelty, and child social withdrawal. In two multi-method, longitudinal studies of toddlers (24 months at Time 1; ns = 93 and 117, respectively) and their mothers, few main effect gender differences occurred. Moderation existed in both studies: only for highly accurate mothers of boys, fearful temperament related to protective parenting, which then predicted later social withdrawal. Thus, studying only main-effect gender differences may obscure important differences in how boys and girls develop from fearful temperament to later social withdrawal.

Maternal depressive symptoms, maternal behavior, and toddler internalizing outcomes: a moderated mediation model

Maternal depression relates to child internalizing outcomes, but one missing aspect of this association is how variation in depressive symptoms, including mild and moderate symptoms, relates to young children's outcomes. The current study examined a moderated mediation model to investigate how maternal behaviors may mediate this association in the context of child temperament and gender. Mothers and toddlers completed a free-play/clean-up task in the laboratory. Mothers rated their depressive symptoms and their toddlers' temperament and internalizing behaviors. Results indicated a significant indirect effect of maternal warmth on the relation between maternal depressive symptoms and toddler internalizing outcomes for boys with low negative emotionality. Toddler gender and temperament moderated the relation between maternal intrusiveness and toddler internalizing outcomes, but mediation was not supported. Results highlight the important interaction between child and maternal variables in predicting child outcomes, and suggest mechanisms by and conditions under which mild maternal depressive symptomatology can be a risk factor for toddler internalizing outcomes.

Parenting and independent problem-solving in preschool children with food allergy

OBJECTIVE

To examine autonomy-promoting parenting and independent problem-solving in children with food allergy.

METHODS

66 children with food allergy, aged 3-6 years, and 67 age-matched healthy peers and their mothers were videotaped while completing easy and difficult puzzles. Coders recorded time to puzzle completion, children's direct and indirect requests for help, and maternal help-giving behaviors.

RESULTS

Compared with healthy peers, younger (3- to 4-year-old) children with food allergy made more indirect requests for help during the easy puzzle, and their mothers were more likely to provide unnecessary help (i.e., explain where to place a puzzle piece). Differences were not found for older children.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that highly involved parenting practices that are medically necessary to manage food allergy may spill over into settings where high levels of involvement are not needed, and that young children with food allergy may be at increased risk for difficulties in autonomy development.

Early negative affect predicts anxiety, not autism, in preschool boys with fragile X syndrome

Children with fragile X syndrome (FXS) face high risk for anxiety disorders, yet no studies have explored FXS as a high-risk sample for investigating early manifestations of anxiety outcomes. Negative affect is one of the most salient predictors of problem behaviors and has been associated with both anxiety and autistic outcomes in clinical and non-clinical pediatric samples. In light of the high comorbidity between autism and anxiety within FXS, the present study investigates the relationship between longitudinal trajectories of negative affect (between 8 and 71 months) and severity of anxiety and autistic outcomes in young males with FXS (n = 25). Multilevel models indicated associations between elevated anxiety and higher fear and sadness, lower soothability, and steeper longitudinal increases in approach. Autistic outcomes were unrelated to negative affect. These findings suggest early negative affect differentially predicts anxiety, not autistic symptoms, within FXS. Future research is warranted to determine the specificity of the relationship between negative affect and anxiety, as well as to explore potential moderators. Characterizing the relationship between early negative affect and anxiety within FXS may inform etiology and treatment considerations specific to children with FXS, as well as lend insight into precursors of anxiety disorders in other clinical groups and community samples.

Toddler inhibited temperament, maternal cortisol reactivity and embarrassment, and intrusive parenting

The relevance of parenting behavior to toddlers' development necessitates a better understanding of the influences on parents during parent-child interactions. Toddlers' inhibited temperament may relate to parenting behaviors, such as intrusiveness, that predict outcomes later in childhood. The conditions under which inhibited temperament relates to intrusiveness, however, remain understudied. A multimethod approach would acknowledge that several levels of processes determine mothers' experiences during situations in which they witness their toddlers interacting with novelty. As such, the current study examined maternal cortisol reactivity and embarrassment about shyness as moderators of the relation between toddlers' inhibited temperament and maternal intrusive behavior. Participants included 92 24-month-old toddlers and their mothers. Toddlers' inhibited temperament and maternal intrusiveness were measured observationally in the laboratory. Mothers supplied saliva samples at the beginning of the laboratory visit and 20 minutes after observation. Maternal cortisol reactivity interacted with inhibited temperament in relation to intrusive behavior, such that mothers with higher levels of cortisol reactivity were observed to be more intrusive with more highly inhibited toddlers. Embarrassment related to intrusive behavior as a main effect. These results highlight the importance of considering child characteristics and psychobiological processes in relation to parenting behavior.

Dysregulated fear predicts social wariness and social anxiety symptoms during kindergarten

Fearful temperament is associated with risk for the development of social anxiety disorder in childhood; however, not all fearful children become anxious. Identifying maladaptive trajectories is thus important for clarifying which fearful children are at risk. In an unselected sample of 111 two-year-olds (55% male, 95% Caucasian), Buss ( 2011 ) identified a pattern of fearful behavior, dysregulated fear, characterized by high fear in low threat situations. This pattern of behavior predicted parent- and teacher-reported withdrawn/anxious behaviors in preschool and at kindergarten entry. The current study extended original findings and examined whether dysregulated fear predicted observed social wariness with adults and peers, and social anxiety symptoms at age 6. We also examined prosocial adjustment during kindergarten as a moderator of the link between dysregulated fear and social wariness. Consistent with predictions, children with greater dysregulated fear at age 2 were more socially wary of adults and unfamiliar peers in the laboratory, were reported as having more social anxiety symptoms, and were nearly 4 times more likely to manifest social anxiety symptoms than other children with elevated wariness in kindergarten. Results demonstrated stability in the dysregulated fear profile and increased risk for social anxiety symptom development. Dysregulated fear predicted more social wariness with unfamiliar peers only when children became less prosocial during kindergarten. Findings are discussed in relation to the utility of the dysregulated fear construct for specifying maladaptive trajectories of risk for anxiety disorder development.

Caregiver Protective Behavior, Toddler Fear and Sadness, and Toddler Cortisol Reactivity in Novel Contexts

Previous research has shown that caregiver protective behavior may exacerbate toddler distress in specific contexts. The current study sought to extend this work to examine associations between these variables and toddler cortisol reactivity. Ninety-three 24-month-old toddlers were observed across six novel contexts designed to elicit distress. Toddlers were asked to give saliva samples at the beginning and end of the laboratory procedure. Toddler sadness, toddler fear, and caregiver protective behavior were coded. Results indicate that caregiver protective behavior accounted for the association between toddler sadness and cortisol reactivity where higher levels of protective behavior were associated with higher cortisol reactivity. The current study showed that caregiver protective behavior, which functions to prevent a child from interacting with a novel stimulus, is an important mechanism to consider when understanding toddler stress responses during novel contexts.

Allostatic and environmental load in toddlers predicts anxiety in preschool and kindergarten

Psychobiological models of allostatic load have delineated the effects of multiple processes that contribute to risk for psychopathology. This approach has been fruitful, but the interactive contributions of allostatic and environmental load remain understudied in early childhood. Because this developmental period encompasses the emergence of internalizing problems and biological sensitivity to early experiences, this is an important time to examine this process. In two studies, we examined allostatic and environmental load and links to subsequent internalizing and externalizing problems. Study 1 examined relations between load indices and maladjustment, concurrently and at multiple times between age 2 and kindergarten; Study 2 added more comprehensive risk indices in a sample following a group of highly fearful toddlers from 2 to 3 years of age. Results from both studies showed that increased allostatic load related to internalizing problems as environmental risk also increased. Study 2, in addition, showed that fearfulness interacted with allostatic and environmental load indices to predict greater anxiety among the fearful children who had high levels of allostatic and environmental load. Taken together, the findings support a model of risk for internalizing characterized by the interaction of biological and environmental stressors, and demonstrate the importance of considering individual differences and environmental context in applying models of allostatic load to developmental change in early childhood.

Associations among Context-Specific Maternal Protective Behavior, Toddler Fearful Temperament, and Maternal Accuracy and Goals

Maternal protective responses to temperamentally fearful toddlers have previously been found to relate to increased risk for children's development of anxiety-spectrum problems. Not all protective behavior is "overprotective," and not all mothers respond to toddlers' fear with protection. Therefore, the current study aimed to identify conditions under which an association between fearful temperament and protective maternal behavior occurs. Participants included 117 toddlers and their mothers, who were observed in a variety of laboratory tasks. Mothers predicted their toddlers' fear reactions in these tasks and reported the importance of parent-centered goals for their children's shyness. Protective behavior displayed in low-threat, but not high-threat, contexts related to concurrently observed fearful temperament and to mother-reported shy/inhibited behavior one year later. The relation between fearful temperament and protective behavior in low-threat, but not high-threat, contexts was strengthened by maternal accuracy in anticipating children's fear and maternal parent-centered goals for children's shyness.

Prospective relations among fearful temperament, protective parenting, and social withdrawal: the role of maternal accuracy in a moderated mediation framework

Early social withdrawal and protective parenting predict a host of negative outcomes, warranting examination of their development. Mothers' accurate anticipation of their toddlers' fearfulness may facilitate transactional relations between toddler fearful temperament and protective parenting, leading to these outcomes. Currently, we followed 93 toddlers (42 female; on average 24.76 months) and their mothers (9% underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds) over 3 years. We gathered laboratory observation of fearful temperament, maternal protective behavior, and maternal accuracy during toddlerhood and a multi-method assessment of children's social withdrawal and mothers' self-reported protective behavior at kindergarten entry. When mothers displayed higher accuracy, toddler fearful temperament significantly related to concurrent maternal protective behavior and indirectly predicted kindergarten social withdrawal and maternal protective behavior. These results highlight the important role of maternal accuracy in linking fearful temperament and protective parenting, which predict further social withdrawal and protection, and point to toddlerhood for efforts of prevention of anxiety-spectrum outcomes.

Toddlers' context-varying emotions, maternal responses to emotions, and internalizing behaviors

Relations of toddlers' observed negative affect in high- and low-threat contexts to maternal perceptions of their toddlers' internalizing problems and to mothers' responses to emotions (RTE) for fear and sadness were examined. Child-driven, parent-driven, and reciprocal transactional models across 1 year were directly compared. Two-year-old toddlers (N = 106) participated in lab-based activities to elicit distress, and their negative affect was coded. Mothers completed measures of their child's internalizing behaviors and their responses to their toddler's fear and sadness at ages 2 and 3. At age 2, only negative affect in low-threat contexts was associated with greater internalizing problems. Mothers' punishing and minimizing RTE at age 2 predicted an increase in internalizing problems across 1 year. Age 2 internalizing problems predicted an increase in mother's use of supportive RTE over time. Results highlight the importance of considering the context of toddlers' negative affective displays and supported a reciprocal conceptualization of toddlers' internalizing behaviors and mothers' RTE.

Do Maternal Protective Behaviors Alleviate Toddlers' Fearful Distress?

Parenting behaviors during times when young children may feel vulnerable, such as when encountering novelty, undoubtedly affect how children learn to regulate their reactions to these events. Theory suggests and some research supports the link between protective behavior - behaviors that shield child from a potential threat - and regulation of emotions. Less is known, however, about the immediate effects of these behaviors on children's distress. That is, do these protective behaviors alleviate distress in the moment? Presumably, this type of "successful" regulation of distress would be important for the development of successful regulation in other situations. To this end, the current study examined changes in the time course of toddlers' fearful distress, when protective maternal behaviors were observed during a highly novel, fear-eliciting task. Analyses were conducted for two subgroups of dyads: one group where toddlers' distress preceded mothers' protective behavior and one group where mothers' protective behavior preceded toddler distress. When toddlers' distress preceded mothers' reactions, protective behaviors were found to be associated with less steep decreases in fear for toddlers who had the highest initial distress reactions. Results are discussed in the context of toddlers' emerging ability to regulate emotions and the adaptive development of these skills.

Maternal Expectations for Toddlers' Reactions to Novelty: Relations of Maternal Internalizing Symptoms and Parenting Dimensions to Expectations and Accuracy of Expectations

OBJECTIVE: Although maternal internalizing symptoms and parenting dimensions have been linked to reports and perceptions of children's behavior, it remains relatively unknown whether these characteristics relate to expectations or the accuracy of expectations for toddlers' responses to novel situations. DESIGN: A community sample of 117 mother-toddler dyads participated in a laboratory visit and questionnaire completion. At the laboratory, mothers were interviewed about their expectations for their toddlers' behaviors in a variety of novel tasks; toddlers then participated in these activities, and trained coders scored their behaviors. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing demographics, depressive and worry symptoms, and parenting dimensions. RESULTS: Mothers who reported more worry expected their toddlers to display more fearful behavior during the laboratory tasks, but worry did not moderate how accurately maternal expectations predicted toddlers' observed behavior. When also reporting a low level of authoritative-responsive parenting, maternal depressive symptoms moderated the association between maternal expectations and observed toddler behavior, such that, as depressive symptoms increased, maternal expectations related less strongly to toddler behavior. CONCLUSIONS: When mothers were asked about their expectations for their toddlers' behavior in the same novel situations from which experimenters observe this behavior, symptoms and parenting had minimal effect on the accuracy of mothers' expectations. When in the context of low authoritative-responsive parenting, however, depressive symptoms related to less accurate predictions of their toddlers' fearful behavior.