Stabilities of Infant Behaviors and Maternal Responses to Them

Consistency in the order of individuals in a group across substantial lengths of time-stability-is a central concept in developmental science for several reasons. Stability underscores the meaningfulness of individual differences in psychological phenomena; stability informs about the origins, nature, and overall developmental course of psychological phenomena; stability signals individual status and so affects the environment, experience, and development; stability has both theoretical and clinical implications for individual functioning; and stability helps to establish that a measure constitutes a consequential individual-differences metric. In this three-wave prospective longitudinal study (Ns = 40 infants and mothers), we examined stabilities of individual variation in multiple infant behaviors and maternal responses to them across infant ages 10, 14, and 21 months. Medium to large effect size stabilities in infant behaviors and maternal responses emerged, but both betray substantial amounts of unshared variance. Documenting the ontogenetic trajectories of infant behaviors and maternal responses helps to elucidate the nature and structure of early human development.

Evaluating Caregiver Sensitivity to Infants: Measures Matter

The significance of caregiver sensitivity for child development has been debated among scholars, not least due to sensitivity's inconsistent predictive value over time and across contexts. A lack of uniformity in the definition of sensitivity contributes to this debate, but shortfalls of inter-tool concordance and construct validity in the instruments used to assess sensitivity may also be at issue. This study examines correspondences among four established standardized measures of caregiver sensitivity in independent classifications of the same sample of mothers of infants. 50 European American mother- infant dyads of diverse SES were independently assessed with three observational caregiver sensitivity measures: the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS; Biringen, 2008), the Parent Child Interaction - Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale (PCI-NCAFS; Oxford & Findlay, 2015), and the Maternal Behaviour Q-Sort (MBQS; Moran, Pederson & Bento, 2009). Ratings were juxtaposed with classifications of the same sample based on the original Ainsworth Maternal Sensitivity Scales (AMSS; Ainsworth, 1969). The EAS, NCAFS, and MBQS related to the AMSS, but large proportions of variance were unshared. Researchers and clinicians should be cautious when assuming that popular observational assessment instruments, commonly believed to measure a generic construct of caregiver sensitivity, are interchangeable, as these measures may evaluate different features of sensitivity to infants.

The influence of cultural orientation on associations between Puerto Rican adolescent mothers' parenting and toddler compliance and defiance

OBJECTIVES

It is imperative that individual differences in the cultural contexts of adolescent mothers, whose parenting is often linked to poor child outcomes, be better understood, especially among Puerto Rican-origin mothers who experience high rates of poverty. Behaviors that mothers use to elicit compliance from their children are important to investigate, because children's ability to engage in regulated, compliant behavior has long-term consequences for their adjustment. This study tested whether mothers' orientation to both American and Latino cultures influenced the associations between such maternal behaviors and compliant and defiant child behaviors.

METHOD

The sample included 123 young, Puerto Rican-origin mothers and their 24-month-old toddlers. Behaviors coded from a toy cleanup task measured maternal guidance and control and child compliance and defiance, and acculturation and enculturation were measured with a self-report questionnaire.

RESULTS

Maternal guidance predicted more child compliance, with no significant variations by cultural orientation; however, mothers who were more enculturated had children who were more compliant. As predicted, mothers' more frequent use of control was related to more child defiance for mothers reporting high levels of acculturation, and not for less acculturated mothers.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings support the hypothesis that individual differences in cultural orientation influence variations in associations between certain maternal and child behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record

Maternal and infant behavior and context associations with mutual emotion availability

Emotional availability (EA) is a prominent index of mutual socioemotional adaptation in the parent-infant dyad. This study examines zero-order and unique associations of multiple maternal and infant behavior and context indicators to variation in aspects of EA in mothers and their young infants. The associations to each were explored in separate analyses for maternal sensitivity and infant responsiveness in 369 European American mothers and their firstborn 5½-month-olds. Beyond zero-order relations, robust regression analyses revealed differentiated patterns of unique relations of mother and infant behavior and context indicators to the EA dimensions of maternal sensitivity and infant responsiveness. Although potential behavior and context relations to EA are many, prominent relations to maternal sensitivity and infant responsiveness are few, and patterns of association vary for the two dimensions of EA. Adequate EA is fundamental to a healthy parent-infant relationship, and understanding the behavior and context indicators associated with EA is fundamental to its enhancement.

Escala de Avaliação dos Estilos de Ensino: qualidades psicométricas dos dados

Este trabalho apresenta uma escala de avaliação da qualidade dos comportamentos interactivos maternos. Embora este instrumento tenha sido utilizado no contexto de um projecto mais amplo que visa estudar os determinantes maternos da qualidade do envolvimento da criança, este artigo centra-se especificamente nas decisões metodológicas relativas à observação dos comportamentos interactivos maternos. A Escala de Avaliação dos Estilos de Ensino (EAEE) foi utilizada para observar os comportamentos interactivos de 120 mães de crianças em idade de creche, numa situação de jogo livre, seguida de arrumação dos brinquedos. Cada díade foi observada em três momentos diferentes. A análise das dimensões subjacentes, dos coeficientes de consistência interna e de acordo inter-observadores, bem como da consistência temporal dos dados, permite concluir que a EAEE é uma medida útil e adequada dos comportamentos interactivos de mães portuguesas em situações diádicas de jogo.

Development of Mutual Responsiveness Between Parents and Their Young Children

This comprehensive study of mutual responsiveness examined 102 mothers and 102 fathers interacting with their children at 7 and 15 months. Responsiveness was studied from developmental and individual differences perspectives, and assessed using macroscopic ratings and microscopic event coding. The latter captured parents' reactions to children's negative, positive, and physical bids, and children's reactions to parents' social-interactive bids, mood regulation attempts, and influence attempts. Responsiveness depended on bid type and child age, and reflected developmental changes in children, parents, and relationships. Mothers were more responsive than fathers; children were equally responsive to both parents and coherent in their responsiveness. Ratings revealed dyadic mutuality and longitudinal continuity of responsiveness. Parent-child responsiveness from 7 to 15 months was consistent with assumptions of a parent-driven process.

Child disobedience and noncompliance: a review

Child disobedience and noncompliance is a recurring problem frequently brought to the attention of pediatricians and others working with children and their parents. This article reviews empirical studies concerning childhood noncompliance. Definitions of noncompliance (also called disobedience) are presented, and observational studies that have measured noncompliance in the laboratory and at home are reviewed. Studies show considerable variability in the prevalence of noncompliance, but demonstrate that it is a frequent problem for parents. Longitudinal data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study are presented to more closely examine the onset and stability of noncompliance in childhood and adolescence. Evidence suggests that extreme childhood noncompliance is relatively stable over time, peaking slightly during early adolescence and decreasing during late adolescence. Studies indicate that for some children noncompliance predicts aggression and externalizing problems. Antecedents of noncompliance including parental discipline techniques and child characteristics are reviewed. Parent training programs designed to reduce noncompliance are described, and the effectiveness of such programs is examined.