Parental sensitivity and intrusiveness with mothers and fathers: Associations between parental behavioral activation/inhibition and infant temperament.

Understanding the factors contributing to sensitive parenting is crucial to optimize infant social and emotional functioning. Research has supported the association between parents' personality and parenting quality, but findings are inconsistent when examining various global personality measures. Further, it is likely that the interaction between parent-level (e.g., personality) and infant-level characteristics (e.g., temperament) are more strongly associated with caregiving quality. Most studies examining predictors of parenting quality have only included mothers, compared to fathers. The current study examined the interaction between parental personality and infant temperament and associations with parental sensitivity and intrusiveness with mothers and fathers. The participants included families (n = 102) when the infants were 4, 6, and 8 months old. Using parent report measures and a face-to-face play task, significant main effects of maternal behavioral inhibition on parenting behaviors were observed for mothers. A Behavioral Activation X Infant Negative Reactivity interaction predicted both maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness, whereas a Behavioral Inhibition X Infant Surgency predicted paternal intrusiveness. In summary, the results revealed support for the goodness-of-fit perspective between parents' personality and infant temperament.

Using machine learning to understand age and gender classification based on infant temperament.

Age and gender differences are prominent in the temperament literature, with the former particularly salient in infancy and the latter noted as early as the first year of life. This study represents a meta-analysis utilizing Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) data collected across multiple laboratories (N = 4438) to overcome limitations of smaller samples in elucidating links among temperament, age, and gender in early childhood. Algorithmic modeling techniques were leveraged to discern the extent to which the 14 IBQ-R subscale scores accurately classified participating children as boys (n = 2,298) and girls (n = 2,093), and into three age groups: youngest (< 24 weeks; n = 1,102), mid-range (24 to 48 weeks; n = 2,557), and oldest (> 48 weeks; n = 779). Additionally, simultaneous classification into age and gender categories was performed, providing an opportunity to consider the extent to which gender differences in temperament are informed by infant age. Results indicated that overall age group classification was more accurate than child gender models, suggesting that age-related changes are more salient than gender differences in early childhood with respect to temperament attributes. However, gender-based classification was superior in the oldest age group, suggesting temperament differences between boys and girls are accentuated with development. Fear emerged as the subscale contributing to accurate classifications most notably overall. This study leads infancy research and meta-analytic investigations more broadly in a new direction as a methodological demonstration, and also provides most optimal comparative data for the IBQ-R based on the largest and most representative dataset to date.

Cardiac physiological regulation across early infancy: The roles of infant surgency and parental involvement with mothers and fathers.

High baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and infant temperament are associated with a child's ability to self-regulate, but moderators of this association have not been thoroughly examined in the literature. Parents who are more involved might have more opportunities to interact with and soothe their children. The current study examined whether parental involvement moderated the association between infant temperament and baseline RSA with mothers and fathers across early infancy. Participants included families (n = 91) assessed at 4 and 8 months of age. Infant temperamental surgency and parental involvement were measured via parent-report when infants were 4 months old, and infant baseline RSA was measured at 4 and 8 months of age. Results revealed differences in mother versus father predictors of infant baseline RSA. A significant Infant Surgency X Maternal Play interaction was revealed; infants of mothers who were low involvement increased in their baseline RSA as their surgency increased. A significant main effect of father care was found; infants with highly involved fathers had higher baseline RSA. In conclusion, mothers and fathers may differentially influence their infant's cardiac physiological regulation based on their specific type of involvement.

Toddler affect with mothers and fathers: the importance of infant attachment.

The present study examined the degree to which toddlers' affect at 20 months during the Parent Ignore Toddler Situation (PITS), a modified still-face paradigm, with mothers and fathers was predicted by attachment (12 and 14 months), temperamental negative reactivity (3, 5, 7, 12, and 14 months), and attachment X negative reactivity during infancy. Parents (N = 135) were predominantly Caucasian (90.3% of mothers and 87.4% of fathers). Results from multi-level models, controlling for baseline affect and current parent sensitivity, indicated several effects involving attachment, but not temperament. An Episode X Avoidant attachment interaction indicated that toddlers who were classified as avoidant with either parent during infancy showed a flattened pattern of positive affect across the PITS episodes compared with those classified as secure. In contrast, a Parent X Ambivalent attachment interaction indicated that toddler negative affect was higher when they had an ambivalent attachment with mothers but not fathers.

Examining antecedents of infant attachment security with mothers and fathers: An ecological systems perspective.

Taking an ecological systems perspective, early parent-child relationships can be affected by interactions between systems where some are more proximally linked to the child than others. Socioeconomic status, a distal factor, is associated with social functioning during childhood, but research on its association with functioning during infancy, particularly attachment, is scant and inconsistent. Moreover, it is not clear how distal factors affect infant functioning. Other systems such as marital adjustment and parenting may moderate or mediate relations between distal factors and infant attachment. The current longitudinal study (n=135) examined the role of various systems - parental resources, marital functioning, parental sensitivity and involvement - in early infancy (3-, 5-, 7-months) on infant-mother (12-months) and infant-father (14-months) attachment security. Findings supported moderating processes but in different ways for infant-mother versus infant-father dyads. Implications for future studies and interventions are discussed.

Attachment in the making: mother and father sensitivity and infants' responses during the Still-Face Paradigm.

This study examined the extent to which infant and parent response trajectories during the Still-Face Paradigm (SFP) in early infancy predicted later infant-mother and infant-father attachment. Families (N=135) participated in the SFP when infants were 3, 5, and 7 months of age and participated in the Strange Situation procedure when infants were 12 months of age (mothers) and 14 months of age (fathers). Multilevel models showed that parent sensitivity assessed during the SFP was related to infants' affective and behavioral response trajectories during the SFP and that sensitivity and infant response trajectories predicted attachment. Results from the current study support the notion that parent and infant responses in the SFP with mothers and fathers during Bowlby's attachment in the making phase provide insight into the developing parent-child attachment relationship.

Developmental Trajectories of Emotion Regulation Across Infancy: Do Age and the Social Partner Influence Temporal Patterns?

The ability to effectively regulate emotions is a critical component of early socio-emotional development. This longitudinal study examined the developmental trajectories of emotion regulation in a sample of 3-, 5-, and 7-month-olds during an interaction with mothers and fathers. Infants' negative affect and use of behavioral strategies, including distraction, self-soothing, and high intensity motor behaviors were rated during the still-face episode of the Still-Face Paradigm. Longitudinal mixed-effects models were tested to determine whether strategies were followed by an increase or decrease in negative affect. Results from mother-infant and father-infant dyads indicated that focusing attention away from the unresponsive parent and engaging in self-soothing behaviors were associated with a subsequent decline in negative affect and the strength of these temporal associations were stable across infancy. In contrast, high-intensity motor behaviors were followed by an increase in negative affect and this effect declined over time. No significant effects were found for the behavioral strategy of looking at the parent. Results underscore the importance of considering infant age and the social partner when studying the effectiveness of emotion regulatory strategies in early infancy.

Toddler Emotion Regulation with Mothers and Fathers: Temporal Associations Between Negative Affect and Behavioral Strategies.

The present study investigated temporal associations between putative emotion regulation strategies and negative affect in 20-month-old toddlers. Toddlers' parent-focused, self-distraction, and toy-focused strategies, as well as negative affect, were rated on a second-by-second basis during laboratory parent-toddler interactions. Longitudinal mixed-effects models were conducted to determine the degree to which behavioral strategy use predicts subsequent negative affect and negative affect predicts subsequent strategy use. Results with mother-toddler and father-toddler dyads indicated that parent-focused strategies with an unresponsive parent were followed by increases in negative affect, whereas toy-focused strategies were followed by decreases in negative affect. Results also indicated that toddler negative affect serves to regulate behavioral strategy use within both parent contexts.

Feeling good, feeling bad: influences of maternal perceptions of the child and marital adjustment on well-being in mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder.

Mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder (n = 49) participated in a 30-day diary study which examined associations between mothers' positive and negative perceptions of their children, marital adjustment, and maternal well-being. Hierarchical linear modeling results revealed that marital adjustment mediated associations between positive perceptions and maternal well-being. Mothers who reported higher levels of positive perceptions of the child were higher in marital adjustment and well-being. Results also revealed that marital adjustment moderated the relation between negative perceptions and negative maternal affect. Mothers low in marital adjustment had a positive association between negative maternal perceptions of the child and negative maternal affect. These findings highlight the dynamic roles that mothers' perceptions and marital adjustment play in determining maternal psychological outcomes.

Optimism, social support, and well-being in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder.

This study used structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between multiple sources of social support (e.g., partner, family, and friends), optimism, and well-being among mothers of children with ASD. Social support was examined as a mediator and moderator of the optimism-maternal well-being relationship. Moreover, the role of optimism as a mediator of the social support-maternal well-being relationship was also evaluated. Results revealed that family support was associated with increased optimism that, in turn, predicted higher levels of positive maternal outcomes and lower levels of negative maternal outcomes. In addition, partner and friend support were directly associated with maternal outcomes. Implications for the development of interventions directed at increasing the quality of social support networks are discussed.