Mother-child relationship, child fearfulness, and emerging attachment: a short-term longitudinal study

Infant social interactions and brain development: A systematic review

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

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

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

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

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

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

The development of negative reactivity in irritable newborns as a function of attachment

This longitudinal study builds on existing research exploring the developmental course of infants' negative reactivity to frustration in a sample of 84 irritable infants. We investigated whether infants' negative reactivity to frustration differed during the first year as a function of infant attachment classification. Various elements of the designs of previous studies investigating negative reactivity and attachment preclude the strong conclusion that negative reactivity develops differently as a function of attachment. Thus, we utilized the same observational assessment of infant negative reactivity, conducted without parental involvement, at 5 and 12 months. One proposition, based in attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969/1982; Cassidy, 1994), is that relative to secure infants, insecure-avoidant infants come to minimize their negative emotional reactions, whereas insecure-ambivalent infants come to maximize their negative emotional reactions. As expected, we found that at 5 months, attachment groups did not differ in reactivity, but at 12 months, insecure-avoidant infants were the least reactive, followed by secure infants, and insecure-ambivalent infants were the most reactive. Results are discussed in terms of conceptualizing the development of emotion regulation and their implications for future research.

Selective breeding for infant rat separation-induced ultrasonic vocalizations: developmental precursors of passive and active coping styles

Human depression and anxiety disorders show inherited biases across generations, as do antisocial disorders characterized by aggression. Each condition is preceded in children by behavioral inhibition or aggressive behavior, respectively, and both are characterized by separation anxiety disorders. In affected families, adults and children exhibit different forms of altered autonomic nervous system regulation and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity in response to stress. Because it is difficult to determine mechanisms accounting for these associations, animal studies are useful for studying the fundamental relationships between biological and behavioral traits. Pharmacologic and behavioral studies suggest that infant rat ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) are a measure of an early anxiety-like state related to separation anxiety. However, it was not known whether or not early ultrasound emissions in infant rats are markers for genetic risk for anxiety states later in life. To address these questions, we selectively bred two lines of rats based on high and low rates of USV to isolation at postnatal (P) 10 days of age. To our knowledge, ours is the only laboratory that has ever selectively bred on the basis of an infantile trait related to anxiety. The High and Low USV lines show two distinct sets of patterns of behavior, physiology and neurochemistry from infancy through adulthood. As adults High line rats demonstrate "anxious"/"depressed" phenotypes in behavior and autonomic nervous system (ANS) regulation to standard laboratory tests. In Lows, on the other hand, behavior and autonomic regulation are consistent with an "aggressive" phenotype. The High and Low USV lines are the first genetic animal models implicating long-term associations of contrasting "coping styles" with early attachment responses. They thus present a potentially powerful model for examining gene-environment interactions in the development of life-long affective regulation.

Maternal sensory sensitivity, mother-infant 9-month interaction, infant attachment status: predictors of mother-toddler interaction at 24 months

At 24-months of age, toddlers (N=62) and their mothers were observed in a free-play session to determine the contribution of (a) maternal sensory sensitivity to positive and negative infant facial expressions as measured in a signal detection task at 6 months, (b) maternal behavior and affect, infant behavior and affect, and dyadic interaction at 9 months, and (c) infant attachment status at 12 months in predicting maternal, toddler, and dyadic measures at 24 months. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that over and above early maternal behavior, which was predictive of later maternal behavior at 24 months, sensory sensitivity to the positive infant expression at 6 months predicted maternal behavior at 24 months and sensory sensitivity to both the positive and negative expression was associated with later maternal affect. Infant attachment status emerged as the variable which predicted toddler behavior and dyadic interaction at 24 months.

Behaviour problems in 18- to 36-month old children of alcoholic fathers: secure mother-infant attachment as a protective factor

This study examined the relationship between paternal alcoholism and toddler behavior problems from 18 to 36 months of age, as well as the potential moderating effects of 12-month infant-mother attachment security on this relationship. Children with alcoholic fathers had higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behavior than children of nonalcoholic fathers. Simple effects testing of an interaction effect of child age, group, and attachment security with mothers on externalizing behaviour suggested that at 24 and 36 months of age mother-infant attachment security moderated the relationship between alcohol group status and externalizing behaviour. Namely, within the alcohol group, those children with secure relationships with their mothers had significantly lower externalizing than insecure children of alcoholics. A similar pattern was noted for internalizing behavior at 36 months of age. Implications for intervention are discussed.

Early reactions to frustration: developmental trends in anger, individual response styles, and caregiving risk implications in infancy

PROBLEM

In an effort to examine early negative emotional response patterns, infant responses to frustration were studied with specific regard to anger.

METHODS

Forty infants, 7-9 months (n = 20) and 12-14 months (n = 20) old, were observed in laboratory play situations. Infant affective response as well as maternal behavior were observed. Maternal interviews assessed maternal impressions of infant behavior and affect.

FINDINGS

Findings revealed increased displays of anger in older infants, evidence of cognitive-affective linkages in response, and individual differences in emotional response style and maternal-infant processes.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings relate to the emergence and interplay of negative emotional response, maternal-infant patterns, and socioemotional risk.

Maternal parenting and children's conscience: early security as moderator

Socialization research is shifting from direct links between parenting and children's outcomes toward models that consider parenting in the context of other factors. This study proposed that the effects of maternal responsive, gentle parenting on child conscience are moderated by the quality of their relationship, specifically, early security. A 2-process model of early conscience development was proposed and confirmed in this longitudinal study. The child's security and trust in the caregiver, assessed at 14 months in the Strange Situation, rendered him or her receptive and eager to accept the caregiver's socialization agenda. That early security then enhanced the effectiveness of parental adaptive parenting style, observed from 14 to 45 months, in terms of promoting conscience at 56 months, which encompassed moral conduct, moral cognition, and moral self.

Temperament and attachment disorders

Reviewed in this article is research on children with reactive attachment disorder (RAD) who exhibit specific patterns of socially aberrant behavior resulting from being maltreated or having limited opportunities to form selective attachments. There are no data explaining why 2 different patterns of the disorder, an emotionally withdrawn-inhibited pattern and an indiscriminate-disinhibited pattern, arise from similarly aberrant environments. In this article, we consider whether temperamental differences might contribute to the different manifestations of reactive attachment disorder (RAD) in the context of adverse environments. Although the association between attachment and temperament has been studied extensively and has been the subject of spirited debate within the field of child development, there are no extant data on the influence of temperament on the development of attachment disorders. We consider possible directions for research efforts designed to explore the biological underpinnings of the complex phenomenon of attachment disorders.

IMPACT OF FATHERS' ALCOHOLISM AND ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS ON PARENT-INFANT ATTACHMENT STABILITY FROM 12 TO 18 MONTHS

This study examined short-term attachment stability and sought to identify predictors of stability and change within a sample characterized by fathers' alcoholism. Results suggest moderate stability of attachment classifications (60% for mothers, 53% for fathers) from 12 to 18 months. Higher paternal and maternal alcohol symptoms, maternal depression, and maternal antisocial behavior were found in families with stable insecure mother-infant attachment compared to those who were stable secure. Mother-infant stable insecurity was associated with higher levels of maternal negative affect expression during play. Father-infant stable insecurity was associated with lower levels of paternal positive affect expression and decreased sensitivity during play. Stable insecure children also had higher levels of negative affect during parent-infant interactions and higher negative emotionality during other episodes compared to stable secure children. Results indicate that infants who were insecure at both time points had the highest constellation of family risk characteristics.