Poster #224 - Developmental Cascades of Social Inhibition and Friendships in Preterm and Full-Term Children

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

Friendships are crucial to children’s socioemotional development and quality of life (Engle, McElwain, & Lasky, 2011; Newcomb & Bagwell, 1995). Children born preterm (<37 weeks gestation) have an increased risk for social relationships difficulties including fewer friends (Heuser, Jaekel, & Wolke, 2017; Ritchie, Bora, & Woodward, 2015). The prospective, geographically defined Bavarian Longitudinal Study investigated cascading effects of gestational age, early parent-infant relationship quality, inhibitory control at 20 months, and social inhibition at 6 years on N=1,181 preterm and term children’s friendships at 8 years of age. Early parent–infant relationship quality was assessed postnatally with the Parent-Infant Relationship Index. At 20 months of age, inhibitory control was observed with a snack delay task. At age 6 years, social inhibition was measured using a validated experimental procedure evaluating children’s responses to a stranger’s initiation of social interaction. When the children were 8 years old, child and parent reports of children’s number of friends, frequency of meeting with friends, and peer acceptance were obtained and summed into a friendship index score. Path modeling (χ2/df = 5.76/5, p=.331; CFI= .995; RMSEA= 0.011, PCLOSE = .982 [90% CI .000 to .043]) indicated that higher gestational age predicted good parent-infant relationship quality (β =.15, p<.001), good inhibitory control (β =.15, p<.001), and higher friendship scores (β =.14, p<.001), controlling for child sex and family socioeconomic status. Additionally, good parent-infant relationship quality predicted good inhibitory control (β = .06), which subsequently predicted low social inhibition at 6 (β = -0.08) and higher friendship scores at 8 years (β =.08). The current study provides evidence of cascading effects from gestational age to early parent-infant relationships, to toddlers’ inhibitory control abilities, and to social inhibition before school entry, which partially explain differences in children’s friendships at 8 years of age.

Authors

• Lucia Miranda, The University of Tennessee Knoxville
  Presenting Author

• Julia Jaekel, The University of Tennessee Knoxville
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katharina M. Heuser, Ruhr-University Bochum
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dieter Wolke, University of Warwick
  Non-Presenting Author