Observer-Rated Environmental Sensitivity Predicts Children’s Differential Susceptibility to Parenting in Early Childhood

• In Event: 3-207 - Investigating Differential Susceptibility across Childhood with Self- and Observed-Rated Measures of Environmental Sensitivity

Integrative Statement

Introduction: Parental care is one of the strongest, most robust and consistent predictors of child development. However, several evolutionary theory inspired frameworks (e.g., Belsky & Pluess, 2009) suggest that children may be differentially susceptible to developmental effects of the environment, including parenting quality, with some being more sensitive than others to both negative and positive parenting practices. A vast array of behavioral, physiological, and genetic variables have been identified as more or less distal markers of such sensitivity to environmental influences. More recently, the Highly Sensitive Child (HSC, Pluess et al., 2018) scale has been developed to capture Environmental Sensitivity more specifically as a temperament trait. However, the HSC scale is based on self-report and not suitable for younger children. In the current study we introduce a new observational measure for the specific assessment of Environmental Sensitivity in early childhood: the Highly Sensitive Child-Rating System (HSC-RS).

Hypotheses: The main objective of the study is to create an observational measure for the assessment of Environmental Sensitivity in preschool-aged children. After investigating the psychometric properties of the rating-system we report associations between observer-rated sensitivity and established temperament traits. Based on the hypothesis that heightened sensitivity would be associated with a stronger response of children to both negative and positive parenting practices, we then test in the same data set whether observationally assessed sensitivity moderates the effects of parenting at age three on behaviour problems and social competence at ages three and six years.

Study Population: Participants of the current study were drawn from the longitudinal USA-based Stony Brook Temperament Study (SBTS). The selected sample included 161 children (Mage =3.54; SD = 0.27) and their mothers.

Methods: A selection of existing Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB) videos (Goldsmith et al., 1999) from three-year-old children who participated in the Stony Brook Temperament Study were coded for behaviours thought to be indicative of Environmental Sensitivity. Temperament traits were measured with the original Lab-TAB procedure and parents reported on parenting behaviours and rated child outcomes at ages 3 and 6. Psychometric properties of the observational sensitivity scale were tested with Confirmatory Factor Analyses before investigating associations with temperament traits through bivariate correlations. Finally, interactions between sensitivity and parenting were tested with multiple regression models and significant interactions followed up with a model comparison method (Belsky, Pluess & Widaman, 2013) to determine interaction patterns (Diathesis-Stress vs Differential-Susceptibility vs Vantage-Sensitivity).

Results: Factor analyses of the sensitivity rating scale supported a robust one-factor solution. Furthermore, observed sensitivity was relatively distinct from observed temperament and interacted with parenting quality in the development of behaviour problems and social competence. More specifically, highly sensitive children were more susceptible to the negative influence of permissive parenting in relation to externalizing behaviour problems at age three (in line with a Differential-Susceptibility pattern) and internalizing behaviour problems at age three and six (reflecting a Diathesis-Stress pattern), as well as the positive effects of authoritative parenting in the prediction of social competence at ages three and six (consistent with Vantage-Sensitivity).

Authors

• Michael Pluess, Queen Mary University of London
  Presenting Author

• Francesca Lionetti, Queen Mary University of London
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elaine Aron, Stony Brook University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Arthur Aron, Stony Brook University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dan Klein, Stony Brook University
  Non-Presenting Author