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Poster #62 - The Effects of Early Life Stress on Children’s Disruptive Behaviors: Perceptions Matter

Thu, March 21, 2:15 to 3:30pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

Early life stress (ELS) is remarkably common and adversely related to developmental outcomes. More than half of children experience at least one severe trauma (Felitti et al., 1998); many more experience “normative stressors,” like moving or divorce. Researchers have tended to study the influence of individual stressors (e.g., Johnson, Kalil, & Dunifon, 2012), or indices of more severe traumas (Felitti et al., 1998), contributing to a well-documented link between ELS and problems in self-regulation. Yet researchers have rarely studied the cumulative experience of ELS in relation to adverse impact on neurodevelopmental outcomes (Burchinal & Willoughby, 2013). In addition, some work suggests that perceptions of stress contribute to these outcomes above and beyond acute experiences (Carpenter et al., 1994), as do perceptions of chaos or disorganization in the home (Valiente, Lemery-Chalfant, & Reiser, 2007). This study tests whether either or both of the cumulative risk of ELS and maternal perception of these experiences influence young children’s disruptive behaviors.
Using a diverse sample of young children (Mage=57 months, range: 38-87) recruited from urban pediatric clinics (n=405), we examined the relationships of three ELS indicators with developmentally-sensitive, multidimensional disruptive behavior outcomes (Wakschlag, Tolan, & Leventhal, 2010). Mothers were interviewed about common ELS (e.g., new sibling, parent medical problem) via the Family Socialization Interview (FSI; O’Dor et al., 2017). The mother reported whether she had experienced the stressor in the past year, and, overall, how stressful these experiences had been on a scale from 1 (minimal) to 5 (severe) (Demir-Lira et al., 2016). We also assessed traumatic experiences, including mother’s trauma history (CTQ), parental death, parental incarceration, and violent victimization. Participants also completed a validated measure of chaos in the home (e.g., lack of routine/organization; Matheny et al., 1995). Lastly, mothers completed the Multidimensional Assessment of Preschool Disruptive Behavior (MAP-DB), designed to distinguish the normative misbehaviors of early childhood from clinically salient disruptive behaviors (Wakschlag et al., 2014). We conducted multivariate regressions to examine the incremental utility of these stress measures for explaining variance in the five dimensions of the MAP-DB, as well as one composite measure of behavior.
Overall, mothers reported experiencing an average of 5.5 stressors in the past year (SD = 3.4, range: 1-19) and perceived their stress level as about “average” (M=2.9, SD = 1.3). In regressions that separately examined the three ELS measures, all were significantly associated with higher levels of disruptive behaviors, including at least four of the five MAP-DB dimensions (Table 1). After adding in early traumas, associations between the ELS composite and behaviors were attenuated. However, both perception measures remained significantly associated with a greater number of disruptive behaviors even when included simultaneously (Table 2). Only chaos remained significant when including all three of the stress measures.
Maternal perceptions of stress influence developmental (mal)adaptation of young children. This finding has important implications for researchers, policymakers, and providers who work with young children, and suggests the value of interventions that help families better cope with daily stress, especially in cases where stressors cannot be completely eliminated.

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