Association Between Environment Harshness, Unpredictability, and Problematic Functioning Moderated by Children’s Sensory Processing Sensitivity Behavior

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

It is widely appreciated that human development is shaped by multiple developmental experiences (e.g., poverty, single parenting, insensitive parenting, Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). Notably, Ellis and associates (2009) advances harshness and unpredictability as two fundamental dimensions of environmental adversity. Building on Ellis et al.’s theorization (2009), we examined how environmental harshness and unpredictability might be associated with the development of problematic functioning during early childhood. Furthermore, evolutionary models postulate that individuals lawfully vary in their susceptibility to environmental influences. As such, some individuals might exhibit a stronger association between their environmental exposures and developmental sequelae (Differential susceptibility theory, Belsky & Pluess, 2009). Towards this, various markers have been identified that indicate heightened sensitivity to environmental input, including the personality trait of sensory processing sensitivity (SPS; Aron, Aron, & Jagiellowicz, 2012). Thus, this study also investigated whether and how child SPS—measured through behavioral observational method within the laboratory setting—may moderate the effects of environmental harshness and unpredictability on child development.
Participants were 235 children (Mage = 2.97 at Wave one) and their parents followed for two annual waves. At wave one, environmental harshness was indicated by lower family income-to-needs ratio, and lower maternal sensitivity and greater harsh discipline observed during a mother-child discipline discussion (Wieland, Green, Ellingsen, & Baker, 2013); environmental unpredictability was composited based on mother-reported family instability (Forman & Davies, 2003), household chaos (Matheny, Wachs, Ludwig, & Phillips, 1995), and neighborhood residential instability (Knight, Smith, Martin, Lewis, & the LOGSCAN Investigators, 2008). Child SPS (wave one) was measured by a novel observational system designed to capture children’s key behavioral responses to various laboratory episodes (e.g., stranger approach, gift delay, puzzle-solving tasks; Lionetti, Aron, Aron, Klein, & Pluess, 2019). Child externalizing and internalizing problems were rated by mothers at both waves (Albow et al., 1999).
Confirmatory factor analyses supported for a single factor underlying multiple behavioral scales of SPS, reflecting (a) thorough and in-depth cognitive processing, (b) greater emotional reactivity to external stimuli, (c) cautious yet collaborative attitude towards the experimenter, reflecting openness to the interpersonal experiences and inhibition to novel stimuli; (d) greater empathy and emotional awareness; and (e) greater emotion- and impulse-regulation. The latent difference score approach (McArdle & Hamagami, 2001) indicated that greater environmental unpredictability, but not harshness, was significantly associated with greater increases in children’s externalizing problems over time (Table 1). Furthermore, the environmental unpredictability-x-SPS interaction was significantly associated with the change in externalizing problems over time. Simple slope analyses indicated that the association between environmental unpredictability and the change in child externalizing problems was only significant for children with high (top 25%), but not low (bottom 25%) SPS (Figure 1). Follow-up analyses following Roisman and colleague’s (2012) recommendation indicated that the pattern of the interaction was consistent with differential susceptibility, such that children with high SPS exhibited greater increases in externalizing problems when unpredictability was high, but also lower increases or greater decreases in externalizing problems when unpredictability was low. Finally, none of the study variables significantly predicted the change in children’s internalizing problems.

Authors

• Zhi Li, Peking University
  Presenting Author

• Melissa L Sturge-Apple, University of Rochester
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hannah Jones, University of Rochester
  Non-Presenting Author

• Patrick Davies, University of Rochester
  Non-Presenting Author