Family Interactions in Toddlerhood Influence Social Competence in Preschool: Accounting for Heritable and Prenatal Influences

• In Event: The Kids will be alright: The roles of parents and children in promoting positive development

Abstract

Social competence in early childhood has implications for later childhood successful adjustment, ranging from sustained positive peer friendships to academic achievement. Previous literature has uniquely identified parenting and early child regulation as predictors of social competence in early childhood. However, few studies examined whether these associations are parent-driven and/or child-driven. Furthermore, it is unclear how other underlying mechanisms play a role in these processes, like the prenatal environment and the child’s inherited characteristics. These mechanisms are important to consider given research linking both to social competence (Hentges et al., 2019; Van Ryzin et al., 2015). Using a genetically informed sample, the Early Growth and Development Study (Leve et al., 2019), we examined parenting and child-driven effects on the development of social competence at age 4.5 years, while accounting for heritable and prenatal influences.

The sample consisted of 561 adoptive families (birth parents, adoptive parents, and adopted child). Birth parent agreeable temperament was used to index inherited influences on parent and child behaviors. Prenatal distress was measured by birth mother reports of anxiety and depressive symptoms during pregnancy at 5-months postpartum using items from the Beck Anxiety Inventory (Beck & Steer, 1993) and Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996). At 18 and 27 months, adoptive mother (AM) and father (AF) reported on their overreactivity using the Parenting Scale (Arnold et al., 1993), and parental responsivity was assessed using the HOME inventory (Caldwell & Bradley, 1984). At 18 and 27 months, adoptive parents reported on child anger proneness using the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (Goldsmith, 1996) and ADHD symptoms using the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000); they reported on social competence at 4.5 years using the Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliott, 1990). Separate path analyses were conducted for child anger proneness and ADHD symptoms (Figures 1 and 2).

Results showed unique heritable, child, and parenting effects (AM overreactivity and AM responsivity) on child social competence at 4.5 years. We also found a child-effect on AF overreactivity at 18 months, explained in part by birth parent agreeableness. Finally, prenatal distress was negatively associated with AF overreactivity at 18 months. For family interactions, we found that child anger proneness at 18 months was positively associated with AM overreactivity at 27 months (Figure 1), which was associated with lower levels of social competence at 4.5 years ( = -.02, SE = .01, p = .05). Additionally, we found that AM overreactivity at 18 months was associated with more child ADHD symptoms at 27 months (Figure 2), which was associated with lower social competence at 4.5 years ( = -.02, SE = .01, p = .05). AF responsivity was also associated with more ADHD symptoms at 27 months.

This study shows that children’s interactions with their parents are important for the development of social competence, and that this unfolds across infancy and toddlerhood. The examination of heritable, prenatal, and postnatal environmental influences simultaneously allows us to better examine the complex nature of how social competence develops in early childhood.

Authors

• Amanda Ramos, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Ann Shewark, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• David Reiss, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Leslie D. Leve, University of Oregon
  Non-Presenting Author

• Misaki N. Natsuaki, University of California - Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jody M. Ganiban, George Washington University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jenae M Neiderhiser, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author