Trajectories of Parent-Child Dyadic Synchrony and Associations with Children’s Social Skills in Low-Income Families

• In Event: Fathering, Mothering, and Family Dynamics in Low-Income Families

Abstract

During early childhood, parents’ mutually responsive and reciprocal interactions with their children (i.e., dyadic synchrony) are important for the development of social skills (Harrist & Waugh, 2002). Most parenting studies focus on mother-child quality of interactions and far fewer focus on father-child interactions, though father engagement is uniquely associated with children’s social skills (Cabrera et al., 2021). Moreover, few studies consider that mothers’ and fathers’ quality of interaction may change over the early years depending on parental education, depressive symptoms, and children’s temperament (Hsieh et al., 2017). We address these research gaps by examining growth trajectories of mother-child and father-child dyadic synchrony from 9 months to 24 months and relations to children’s social skills at 24 months in low-income, diverse families. Framed within Bronfenbrenner’s (1996) ecological theory of human development, we ask: (1) How do father-child and mother-child dyadic synchrony change from infancy to toddlerhood? (2) Are changes in the trajectories of parent-child dyadic synchrony related to parents’ education, parents’ depression, and child temperament? 3) Are mother-child and father-child dyadic synchrony at 18 months associated with children’s social skills at 24 months? We hypothesize that parent-child dyadic synchrony will increase across time and that parents with higher education will show more synchrony with their children whereas parents with more depressive symptoms and who have children with higher levels of emotionality will show less synchrony across time. Finally, we expect that parent-child dyadic synchrony will be positively related to children’s social competence and negatively predict children’s problem behaviors. This study uses a sample of n = 210 primarily Latinx co-resident families participating in a parenting intervention. When infants were 9, 18, and 24 months, mothers and fathers were videotaped in their homes during a 10-minute toy-play interaction, which have been coded for mother-child and father-child dyadic mutuality/reciprocity (Cox & Crnic, 2003). At 9 months, parents reported on their depressive symptoms and their education level. At 12 months, mothers and fathers reported on their infant’s temperament. When toddlers were 24 months old, mothers and fathers reported on their children’s social skills via the Brief Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (Briggs-Gowan & Carter, 2006). Descriptive statistics show that as children get older, mothers’ interactions with them are significantly more reciprocal in nature (t = 2.46, df = 91, p = .02; Table 1). Linear regression analyses in R revealed that mother-child dyads with more dyadic synchrony have fathers/partners who have higher levels of education (B = .16, p = .004) and more depressive symptoms (B = .04, p = .05). Mothers with less dyadic synchrony have children with higher negative emotionality (B = -.07, p = .003). Mother-child dyadic synchrony at 18 months is significantly related to children’s social competence at 24 months (B = .61, p = .02), controlling for experimental condition, parents’ education, and child temperament. Once all remaining videos are coded for dyadic synchrony at 18 and 24 months, SEM and growth curve analysis will be used in MPlus software to test the research questions.

Authors

• Rachel Ghosh, University of Maryland - College Park
  Presenting Author

• Natasha J Cabrera, University of Maryland - College Park

• Jay Fagan, Temple University

• Stephanie M Reich, University of California - Irvine