Context-Specific Maternal Sensitivity and Early Childhood Social-Emotional, Behavioral and Cognitive Development

• In Event: Early childhood parenting

Abstract

Introduction: Decades of research on maternal sensitivity has established associations between higher levels of sensitive caregiving and adaptive early childhood outcomes, such as greater academic achievement and social competence, and lower levels of emotional and behavior problems (Belsky & Fearon, 2002). Although the field has tended to conceptualize and measure sensitivity in a generalized way, there may be benefit in further specifying sensitivity occurring in different contexts. Classic theory and recent research support the idea that mothers’ sensitivity to infant displays of distress (SD) may be especially important for early childhood social-emotional development (Bowlby, 1973; Leerkes et al., 2012), while maternal sensitivity in times of calm (sensitivity to non-distress; SND) may have particular importance for young children’s cognitive development (Leigh et al., 2011; Watson & Ramsey, 1972).
Hypotheses: Guided by theory and limited empirical studies on the topic, we hypothesized that higher maternal observed SD at 18 months would be negatively related to 24-month child internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and positively related to social competence, controlling for observed SND and standard demographic covariates. We expected that 18-month observed maternal SND would uniquely predict 24-month child productive language, controlling for maternal SD and standard demographic covariates.
Population: Participants came from the Smart Beginnings Study, a longitudinal sample of mothers (N = 403 mothers) and their infants recruited from Pittsburgh, PA and New York City. Mothers were racially/ethnically diverse (44.5 % Black; 43.5% Latinx), with an average annual income of $20,221 at the time of the child’s birth.
Methods: Data analysis included measures (see Table 1) drawn from home and lab assessments which took place when the child was 18- and 24-months-old. Hypotheses were tested using OLS multiple regression in SPSS. Demographic covariates and the primary predictor (i.e., SD or SND) were added in Step 1, with the alternate type of sensitivity added as a control in Step 2.
Results: As predicted, maternal SD at 18 months was associated with lower child internalizing symptoms (β = -.19, p < .01), including after controlling for SND in Step 2 (β = -.15, p < .05). Maternal SD was also associated with lower levels of child externalizing problems (β = -.18, p < .01) and higher social competence (β = .17, p < .01), but these associations became non-significant when SND was added to the model in Step 2. As predicted, SND was significantly positively associated with child language development (β = .30, p < .001), and this association remained significant after controlling for SD in Step 2 (β = .27, p < .001). SND was not associated with child internalizing symptoms and was marginally associated with child externalizing symptoms and social competence. SD was not associated with child language. Results suggest that maternal SD and SND may have meaningful distinctions and predictive ability for specific childhood outcomes. Distinguishing maternal SD from SND could be impactful for deepening our understanding of early maternal sensitive caregiving and more precisely targeting and intervening with families of young children.

Authors

• Lindsay Taraban, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author

• Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh

• Pamela Morris-Perez, New York University

• Alan L Mendelsohn, NYU Grossman School of Medicine