Poster #25 - The Enduring Versus Transient Predictive Significance of Consistency in Early Parental Sensitivity for Psychopathology Symptoms

• In Event: Poster Session 02

Abstract

A key premise within the fields of developmental psychopathology and attachment is that early interpersonal experiences—particularly those with primary caregivers—have an enduring impact on the development of externalizing and internalizing symptoms over time. Moreover, prior meta-analytic studies have confirmed the importance of early attachment experiences (Fearon et al., 2010; Groh et al., 2012) and parental sensitivity (Cooke et al., 2022) for subsequent internalizing and externalizing symptoms. However, there are two significant gaps in prior work addressed by the present study.

First, prior studies have demonstrated associations between early caregiving experiences and symptoms of psychopathology, but generally have not examined whether such associations endure or fade in magnitude over time. Such a distinction is crucial given the claims of attachment theorists that early experiences have unique predictive significance (Fraley et al., 2013). Second, most prior studies have focused only on the overall quality of early caregiving rather than the consistency of caregiving, despite the fact that early attachment theorists including Bowlby (1980) and Ainsworth and her colleagues (1978) emphasized the importance of both high quality and consistent care. The primary aim of the present study was to examine whether associations between both the quality and consistency of early caregiving and symptoms of psychopathology endured or diminished in magnitude over time (Figure 1).

The present study used data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (Sroufe et al., 2005). Participants were children born into poverty and followed from birth through age 39. Early observed sensitivity of the primary caregiver was assessed when children were 3, 6, 24, and 42 months old using filmed play sessions. Multilevel models were used to extract intercepts (representing overall quality), slopes (representing within-person linear change), and absolute sums of residuals (representing inconsistency) for each participant who had three or four assessments of caregiving available (N = 191). Symptoms of psychopathology were assessed with the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment forms (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2003). Specifically, we used data from the Teacher Report Form at Kindergarten and Grades 1, 2, 3, and 6; the Youth Self Report at age 16; the Young Adult Self Report at ages 23 and 26; and the Adult Self Report at ages 32 and 39.

Results (Table 1) demonstrated that associations between the observed quality of early maternal sensitivity and symptoms of psychopathology (i.e., total psychopathology, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing symptoms) faded from Kindergarten to age 39, partially replicating results by Haltigan and colleagues (2013), who observed weak associations between mean levels of early sensitivity and symptoms of psychopathology through mid-adolescence in the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD). In contrast, associations between the consistency of early caregiving and both total psychopathology and externalizing (but not internalizing) symptoms endured over time. These findings suggest that a consistent early caregiving environment has long-lasting predictive significance for the development of psychopathology through middle adulthood for individuals born into poverty.

Authors

• Sophia Magro, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Presenting Author

• Jami Eller

• Elizabeth A Carlson, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• R. Chris Fraley