Unpredictable Maternal Sensory Signals During Toddlerhood and Child Sadness and Fearfulness During Preschool Years

• In Event: Novel Approaches to Characterize Observed Maternal Behavior in Various Cultural Contexts

Abstract

Background: Recent literature shows that the exposure to unpredictable patterns of maternal sensory signals during infancy associates with child neurodevelopment, especially poorer effortful control. Furthermore, previous studies have clearly indicated that emotional aspects of maternal care (e.g sensitivity) play an important role in the child’s mood and emotional reactivity. The effect of maternal unpredictable care during toddlerhood on child’s negative emotional reactivity and internalizing symptoms is not previously studied. Our aim was to study the effect of maternal unpredictable care during toddlerhood on child’s sadness and fearfulness at 5 years above and beyond the effects of maternal sensitivity.
Method: The study is a part of FinnBrain study (Karlsson et al., 2017). Participants consisted of 181 mother-child pairs. Unpredictability of maternal sensory signals were evaluated from the video recorded free-play interactions when children were 30 months of age. Child’s sadness and fearfulness was assessed via maternal report using the sub-scales of sadness and fearfulness from Children’s Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ; Rothbart et al., 2001) when children were 5 years old.
Results: Preliminary bivariate correlations showed that maternal unpredictability of sensory signals associated with child’s sadness (r=.15, p=.025) and fearfulness/fear reactivity (r=.17, p=.007) at 5 years. Linear regression models showed that maternal unpredictable sensory signals predicted child’s higher fearfulness at 5 years when tested independently (B=1.43, SE=.58, p=.014), after inclusion of maternal sensitivity (B=1.43, SE=.59, p=.015) and other covariates including child’s sex, maternal income and maternal depression (B=1.93, SE=.71, p=.007). Furthermore, maternal unpredictable sensory signals were related to child’s higher sadness at 5 years when tested independently (B=0.81, SE=.4, p=.06,) and after inclusion of maternal sensitivity (B=0.80, SE=.44, p=.07) although these associations did not reach statistical significance. However, after inclusion of other covariates, maternal unpredictable sensory signals were related to child’s higher sadness at 5 years (B=1.23, SE=.52; p=.02).
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that maternal unpredictable care during toddlerhood is a risk factor for child’s higher negative reactivity, especially sadness and fearfulness during preschool years. In our study maternal sensitivity during toddlerhood was not related to child’s sadness or fearfulness. More detailed analyses of the effects of maternal unpredictable care on child’s long-term internalizing symptoms and emotional reactivity will be presented and discussed in the symposium.

Authors

• Riikka Korja, University of Turku
  Presenting Author

• Eeva Holmberg

• Hetti Lahtela, University of Turku

• Elisabeth Nordenswan, Åbo Akademi University

• Eeva-Leena Kataja

• Hasse Karlsson, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku

• Linnea Karlsson, University of Turku

• Saara Nolvi, University of Turku