Poster #236 - The Role of Parenting in the Developmental Trajectories of Anxious Withdrawal during Early Adolescence

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

Anxious withdrawal (AW) is a risk factor for socio-emotional difficulties throughout development (Bowker et al., 2014; Rubin et al., 2010), namely internalizing problems, such as anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem (e.g. Coplan, et al., 2004) and interpersonal adversity, such as peer rejection, exclusion, victimization (Avant et al., 2011; Coplan & Prakash, 2003; Gazelle & Ladd, 2003; Ladd et al., 2011; Rubin et al., 1993).
However, although some children/adolescents increase their withdrawn behavior over time, not all AW children experience such difficulties or remain highly withdrawn (Booth-LaForce et al., 2012; Gazelle & Rudolph, 2004; Oh et al., 2008). Longitudinal studies reveal a significant variability in individual trajectories of AW throughout development (Booth-LaForce & Oxford, 2008; Booth-LaForce et al., 2012; Gazelle & Rudolph, 2004; Oh et al., 2008), questioning the notion that AW is a stable phenomenon that it is necessarily linked to psychosocial and emotional difficulties. Notwithstanding, the sparse longitudinal literature on the developmental course of AW has yet provided a clear picture of which factors precede, maintain, or exacerbate such individual heterogeneity (e.g., Booth-LaForce & Oxford, 2008), particularly in adolescence (e.g. Oh et al., 2008).
One potential source of variability is insensitive parenting (overcontrolling, intrusive), which has been linked to the display of AW (Booth-LaForce & Oxford, 2008; Booth-LaForce et al., 2012; Coplan, et al., 2008). Drawing from attachment theory, children who experience warm, sensitive interactions with their caregivers develop a sense of worth and competence and view the world as a place to explore (Bowlby, 1969; Veríssimo et al., 2015). Conversely, children who experience insensitive, unresponsive parenting develop negative self-perceptions and a view of the world as dangerous, in a process that may exacerbate temperamental characteristics such as behavioral inhibition (Rubin et al., 2003). Few studies, however, have addressed the association between parenting and trajectories of AW during early adolescence and no study has yet explored the specific contribution of fathers.
Goals:
To examine, within a General Growth Mixture Modeling approach, the heterogeneity in developmental patterns of AW, during three consecutive years, in a community sample of Portuguese youth. We expect to find three distinct trajectories of AW (low stable, increasing, decreasing).
To analyze predictive factors of change and growth within trajectories: both mothers’ and fathers’ nurturance, negative interactions and parental power.

Method
261 participants (127 girls) from Lisbon, Portugal, followed from 7th to 9th grades. Age at study onset: M=12.84 (SD=1.07).
Peer nominations of AW (Extended Class Play, Burgess et al., 2006).
Self-reported specific social provisions of adolescents’ relationships with both mothers and fathers: nurturance, negative interactions, power (Network of Relationships Inventory, Furman & Buhrmester, 1985).

Results
A 3-class solution was retained as the final model, revealing three distinct latent class trajectories of AW: low-stable (n=200, 80%), increasing (n=26, 11%), and decreasing (n=22, 9%).

Discussion
Findings support our hypotheses that AW reveals distinct patterns of development, and that such trajectories are buffered or exacerbated by different characteristics of mother- and father-child relationships.

Authors

• Miguel Freitas, William James Center for Research
  Presenting Author

• Antonio Santos, William James Center for Research, ISPA-Instituto Universitário
  Non-Presenting Author

• Olívia Ribeiro, William James Center for Research _ ISPA - Instituto Universitário
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kenneth H. Rubin, Department of Human Development & Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland
  Non-Presenting Author