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Emergent patterns of risk for psychopathology: The influence of infant avoidance and maternal caregiving on trajectories of social reticence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2015

Kathryn A. Degnan ,
Amie Ashley Hane ,
Heather A. Henderson ,
Olga L. Walker ,
Melissa M. Ghera  and
Nathan A. Fox
Kathryn A. Degnan*
Affiliation:
University of Maryland
Amie Ashley Hane
Affiliation:
Williams College Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons New York State Psychiatric Institute
Heather A. Henderson
Affiliation:
University of Waterloo
Olga L. Walker
Affiliation:
University of Maryland
Melissa M. Ghera
Affiliation:
St. John Fisher College
Nathan A. Fox
Affiliation:
University of Maryland
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Kathryn Amey Degnan, Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, 3304 Benjamin, College Park, MD 20742; E-mail: kdegnan@umd.edu.
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Abstract

The current study investigated the influential role of infant avoidance on links between maternal caregiving behavior and trajectories at risk for psychopathology. A sample of 153 children, selected for temperamental reactivity to novelty, was followed from infancy through early childhood. At 9 months, infant avoidance of fear-eliciting stimuli in the laboratory and maternal sensitivity at home were assessed. At 36 months, maternal gentle discipline was assessed at home. Children were repeatedly observed in the lab with an unfamiliar peer across early childhood. A latent class growth analysis yielded three longitudinal risk trajectories of social reticence behavior: a high-stable trajectory, a high-decreasing trajectory, and a low-increasing trajectory. For infants displaying greater avoidance, 9-month maternal sensitivity and 36-month maternal gentle discipline were both positively associated with membership in the high-stable social reticence trajectory, compared to the high-decreasing social reticence trajectory. For infants displaying lower avoidance, maternal sensitivity was positively associated with membership in the high-decreasing social reticence trajectory, compared to the low-increasing trajectory. Maternal sensitivity was positively associated with the high-stable social reticence trajectory when maternal gentle discipline was lower. These results illustrate the complex interplay of infant and maternal behavior in early childhood trajectories at risk for emerging psychopathology.

Type
Special Section Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 27 , Issue 4pt1 , November 2015 , pp. 1163 - 1178
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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