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About this paper symposium
| Panel information |
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| Panel 6. Developmental Psychopathology |
| Paper #1 | |
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| Associations Between Maternal Depressive Symptoms, Infant Communication Development, and Mother-Infant Face-looking Patterns During Play | |
| Author information | Role |
| Sarah K. Markert, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, United States | Presenting author |
| Michael Gaffrey, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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BACKGROUND: The high prevalence of postpartum depression (PPD) in the population poses a significant risk to infant development and social-emotional health. Research suggests that elevated levels of depressive symptoms in the postpartum period are associated with disruptions in a caregiver’s ability to sensitively track and respond to their infant’s behavior (i.e., maternal sensitivity) (Bernard et al., 2018; Feldman, 2007; Lovejoy et al., 2000). Exposure to such disruptions has been reported to alter mother-infant synchrony during play (i.e., mutually regulated exchanges that promote shared behavior and affect; Feldman, 2007, 2012; Goodman et al., 2011; Stein et al., 2012; Tronick, 2007). Furthermore, longitudinal studies have suggested that depression-related alterations to maternal sensitivity and mother-infant interaction confer risk for poor social-communicative outcomes in infants of mothers experiencing depression (Beck 1998; NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1999; Kawai et. al., 2017; Feldman & Eidelman, 2009). Despite the well-documented negative effects of postpartum depression (PPD) on mother-infant interaction and infant developmental outcomes, little is known about the influence of depressive symptoms experienced by women who do not meet full diagnostic criteria for PPD. Additionally, whether individual differences in caregiver depressive symptoms are dimensionally associated with global or more specific alterations in gaze coordination during play remains unclear. METHOD: The present study utilized dyadic head-mounted eye-tracking (D-ET)—a novel technology that uses miniature head cameras and microphones to record eye movements and vocalizations with high temporal (millisecond) and spatial (millimeter) precision—to investigate associations between maternal depressive symptoms, infant social communication ability (as assessed by the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales, CSBS; Wetherby & Prizant, 2003), and temporally-specific social referencing behaviors during naturalistic toy play in 30 caregivers and their 9-17-month-old infants. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS: Results demonstrated that infants of mothers reporting higher depressive symptoms were less likely to contingently return their caregiver’s face-look during play. Further, infants who showed this reduced social referencing behavior had lower scores on the Speech Composite (i.e., use of sounds and words) of the CSBS. In line with prior developmental research and theory, the current findings support the presence of altered social referencing in infants of mothers with higher levels of depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that disrupted face-looking coordination in infants during toy play may be a mechanism through which maternal depression confers risk for infant communication delay. Lastly, study results indicate these associations may also be present in infants of mothers experiencing subclinical levels of depressive symptoms. Future longitudinal studies utilizing innovative technology such as D-ET can help identify specific features of caregiver-infant interaction that can be targeted through intervention to better support caregivers and infant social-emotional development during the postpartum period. |
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| Paper #2 | |
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| Moving Beyond Mean Levels: Caregiving Consistency Predicts Psychopathology Symptoms from Childhood to Middle Adulthood | |
| Author information | Role |
| Sophia Magro, Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Northwestern University, United States | Presenting author |
| Elizabeth A. Carlson, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, Untied States | Non-presenting author |
| R. Chris Fraley, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Jeffry A. Simpson, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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BACKGROUND: A key premise within the fields of developmental psychopathology and attachment is that early interpersonal experiences—particularly those with primary caregivers—have an 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, even though early attachment theorists (including Bowlby, 1980 and Ainsworth and colleagues, 1978) emphasized the importance of both high quality and consistent caregiving. 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). METHOD: 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 in 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 & CONCLUSIONS: For the observed quality of early maternal sensitivity, associations with psychopathology symptoms ranged from trivial to large, depending on the domain of symptomatology and the assessment point. However, enduring effects were observed only for externalizing symptoms (Table 1), whereas fading effects were observed for total and internalizing symptoms. In contrast, though the associations between consistency in early caregiving and psychopathology symptoms were somewhat smaller than those with caregiving quality (ranging from trivial to medium), associations with all three measures of psychopathology symptoms (i.e., total, externalizing, and internalizing) 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. Analyses should be replicated in larger samples, with different reporters, and in different contexts to clarify the generalizability of these findings. |
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| Paper #3 | |
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| Associations Between Parent-Child Reporting Discrepancies of Children’s Internalizing Symptoms and Qualities of the Parent-Child Relationship | |
| Author information | Role |
| Clarissa Rose Filetti, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, United States | Presenting author |
| Nikki Tsakonas, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Bonny Donzella, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Kechun Li, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Megan R. Gunnar, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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BACKGROUND: Moderate discrepancies between parent and child reports of children’s internalizing symptoms (i.e., depression and anxiety) are found consistently across both questionnaires and structured interviews (Weissman et al., 1987). Researchers have investigated family socio-demographics and parent mental health as potential moderators of this discrepancy, but far fewer studies have examined the role of parent-child relationships (Van Roy, Groholt, Heyerdahl, & Clench-Aas, 2010). In poorer quality relationships it is likely that children would be less likely to openly share inner anxieties and worries with their parent. We hypothesized that relationship qualities as reported by the child would predict the absolute difference between parent and child views of the child’s internalizing symptoms. METHOD: Adolescents 11- to 15-years old (N = 238, M = 12.41) and their parents completed the internalizing scales of the MacArthur Health and Behavior Questionnaire for 9–18-Year-Olds. Adolescents also completed the Network of Relationships Inventory - Behavioral Systems Version (NRI-BSV, Furman & Buhrmester, 2009) on the supportive and negative interactions they had with the reporting parent. Children reported more internalizing symptoms than did their parents (p < .001) and girls reported more internalizing symptoms than boys (p < .001). We performed a hierarchical regression with age and sex as covariates and degree of discrepancy as the dependent measure. Parent-child relationship qualities (supportive and negative interaction) explained 5.6% of variance in internalizing report discrepancies (p < .01), with the effect carried by negative interactions ( = .14, p < .05). RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS: These results confirmed our hypothesis that children who reported more negative interactions with parents had more discrepancies with parents in reports of the children’s internalizing symptoms. However, it is not clear in this cross-sectional analysis whether the failure of the parent to perceive how the child experienced their anxiety/depressive feelings leads to parent-child negative interactions or whether their negative interactions lead the child to not share their feelings and worries with the parent. Future work should explore the direction of effect and whether such discrepancies increase the likelihood that symptoms of anxiety and depression will herald the later emergence of internalizing disorders. |
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| Paper #4 | |
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| Parental Sensitivity and Psychopathology: An Umbrella Review and Mega-Analysis | |
| Author information | Role |
| Marissa Nivison, Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Canada | Presenting author |
| R. M. Pasco Fearon, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom | Non-presenting author |
| Jennifer M. Jenkins, Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development, University of Toronto, Canada | Non-presenting author |
| Sheri Madigan, Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Canada | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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BACKGROUND: Parental sensitivity is the parent’s ability to notice and respond quickly and effectively to a child’s signals (Ainsworth, 1974). Parents’ own psychopathology predicts lower quality sensitivity and lower quality sensitivity has, in turn, been associated with higher rates of child psychopathology (Borairi et al., 2024). The associations between sensitivity and both parent and child psychopathology has been a topic of scholarly interest for decades and accordingly, has resulted in numerous meta-analyses. However, with the influx of meta-analytic work on this topic it has become difficult to summarize these associations. Therefore, we have employed an “umbrella review” to systematically review and summarize the main findings from all existing meta-analyses. We had two aims, to synthesize how: (1) parental psychopathology is associated with caregiver sensitivity and (2) caregiver sensitivity is associated with child psychopathology. Umbrella reviews are an innovative methodology which streamlines the translation of research to practice and policy (see Figure 1) and are a valuable approach to lessening the research to practice/policy gap in developmental science (Olswang & Prelock, 2015). METHOD: Electronic databases were searched to identify any meta-analyses on caregiver sensitivity. The search was conducted in January 2024— consistent with other umbrella reviews, the timeframe was restricted (2010-present) to try to eliminate the possibility of duplicate meta-analyses (and effect sizes). Abstracts were uploaded to Covidence for screening. Papers were included if they (1) were a meta-analysis and (2) examined caregiver sensitivity or a related topic in relation to any child or adult psychopathology outcomes. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS: The search resulted in 1,572 unique abstracts; 68 full text abstracts were reviewed. Ultimately, 6 meta-analytic studies met inclusion criteria and were included in the umbrella review. Results from three meta-analyses revealed that parental symptoms of psychopathology were consistently associated with lower quality parental sensitivity. Specifically, more symptoms of parental depression (r = -.16) and internalizing symptoms (r = -.12) and higher illicit substance use (r = -.22) were associated with lower quality parental sensitivity. Results from three meta-analyses demonstrated that caregiver sensitivity was moderately meta-analytically associated with ADHD outcomes (r = -.17 to -.14), internalizing problems (rs = -.02 to -.08) and externalizing problems (rs = -.08 to -.14). Furthermore, we employed advanced and innovative methodological techniques to calculate the overall effect between caregiver sensitivity and psychopathology (not enough data were available for Aim 1). Using the metaumbrella package in r we found that caregiver sensitivity was meta-analytically associated with ADHD (r = -.15), internalizing (r = -.07) and externalizing (r = -.06) symptoms. Results are presented in Table 1. Parental symptoms of psychopathology are consistently meta-analytically associated with lower quality parental sensitivity. Additionally, lower quality parental sensitivity is consistently meta-analytically associated with higher symptoms of psychopathology in children. More meta-analytic work examining the association between caregiver sensitivity and other facets of psychopathology are needed. For example, by consolidating our findings in a digestible format this knowledge can be easily translated to practitioners and policy makers. Clinical implications and future directions will be discussed. |
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A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective on the Interplay of Caregiving and Psychopathology Across Generations
Submission Type
Paper Symposium
Description
| Session Title | A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective on the Interplay of Caregiving and Psychopathology Across Generations |