Attachment dismissal predicts frontal slow-wave ERPs during rejection by unfamiliar peers

Attachment representations are thought to provide a cognitive-affective template, guiding the way individuals interact with unfamiliar social partners. To examine the neural correlates of this process, we sampled event-related potentials (ERPs) during exclusion by unfamiliar peers to differentiate insecure-dismissing from securely attached youth, as indexed by the child attachment interview. Thirteen secure and 10 dismissing 11- to 15-year-olds were ostensibly connected with two peers via the Internet to play a computerized ball-toss game. Actually, peers were computer generated, first distributing the ball evenly, but eventually excluding participants. Afterward children rated their distress. As in previous studies, distress was related to a negative left frontal slow wave (500-900 ms) during rejection, a waveform implicated in negative appraisals and less approach motivation. Though attachment classifications were comparable in frontal ERPs and distress, an attachment-related dismissal dimension predicted a negative left frontal slow wave during rejection, suggesting that high dismissal potentially involves elevated anticipation of rejection. As expected, dismissal and self-reported distress were uncorrelated. Yet, a new approach to quantifying the dissociation between self-reports and rejection-related ERPs revealed that dismissal predicted underreporting of distress relative to ERPs. Our findings imply that evaluations and regulatory strategies linked to attachment generalize to distressing social contexts in early adolescence.     

The child's social network: Sex differences from three to six years

The social networks of 85 young children as they make the transition from a home-centered to a more school-centered existence is examined using longitudinal data. When the children were three and six years of age, their mothers completed a questionnaire of network structure; at six years both the child and mother independently reported the friends that the child would invite to a birthday party. The effects of age and sex of child on the number and daily contact with peers, adults, kin, nonkin, males, and females were found. As expected, as children reached formal school age they had increased contact with peers and decreased contact with kin, while adult contact remained fairly consistent over the three- to six-year age period. Sex differences were also apparent. As predicted, children as early as 3 years, and to an even greater extent at six years, showed more same-sex compared to opposite-sex peer contact. At six years both children and mothers reported more same- as compared to opposite-sex friends who would be invited by the child to a birthday party. The findings suggest how children's social networks, as shaped by their parents and themselves, provide a framework within which experience and interaction is structured to fit cultural norms.     

不同类型社会排斥中归因诱导对攻击性的影响

为探讨归因诱导能否缓解不同类型社会排斥引发的攻击性,研究分别采用网络任务范式和网络投球范式启动拒绝和放逐,进行不同的归因诱导后用科研助理评分范式测量攻击性。结果发现,放逐引发的攻击性比拒绝高;归因诱导对拒绝引发的攻击性有显著影响,对被拒绝者进行内部归因诱导后其攻击性显著低于外部归因诱导组和无归因诱导组;归因诱导对放逐引发的攻击性无显著影响。研究表明归因诱导对拒绝型直接排斥引发的攻击性有缓解作用。     

All by Myself? Independence and Coordination During Distress Episodes from 14 to 24 Months Among Latino Children

Growing research suggests that socialization toward independence with a focus on ‘separate individuality’ may be a culture specific rather than universal socialization goal. Among Latino families, children of mothers high in formal schooling have shown more independent and less coordinated patterns of interaction than children of mothers low in formal schooling. This longitudinal research explored the balance between independence and coordination during mother–child interaction around distress by examining age‐related changes and within‐group variation among Latino children. Fifty Latino dyads were videotaped during unstructured interactions in their homes at 14 and 24 months of age. Episodes of distress were identified and then classified according to individual contributions and coordination (e.g. [child] independent, mother‐led, coordinated). Coordinated and independent resolutions were the most frequent type at both ages. To examine the balance between these for each child, a proportion of episodes resolved in each type was calculated. Children in both groups (high maternal schooling, low maternal schooling) increased in coordination, but only children with higher maternal schooling also increased in independent resolutions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Neonatal auditory evoked responses are related to perinatal maternal anxiety

Maternal stress and anxiety during pregnancy are related to negative developmental outcomes for offspring, both physiological and psychological, from the fetal period through early adolescence. This robust relationship is likely to be partly explained by alterations in fetal neurodevelopmental programming, calling for further examination of neurophysiologically-based cognitive markers that may be related to the altered structure–function relationships that contribute to these negative developmental outcomes. The current investigation examined the relationship between perinatal maternal anxiety and neonatal auditory evoked responses (AERs) to mother and stranger voices. Results indicated that neonates of low-anxiety mothers displayed more negative frontal slow wave amplitudes in response to their mother’s voice compared to a female stranger’s voice, while neonates of high-anxiety mothers showed the opposite pattern. These findings suggest that neonates of perinatally anxious mothers may demonstrate neurophysiologically-based differences in attentional allocation. This could represent one pathway to the negative psychological outcomes seen throughout development in offspring of anxious mothers.     

Young infants' vocalizations towards mother versus stranger: associations with the infant–mother relationship

Infants' differential vocal response (DVR) towards their mother and a female stranger at 3 months of age has been predominantly investigated as an index of early cognitive functioning. The present study explored the relationship between DVR and different infant and mother indicators of the developing relationship quality in a sample of 23 mother–infant dyads. Mother–infant interactions and stranger–infant interactions were videotaped during home visits when the infants were 3 months old. At the age of 12 months, infants' behaviour was assessed in the Ainsworth's strange situation. In both assessments, mothers noted the infants' behavioural states on 3 successive days. Results revealed a specific relation between DVR and the emotional atmosphere of the early mother–infant interaction. Particularly, DVR was less pronounced in favour of the mother when the mother displayed emotional expressions defined as rejection. DVR is discussed as an index that may indicate both infant emotional engagement and infant cognitive competencies. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Longitudinal analysis of the presence,efficacy and stability of maternal scaffolding during informal problem‐solving interactions

The use of contingent instruction by parents and a related positive outcome for subsequent child behaviours have been documented in past research. In the current study the scaffolding paradigm was used to investigate patterns of maternal instructional behaviours and related child behaviours during informal problem‐solving interactions and during independent problem‐solving tasks. Forty‐five mother‐child dyads were observed at four time points across a 3‐year period (children aged 16, 26, 44 and 54 months). In general, mothers showed systematic decreases in the amount of support offered and systematic increases in their use of contingent instruction, whereas children became more successful in their behaviours during the parent‐child interactions. Surprisingly, there was little or no stability across time for each mother‐child dyad. Mothers and children became more successful at working together during the problem‐solving tasks, but each parent and each child was not consistent from one period to the next. In addition, when predicting children's success during independent tasks at the earlier ages there was an indirect link between parent behaviours and child success, whereas at 54 months there was a direct effect for both parent behaviours and children's previous abilities.     

With a little help from my friends: maternal social support,via parenting,promotes willingness to share in preschoolers born to young mothers

Little is known about prosocial behaviours in children of young mothers. This longitudinal study involved 44 young mother (age <20 years at birth of first child) families and 44 older mother families, who were carefully matched for child age and gender, as well as for family structure (number of children, lone‐parent status) and socio‐economic background (maternal education, head‐of‐household unemployment, low family income). At the first time‐point (M child age = 2.45 years), mothers listed family members or friends who provided practical and/or emotional support; videos of mother–child interaction in play and tidy‐up were coded for positive and negative parenting. Two years later (M child age = 4.32 years), children's prosocial behaviours were assessed via (i) an experimental task of willingness to share and (ii) video‐based ratings of sharing and helping during dyadic play with friends. T‐tests showed few group differences in prosocial behaviours. Regression analyses showed that, for young mother families only, reduced negative parenting mediated associations between support from friends and preschoolers' willingness to share. Support from friends, via parenting, may promote willingness to share in children born to young mother families. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infant–mother social referencing interactions: Description and antecedents in maternal sensitivity and infant irritability

The purpose of the study was to describe naturally occurring infant and maternal behaviours in terms of social referencing in a stranger wariness situation, and to explore antecedents to such behaviouts in early maternal sensitivity and infant irritability. One hundred and ten 10-months-old infants and their mothers were videotaped. Infant social referencing behaviour was defined as puzzled looks directed at mother's face after the infant had discovered the stranger. Almost half of the infants looked with a puzzled expression at their mothers immediately after discovering the stranger, and a majority of the mothers sent a positive message back to the infants. Twenty per cent of the infants never looked at their mothers and 20% of the mothers did not respond when their infants turned to them. Infants whose mothers had responded positively to the referencing look showed positive responses to the stranger to a higher degree than infants who did not reference or those who were not responded to. Antecedents to infant and mother interactive behaviours were sought in maternal sensitivity (general sensitivity, physical contact, responsiveness, intrusiveness, response to distress, and effectiveness in comforting) and in infant irritability as observed when the infants were 4 months old. It was found that infants who did not reference their mothers for information at 10 months had experienced less sensitive mothering 6 months earlier and had also shown more irritability.     

Father–child and mother–child interaction in families with a child feeding disorder: The role of paternal involvement

To date, research about feeding disorder (FD) has focused almost exclusively on the mother–child dyad, ignoring fathers' roles. The current study investigated father–child interactions with children having FD. The sample consisted of 67 children (1–3 years old) and their mothers and fathers. Thirty‐four children, diagnosed with a nonorganic‐based FD (FD group) and 33 children without an FD (control group) were matched for age, gender, birth order, and maternal education. Data were collected during home visits. Mothers were interviewed about their and the father's involvement in childcare. In addition, mother–child and father–child interactions were videotaped during play and feeding. Both mothers and fathers from the FD group experienced less positive parent–child interactions than did parents in the control group. Furthermore, mothers in the FD group reported greater maternal versus paternal childcare involvement than did control group mothers. Finally, FD group mothers exhibited more parental sensitivity than did fathers during feeing interactions; however, this difference was observed only when coupled with low paternal involvement. In families where fathers were highly involved, no difference was evident in paternal and maternal sensitivity. These findings highlight the importance of fathers' involvement, especially in families with children exhibiting an FD.     

The bad taste of social ostracism: The effects of exclusion on the eating behaviors of African-American women

African-American women experience disproportionately higher rates of obesity than do Caucasian women. The stress African-American women encounter from experiences of discrimination may influence their eating behaviours, which could contribute to weight gain. Emotional eating theory suggests some people increase their intake of high-calorie foods to cope with stressful experiences. We investigated the effects of social exclusion by other African-American women or by Caucasian women for African-American women’s distress and food consumption using a laboratory paradigm. As hypothesised, there were main effects of ostracism and interactions between ostracism and race, although not all of the interactions took the expected form. As hypothesised, African-American women ate more potato crisps after being excluded by Caucasians than by African-Americans. Unexpectedly, African-American women who were excluded by other African-American women self-reported more emotional distress than did African-American women excluded by Caucasian women. These findings suggest that ostracism by both in-group and out-group members are disturbing, although people may respond to in-group and out-group exclusion in different ways. Directions for future research are suggested that could elucidate the circumstances under which different emotional and behavioural coping responses are employed.     

Interdependent self‐construal moderates coping with (but not the initial pain of) ostracism

Ostracism – being excluded and ignored – can cause psychological distress. There has been little research examining how a person's concept of self might influence the effects of ostracism. In the current study, we sought to examine the effect of self‐construal on the distress created by ostracism. Specifically, we assessed the potential moderating effects of self‐construal on both the initial distress of ostracism and the coping process. Participants, recruited in China, completed a self‐construal measure and were either included or ostracized in an online ball‐tossing game. They then reported need‐satisfaction both immediately following the game and after a filler task. Interdependent self‐construal facilitated participants' recovery from some of the negative effects of ostracism, but did not have an impact on the initial pain.     

Play it again: neural responses to reunion with excluders predicted by attachment patterns

Reunion behavior following stressful separations from caregivers is often considered the single most sensitive clue to infant attachment patterns. Extending these ideas to middle childhood/early adolescence, we examined participants' neural responses to reunion with peers who had previously excluded them. We recorded event‐related potentials among nineteen 11‐ to 15‐year‐old youth previously classified on attachment interviews (11 secure and 8 insecure‐dismissing) while they played a virtual ball‐toss game (Cyberball) with peers that involved fair play, exclusion and reunion phases. Compared to secure participants, dismissing participants displayed a greater increment in the N2 during reunion relative to fair play, a neural marker commonly linked to expectancy violation. These data suggest a greater tendency toward continued expectations of rejection among dismissing children, even after cessation of social exclusion. In turn, the link between self‐reported ostracism distress and neural signs of negative expectancy at reunion was moderated by attachment, such that self‐reports were discordant with the neural index of expectancy violation for dismissing, but not for secure children. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzoRel5c-4s .     

MOURNING THE LOSS BUILDS THE BOND: PRIMAL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN FOSTER,ADOPTIVE, OR STEPMOTHER AND CHILD

In this article, a particular source for the gifts and agonies of non-biological mothering bonds will be examined, namely the losses both mother and child bring to the new bond-building endeavor. As many women choose non-biological parenting because they are unable to have children of their own, the degree to which they grieve their loss is a factor in their capacity to fully attach with foster, step or adoptive children. On the other side of the connection, many agonies that mothers endure result from the use of projective identification by the child to communicate the devastating feelings due to losses experienced prior to engaging with this new caretaker. The child, too, needs to make peace with these losses, to have them acknowledged so that s/he can move on to new developmental pains and gains. On neither side of the interaction can the attachment process be taken for granted: both mother and child have to work at belonging to one another. Often the feelings which permeate the intersubjective space between mother and newly-claimed child seem like insurmountable obstacles because of their unconscious, primitive or preverbal nature.The mother may be called upon to contain and bear witness to the child's profound distress, which can undermine her confidence as a mother. Similarly the child may be subject to the mother's unconscious fantasies about the child she wished she'd had, and experience the futility of living up to such expectations.This piece is an attempt to delineate the pitfalls, due to not-yet-mourned losses, on the way to mutual recognition on the part of mother and child in non-biological bonds.     

Recalling an Attachment Event Moderates Distress After Ostracism

Ostracism is known to cause psychological distress. Studies have indicated that immediate distress is resistant to individual differences and situational factors, but delayed reactions are more sensitive to moderation. Because attachment orientation is inextricably tied to rejection and inclusion, we hypothesized that attachment orientation would moderate both immediate and delayed ostracism effects and that recalling an attachment event compatible with a person's attachment internal working model would moderate the distress of a laboratory ostracism experience. In two experiments, 158 individualistic (secular Jewish) and 190 collectivistic (ultra‐Orthodox Jewish) participants played Cyberball with two other ostensible in‐group players. Distress was measured immediately after the game and 30 minutes later. The results show that less anxious and more avoidant individualistic but not collectivistic participants were less distressed by ostracism. After the delay, recall of an attachment event compatible with the participants' internal working model eliminated distress in both individualistic and collectivistic ostracized participants as measured on the needs satisfaction scale. Among individualistic participants, avoidants, who are known to avoid meaningful attachments, were less distressed by ostracism; anxious participants, who seek proximity, were more distressed. Recalling a compatible attachment event may be a mechanism that reduces individuals' perceptions of threats to their fundamental needs. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Neonatal auditory evoked responses are related to perinatal maternal anxiety

Maternal stress and anxiety during pregnancy are related to negative developmental outcomes for offspring, both physiological and psychological, from the fetal period through early adolescence. This robust relationship is likely to be partly explained by alterations in fetal neurodevelopmental programming, calling for further examination of neurophysiologically-based cognitive markers that may be related to the altered structure–function relationships that contribute to these negative developmental outcomes. The current investigation examined the relationship between perinatal maternal anxiety and neonatal auditory evoked responses (AERs) to mother and stranger voices. Results indicated that neonates of low-anxiety mothers displayed more negative frontal slow wave amplitudes in response to their mother’s voice compared to a female stranger’s voice, while neonates of high-anxiety mothers showed the opposite pattern. These findings suggest that neonates of perinatally anxious mothers may demonstrate neurophysiologically-based differences in attentional allocation. This could represent one pathway to the negative psychological outcomes seen throughout development in offspring of anxious mothers.     

Child–Mother Attachment Security and Child Characteristics as Joint Contributors to Young Children's Coping in a Challenging Situation

Moderate challenges provide opportunities for young children to develop coping skills, yet little is known about factors related to individual differences in early coping. This study investigated child–mother attachment security (9‐point rating) assessed via a modified Strange Situation procedure, child expressive language, and child social fearfulness as contributors to coping responses among 33‐month‐old children (N = 128, 66 girls) following receipt of an empty gift box. Associations between child–mother attachment security and child coping were moderated by child characteristics. As hypothesized, greater attachment security was associated with more action towards the stressor (i.e. vocalizing about the empty box and searching for the missing gift), but only for children high on social fearfulness. Further, greater attachment security was associated with seeking more physical proximity to mothers for children low on expressive language and less physical proximity for children high on expressive language. Lastly, greater attachment security was related to more self‐distraction for children with moderate to high expressive language. Results are discussed in terms of child–mother attachment security as a psychological resource constructed over time, which the child may draw upon when confronted with a moderate non‐attachment‐related stressor. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A randomized controlled trial of mother–infant psychoanalytic treatment: I. Outcomes on self‐report questionnaires and external ratings

Mother–infant relationship disturbances occur in three domains: maternal distress, infant functional problems, and relationship difficulties. They constitute common clinical problems. In Sweden, they are usually handled by nurses as part of public Child Health Centre care. Severe cases are referred to child psychiatry services. This randomized controlled trial compared two groups of mother–infant dyads in a Stockholm sample. One received only Child Health Centre care (the “CHCC” group) while the other received mother–infant psychoanalytic treatment plus CHCC (the “MIP” group). Eighty dyads of mothers and infants under 1½ years of age where the mothers had serious concerns about themselves in their role as mothers, their infants' well‐being, or the mother–baby relationship were randomly selected for either the MIP or the CHCC group. The primary outcomes were mother‐reported depression, mother‐reported infant functional problems, and interviewer‐based relationship assessments, all at 6 months after joining the project. Secondary outcomes were mother‐reported stress and general psychic distress, externally rated video‐recorded interactions, and the consumption of healthcare at the CHC, again all after 6 months. Intent‐to‐treat analyses of Treatment × Time effects significantly favored MIP treatment for maternal depression, mother–infant relationships, and maternal sensitivity. Effects were nearly significant on maternal stress, but nonsignificant on mother‐reported infant functional problems, general psychic distress, maternal interactive structuring and nonintrusiveness, infant responsiveness and involvement, and healthcare consumption. MIP treatment improved mother–infant relationships and maternal sensitivity and depression, all of which are known to influence child development. If effects persist and are reproduced, MIP treatment holds promise for more widespread use.     

Distressed and nondistressed third- and sixth-grade children's self-reports of life events and impact and concordance with mothers

This study examined the concordance of third- and Sixth-grade distressed and nondistressed children's self-reports of the occurrence and perceived impact of life events that had occurred during the preceding 12 months with their mothers' perceptions. The study also examined whether maternal self-reports of dysphoria affects concordance between mother/child dyads on children's self-reports of occurrence and perceived impact of life events. Eighty-eight mother/child dyads, matched on Children's Depression Inventory scores, grade, sex, race, and school were included. Results indicated that distressed children endorsed more items on the Coddington Life Events Record (LER), and perceived them more negatively, than nondistressed children. Small, but statistically significant concordance rates were found between dyads on the occurrence of life events and the perceived impact of these events: Distressed children and their mothers had more mutually endorsed items than nondistressed children and mothers, and third-grade children had higher concordance rates with their mothers when compared to sixth-grade children. Third-grade children also appeared to commit more errors of commission on the LER. Finally, Maternal distress mediated mother/child concordance. Possible explanations for these results and future research directions are discussed.     

Relating the adolescent mother—child relationship to preschool outcomes

Two domains of potential risk in relation to the cognitive-linguistic outcomes of preschool children of adolescent mothers were investigated: (1) interactive features of the mother—child relationship and (2) aspects of the demographic context of parenting. Sixty-nine adolescent mothers and their children participated in evaluations when the children were 13, 20, 30, and 44 months old. Results indicated that the cognitive-linguistic development of children of adolescent mothers was affected by both the mother—child relationship and cumulative index of demographic risk. Specifically, positive maternal affect, mother—child verbal reciprocity, mother—child interactive fit, and cumulative demographic risk all contributed to explaining difficulties in preschool cognitive and linguistic functioning in children of adolescent mothers.