The Mind in the Mind of the Beholder: Elucidating Relational Influences on Early Social Understanding

Relational experiences shape emergent social understanding and two influences deserve particular attention. First, parent-child conversation about shared experiences incorporates both implicit and explicit information about mental states that catalyzes the social construction of understanding, especially in juxtaposition with the child’s direct experience. Second, emotion infuses the contexts and cognitions about social experiences that provoke the child’s constructivist efforts

Attachment and parenting as predictors of four -to -six year old children\u27s social cognition

Social cognition is an important component of children\u27s social adjustment. Mental models of relationships, specifically representations that arise through the attachment relationship with parents, and parenting quality are hypothesized to be critical components of social cognition. However, little research has addressed how early attachment representations and parenting quality interact to inform the quality of children\u27s social cognition in the preschool and early school years. This dissertation examined longitudinal predictors of the quality of children\u27s social cognition (defined by negative attribution biases, social problem solving, and loneliness), focusing on how the attachment representation developed in the infant and toddler years, quality of parenting in the preschool and early school years, and exposure to maternal depression interact to influence children\u27s social cognition at 4½ years and at the end of first grade. Both concurrent parenting and children\u27s attachment security contributed to social cognition at 4½ and at the end of first grade. Children\u27s relevant and socially competent solutions to social problems were related to attachment and concurrent maternal depression at 24 and 36 months, while children\u27s negative attributions at 4½ years were related to attachment security at 36 months, but were not related to either attachment at 24 months nor to concurrent parenting. Children\u27s feelings of loneliness, assessed in first grade, were related to attachment at 24 and 36 months, and to concurrent maternal sensitivity. Children\u27s negative attributions were related to attachment and concurrent harsh parenting, while children\u27s aggressive responses to social problems were not related to attachment but were related to concurrent maternal sensitivity and depression. The effects of attachment on social cognition varied according to the parenting received in the preschool and early school years; children with insecure attachment histories were more sensitive to the effects of parenting later in life than children with secure attachment histories. Results point to the importance of parent-child relationships for children\u27s social cognition, and demonstrate the complex origins of social cognition in young children

Mother–Child Bookreading in Low-Income Families: Correlates and Outcomes During the First Three Years of Life

About half of 2,581 low-income mothers reported reading daily to their children. At 14 months, the odds of reading daily increased by the child being fi rstborn or female. At 24 and 36 months, these odds increased by maternal verbal ability or education and by the child being fi rstborn or of Early Head Start status. White mothers read more than did Hispanic or African American mothers. For English-speaking children, concurrent reading was associated with vocabulary and comprehension at 14 months, and with vocabulary and cognitive development at 24 months. A pattern of daily reading over the 3 data points for English-speaking children and daily reading at any 1 data point for Spanish-speaking children predicted children’s language and cognition at 36 months. Path analyses suggest reciprocal and snowballing relations between maternal bookreading and children’s vocabulary

Emotion Regulation and Attachment: Unpacking Two Constructs and Their Association

This study examined the association between the security of attachment and processes influencing the development of emotion regulation in young children. A sample of 73 4 1/2-year-olds and their mothers were observed in an emotion regulation probe involving mild frustration for children, and mothers and children were later independently interviewed about how the child had felt. Fewer than half the mothers agreed with children’s self-reports in the emotion they attributed to children (a lower rate than the concordance of observer ratings with children’s self-reports), and higher mother-child concordance was associated with secure attachment and mother’s beliefs about the importance of attending to and accepting their own emotions. Mother-child conversations about recent events evoking children’s negative emotion were also analyzed. Children were less likely to avoid conversing about negative feelings when they were in secure attachments and when mothers were more validating of the child’s perspective. Children’s greater understanding of negative emotions was also significantly associated with higher mother-child concordance and less child conversational avoidance. Taken together, these findings underscore the multiple influences of attachment on emotion regulation and the importance of children’s emotion understanding to these processes