67 research outputs found
Going through the rites of passage: timing and transition of menarche, childhood sexual abuse, and anxiety symptoms in girls.
Menarche is a discrete, transitional event that holds considerable personal, social, biological, and developmental significance. The present longitudinal study examined both the transition and timing of menarche on the trajectory of anxiety in girls with histories of childhood maltreatment (N = 93; 63% European American, 14% multiracial, 10% Latino, 9% African American, and 4% Native American). We hypothesized that because menarche is a novel, unfamiliar experience, girls would show greater anxiety around the time of menarche. The anxiety-provoking nature of menarche may be accentuated among earlier-maturing girls and girls with histories of childhood sexual abuse. Results indicated that earlier-maturing girls were more anxious in the pre- and peri-menarche periods than their later-maturing peers; however, their anxiety declined after menarche. Childhood sexual abuse was associated with heightened anxiety throughout this transition. The developmental significance of the timing and transition of menarche in relation to childhood sexual abuse and anxiety is discussed
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Siblings reared apart: a sibling comparison study on rearing environment differences
A plethora of studies with parents and children who are biologically related has shown that the family environment plays an important role in child development. However, scientists have long known that a rigorous examination of environmental effects requires research designs that go beyond studies of genetically-linked family members. Harnessing the principles of sibling comparison and animal cross-fostering designs, we introduce a novel approach: the siblings-reared-apart design. Supplementing the traditional adoption design of adopted child and adoptive parents with a sample of the adopted childrenās birth parents who raised their biological child(ren) at home (i.e., biological siblings of adoptees), this design provides opportunities to evaluate the role of specific rearing environments. In this proof of concept approach, we tested whether rearing environments differed between adoptive and birth families. Using data from 118 sets of adoption-linked families, each consisting of an adoptive family and the adopteeās birth family, both of whom are raising at least a child in each home, we found that compared with families in the birth homes, (a) adoptive families had higher household incomes and maternal educational attainment; (b) adoptive mothers displayed more guiding parenting, less harsh parenting, and less maternal depression; and (c) socioeconomic differences between the two homes did not account for the behavioral differences in mothers. We discuss the potential of the sibling-reared-apart design to advance developmental science
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Naturalistic experimental designs as tools for understanding the role of genes and the environment in prevention research
Before genetic approaches were applied in experimental studies with human populations, they were used by animal and plant breeders to observe, and experimentally manipulate, the role of genes and environment on specific phenotypic or behavioral outcomes. For obvious ethical reasons, the same level of experimental control is not possible in human populations. Nonetheless, there are natural experimental designs in human populations that can serve as logical extensions of the rigorous quantitative genetic experimental designs used by animal and plant researchers. Applying concepts such as cross-fostering and common garden rearing approaches from the life science discipline, we describe human designs that can serve as naturalistic proxies for the controlled quantitative genetic experiments facilitated in life sciences research. We present the prevention relevance of three such human designs: (1) children adopted at birth by parents to whom they are not genetically related (common garden approach); (2) sibling designs where one sibling is reared from birth with unrelated adoptive parents and the other sibling is reared from birth by the biological mother of the sibling pair (cross-fostering approach); and (3) in vitro fertilization designs, including egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation, and surrogacy (prenatal cross-fostering approach). Each of these designs allows for differentiation of the effects of the prenatal and/or postnatal rearing environment from effects of genes shared between parent and child in naturalistic ways that can inform prevention efforts. Example findings from each design type are provided and conclusions drawn about the relevance of naturalistic genetic designs to prevention science
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Birth Parents & Openness with Adoptive Families: An Examination of Actual Contact & Satisfaction with Contact
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Longitudinal examination of pathways to peer problems in middle childhood: a siblings-reared-apart design
To advance research from Dishion and others on associations between parenting and peer problems across childhood, we used a sample of 173 sibling pairs reared apart since birth (because of adoption of one of the siblings) to examine associations between parental hostility and childrenās peer problems when children were ages 7 and 9.5 years (n = 326 children). We extended conventional cross-lagged parentāpeer models by incorporating child inhibitory control as an additional predictor and examining genetic contributions via birth mother psychopathology. Path models indicated a cross-lagged association from parental hostility to later peer problems. When child inhibitory control was included, birth mother internalizing symptoms were associated with poorer child inhibitory control, which was associated with more parental hostility and peer problems. The cross-lagged paths from parental hostility to peer problems were no longer significant in the full model. Multigroup analyses revealed that the path from birth mother internalizing symptoms to child inhibitory control was significantly higher for birth parentāreared children, indicating the possible contribution of passive geneāenvironment correlation to this association. Exploratory analyses suggested that each childās unique rearing context contributed to their inhibitory control and peer behavior. Implications for the development of evidence-based interventions are discussed
Toward an Understanding of the Role of the Environment in the Development of Early Callous Behavior
Key to understanding the longāterm impact of social inequalities is identifying early behaviors that may signal higher risk for later poor psychosocial outcomes, such as psychopathology. A set of earlyāemerging characteristics that may signal risk for later externalizing psychopathology is callousāunemotional (CU) behavior. CU behavior predicts severe and chronic trajectories of externalizing behaviors in youth. However, much research on CU behavior has focused on late childhood and adolescence, with little attention paid to early childhood when preventative interventions may be most effective. In this article, we summarize our recent work showing that (a) CU behavior can be identified in early childhood using items from common behavior checklists, (b) CU behavior predicts worse outcomes across early childhood, (c) CU behavior exhibits a nomological network distinct from other early externalizing behaviors, and (d) malleable environmental factors, particularly parenting, may play a role in the development of early CU behaviors. We discuss the challenges of studying contextual contributors to the development of CU behavior in terms of geneāenvironment correlations and present initial results from work examining CU behavior in an adoption study in which geneāenvironment correlations are examined in early childhood. We find that parenting is a predictor of early CU behavior even in a sample in which parents are not genetically related to the children.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136006/1/jopy12221_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136006/2/jopy12221.pd
Disentangling genetic and environmental influences on early language development: The interplay of genetic propensity for negative emotionality and surgency, and parenting behavior effects on early language skills in an adoption study
Parenting and children's temperament are important influences on language development. However, temperament may reflect prior parenting, and parenting effects may reflect genes common to parents and children. In 561āU.S. adoptees (57% male) and their birth and rearing parents (70% and 92% White, 13% and 4% African American, and 7% and 2% Latinx, respectively), this study demonstrated how genetic propensity for temperament affects language development, and how this relates to parenting. Genetic propensity for negative emotionality inversely predicted language at 27āmonths (Ī²ā=āā.15) and evoked greater maternal warmth (Ī²ā=ā.12), whereas propensity for surgency positively predicted language at 4.5āyears (Ī²ā=ā.20), especially when warmth was low. Parental warmth (Ī²ā=ā.15) and sensitivity (Ī²ā=ā.19) further contributed to language development, controlling for common gene effects
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Influences of Biological and Adoptive Mothersā Depression and Antisocial Behavior on Adoptees' Early Behavior Trajectories
Research clearly demonstrates that parents pass risk for depression and antisocial behavior on to their children. However, most research confounds genetic and environmental mechanisms by studying genetically related individuals. Furthermore, most studies focus on either depression or antisocial behavior in parents or children, despite evidence of co-occurrence and shared etiology, and few consider the early origins of these problems in childhood. We estimated the influence of biological and adoptive mothersā depression and antisocial behavior on growth in child externalizing and internalizing behaviors across early childhood using data from a prospective adoption study. Participants were 346 matched triads of physically healthy children (196 boys; 150 girls), biological mothers (BM), and adoptive mothers (AM). Latent growth curve models were estimated using AM reports of child internalizing and externalizing behaviors at ages 18, 27, and 54 months. Predictors of intercept (18 months) but not slope were identified. BM lifetime histories of major depressive disorder predicted child externalizing behaviors and BM antisocial behavior predicted child internalizing behavior. AM depressive symptoms and antisocial behavior were associated with both child outcomes. AM paths, but not BM paths were partially replicated using adopted fathersā reports of child outcomes. BM obstetric complications, prenatal depressive symptoms, and postnatal adoptive family contact with BM did not account for BM paths. This adoption study distinguished risks conferred by biological mothersā depression and antisocial behavior to childrenās behaviors from those associated with adoptive mothersā related symptoms. Future studies should examine gene-environment interplay to explain the emergence of serious problem trajectories in later childhood.Keywords: depression, externalizing, adoption, genetic risk, early childhood, internalizin
Family interactions in toddlerhood influence social competence in preschool age: Accounting for genetic and prenatal influences
Identification of early promotive and risk factors for social competence is important for fostering childrenās successful social development; particularly given social competence is essential for childrenās later academic and psychological well-being. While research suggests that the early parentāchild relationship, genetics, and prenatal influences are associated with social competence, there is less research considering how these factors may operate together to shape childrenās social competence in early childhood. Using a genetically informed sample from the Early Growth and Development Study (N = 561), we examined multiple levels of influence (i.e., genetic, prenatal, parenting, and child characteristics) on childrenās social competence at 4.5 years old. Results from structural equation models showed adoptive mother overreactivity at 18 months was positively associated with child dysregulation at 27 months, which, in turn, was associated with lower levels of social competence at 4.5 years. Also, child reactivity at 18 months was independently associated with higher levels of adoptive mother overreactivity at 27 months, which, in turn, was associated with lower levels of social competence at 4.5 years. Finally, we found an evocative effect on adoptive fathersā overreactivity at 18 months such that prenatal birth mother distress was negatively associated with adoptive fathersā overreactivity at 18 months. Overall, this study found evidence for genetic influences, and bidirectional associations between parent and child in toddlerhood that are related to lower levels of social competence when children were 4.5 years old. We also found that the prenatal environment was associated with parenting, but not with child behavior directly. This studyās ability to simultaneously examine multiple domains of influence helps provide a more comprehensive picture of important mechanisms and developmental periods for childrenās early social competence
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