Mother-Infant Conflict and Problem Behavior Development

描述(由申请人提供)：对母婴(M-I)互动的多项研究表明，支持性的照料环境与积极的儿童发展有关，而冲突的亲子关系与较不理想的发展有关。与这些发现相反的是，一些研究人员认为，母亲和婴儿之间相互冲突的互动可能会对孩子的发展产生积极影响。然而，很少有研究考察M-I冲突与儿童发展之间的关系，也没有探讨其可能的影响机制。更少的研究着眼于早期M-I冲突互动的影响如何根据母亲/孩子的种族/民族而不同。鉴于幼儿时期亲子冲突既正常又频繁的事实，研究冲突的性质和冲突在儿童早期社会情感发展中的作用是很重要的。 该项目依赖于对收集的数据的二级分析，这些数据是国家幼儿健康步骤评估计划的一部分。健康步骤(HS)项目旨在以促进孩子发展和健康的方式加强父母的知识、态度和行为。这项研究的主要目的是评估16-18个月前儿童与母亲的冲突互动是否与他们36个月大时的社会情绪发展有关。本研究的具体目的是：1)提供关于言语前儿童和不同种族儿童的M-I冲突行为的性质的描述性信息；2)确定早期的M-I冲突行为是否对后来的儿童依恋和行为问题的发展有积极的影响；3)探索这些关联是否因种族/民族而异。 这项拟议的研究依赖于婴儿16个月大时录制的家庭观察数据；36个月大时从母亲自我报告中获得的儿童行为问题和依恋的测量；以及2-4个月时收集的访谈和父母问卷数据。观测数据将使用冲突事件记录方法进行编码。将包括母亲和儿童的冲突类型和对冲突事件的情感和行为反应等行为。然后，将使用序贯分析和分层回归模型对数据进行分析，以生成对M-I冲突与儿童依恋和行为问题发展之间的关联的总体估计。这项研究的结果将对理解早期精神病理学以及指导早期预防方案的设计具有重要意义。这项研究可能会让研究人员了解M-I冲突是否与精神病理学的发展有关，以及在冲突M-I互动方面是否存在文化差异。它还将增强我们对幼儿发展依恋和行为问题的过程的了解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Multiple studies of mother-infant (M-I) interaction have suggested that a supportive caregiving environment is associated with positive child development, and a conflicted parent-child relationship is associated with less optimal development. In contrast to these findings, some researchers have suggested that conflicted interactions between mothers and infants may have positive effects on child development. Yet, few studies have examined the relation between M-I conflict and child development nor explored the possible mechanisms of influence. Even fewer studies have looked at the how the influence of early M-I conflicted interactions might differ depending on the race/ethnicity of the mother/child dyad. Given the facts that parent-child conflict during the toddler years is both normative and frequent, studying the nature of conflict and the role of conflict in children's early socio-emotional development is important. This project relies on secondary analyses of data collected as part of the National Evaluation of the Healthy Steps for Young Children Program. The Healthy Steps (HS) project was designed to strengthen parents' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in ways that promote their child's development and health. The primary objective of the proposed study is to assess whether 16-18 month preverbal children's conflicted interaction with their mothers is related to their social emotional development at 36 months. The specific study aims are: 1) To provide descriptive information on the nature of M-I conflicted behaviors in preverbal children and children of different races; 2) To determine whether early M-I conflicted behaviors have positive influences on later children's attachment and behavioral problem development; and 3) To explore whether these associations vary by race/ethnicity. The proposed study relies on home observation data, videotaped when infants were 16 months old; measures of child behavior problems and attachment from maternal self-reports obtained at 36 months; and interview and parent questionnaire data collected at 2-4 months. Observational data will be coded using a conflict-event recording method. Behaviors such as types of conflicts and affect and behavioral responses to conflict incidents for both mothers and children will be included. Data then will be analyzed using sequential analysis and hierarchical regression models to generate overall estimates of the association between M-I conflict and children's attachment and behavior-problems development. The results of the study will have important implications for understanding early psychopathology as well as guiding program design for early prevention. This study may inform researchers whether M-I conflict is associated with development of psychopathology and whether there are cultural differences in terms of conflicted M-I interactions. It will also enhance our knowledge of the processes of developing attachment and behavior problems in toddlers.