Continuity and Stability in Development

et al. 2020

Infancy

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Consistency in the order of individuals in a group across substantial lengths of time—stability—is a central concept in developmental science for several reasons. Stability underscores the meaningfulness of individual differences in psychological phenomena; stability informs about the origins, nature, and overall developmental course of psychological phenomena; stability signals individual status and so affects the environment, experience, and development; stability has both theoretical and clinical implications for individual functioning; and stability helps to establish that a measure constitutes a consequential individual‐differences metric. In this three‐wave prospective longitudinal study (Ns = 40 infants and mothers), we examined stabilities of individual variation in multiple infant behaviors and maternal responses to them across infant ages 10, 14, and 21 months. Medium to large effect size stabilities in infant behaviors and maternal responses emerged, but both betray substantial amounts of unshared variance. Documenting the ontogenetic trajectories of infant behaviors and maternal responses helps to elucidate the nature and structure of early human development.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stabilities of infant behaviors and maternal responses to them

Bornstein

et al. 2020

Infancy

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“…This study is centrally concerned with the individual‐order stability of self‐concepts over development (Bornstein, Putnick, & Esposito, ). Most studies of the development of self‐concepts focus on group mean‐level changes across time—whether self‐concepts normatively dip or surge at certain ages (Esnaola, Sesé, Antonio‐Agirre, & Azpiazu, ; Harter & Whitesell, ; Orth, Erol, & Luciano, ; Robins, Trzesniewski, Tracy, Gosling, & Potter, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental stability of scholastic, social, athletic, and physical appearance self‐concepts from preschool to early adulthood

Child Psychology Psychiatry

Hendricks

et al. 2019

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Background Self‐concept has meaningful relations with psychological functioning and well‐being across the life span. Hence, it is important to understand how and when individual differences in multiple domains of self‐concept begin to stabilize and whether individual differences remain stable throughout childhood and adolescence and into early adulthood. Methods We assessed individuals’ (N = 372) scholastic, social, athletic, and physical appearance self‐concepts at five waves over 20 years from age 4 to age 24. Results In general, stability was large, but medium‐sized estimates were obtained for some domains over longer (e.g., 6‐year) intervals. Indirect effects from preschool to early adulthood were small, but from age 14 to 24 were medium to large. Stabilities maintained significance independent of family socioeconomic status and global self‐worth. Stability estimates were similar for boys and girls except over adolescence for scholastic self‐concept, which was more stable for girls than boys. Conclusions Multiple domains of self‐concept constitute stable individual‐difference characteristics, independent of global feelings of self‐worth. Individuals who have high or low self‐concepts early in development tend to maintain their relative standing into early adulthood suggesting points of intervention.

“…Two complementary kinds of developmental consistency have been distinguished: stability (individual‐order consistency) and continuity (group mean‐level consistency). Order and level consistency are both developmentally informative and can co‐exist conceptually and empirically as the two are independent (Bornstein, Putnick, & Esposito, ). Many features of human development remain (more or less) consistent over time, and notably consistency is more systematic and parsimonious than is change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability of child temperament: Multiple moderation by child and mother characteristics

Bornstein

British J of Dev Psycho

et al. 2018

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This 3-wave longitudinal study focuses on stability of child temperament from 3 to 6 years and considers child age, gender, birth order, and term status as well as mother age, education, anxiety, and depression as moderators of stability. Mothers of approximately 10,000 children participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children rated child temperament. Stability coefficients for child temperament scales were medium to large, and stability was generally robust across moderators except child gender and birth order and mother age and education, which had small moderating effects on reports of stability of child temperament. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Some is known about the stability of temperament in infancy in small samples, but much less is known about the stability of temperament in early childhood or its moderation. What does this study add? This study uses a large sample (˜10,000) to trace the stability of temperament from 3 to 6 years in three waves and considers child age, gender, birth order, and term status as well as mother age, education, anxiety, and depression as moderators of stability.