Individual Differences in Young Children's IQ: A Social‐developmental Perspective

Abstract

From a sample of middle-class mothers and their 3-year-old children, a selected group of 36 mothers were divided into 2 groups according to the quality of their responses to the Adult Attachment Interview as a Questionnaire (Crandell, Fitzgerald, & Whipple, 1997). Twenty mothers provided coherent accounts of their early parent-child relationships (secure) and 16 mothers provided idealised, entangled, or otherwise incoherent accounts of their early parent-child relationships (insecure). The mothers were administered an abbreviated version of the WAIS-R and the children were given an abbreviated version of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. The quality of mother-child interactions was assessed by videotaping a 20-minute play episode and clean-up period, and by rating the degree of synchrony according to a modified version of the Belsky Parent-Child Interaction System (Whipple, Denburg, & Davies, 1993). The results were that children of secure mothers scored 19 points higher on the Stanford-Binet test compared to children of insecure mothers. (The adjusted mean difference was 12 points when maternal IQ, education, and family SES were taken into account.) The group difference in the children's IQ remained significant when comparisons were made between a subgroup of 12 secure and 12 insecure mothers who were matched for maternal IQ. Finally we examined the subgroup of 16 cases where child IQ scores were either 10 points higher or lower than maternal IQ. In all 6 cases where child IQ was at least 10 points below maternal IQ, the child had a mother who was insecure; in contrast, only 4 of the 10 children who had IQ scores 10 points higher than maternal IQ had an insecure mother. In terms of parent-child interaction patterns, there was suggestive evidence that the degree of parent-child synchrony was also related to child IQ. The results suggest important social-developmental contributions to young children's performance on standardised tests of intellectual ability.

Failure to Thrive and Cognitive Development in Toddlers With Infantile Anorexia

“…Subsequent analyses indicated that psychosocial variables were more potent predictors of MDI than nutritional status. Although several studies have related cognitive development to mother-infant interactions and the quality of the home environment, 29,30,39 this is the first study that revealed a significant correlation between mothertoddler interactions during feeding and play sessions and the toddlers' cognitive performance. In addition, SES and maternal education were significantly related to MDI scores.…”

“…Several studies have examined the independent effects of psychosocial risk variables on children's cognitive development, including SES, maternal education, the quality of parent-child interactions, and child maltreat- [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] Although most of the toddlers in our study came from middle-and upper-middle-class families and had well-educated mothers and none of the toddlers had a history of neglect or abuse, we still found that many of the psychosocial variables assessed were related to MDI scores across all 3 groups. Specifically, higher SES, maternal education, and feeding reciprocity were related to higher MDI scores.…”

Nutritional status, brain development and scholastic achievement of Chilean high-school graduates from high and low intellectual quotient and socio-economic status

“…On the other hand, mothers are the most important source of nutrition information for school-age children (Ivanovic et al 1989b(Ivanovic et al , 1991. The positive impact of maternal IQ may be related more to the quality of the stimulation of the child, which in conditions of poverty is strongly limited by both their lower schooling levels and IQ (Smith et al 1996;Sandiford et al 1997;Crandell & Hobson, 1999). Although paternal IQ had a significant impact on child IQ, it is important to underline that schoolage children of the high SES with low IQ are probably conditioned by their maternal IQ that was significantly lower in that of mothers belonging to the low SES and whose children had high IQ.…”

“…Studies of twins reared together and studies of unrelated individuals reared together yield sizable estimates of common family environmental influence in childhood, but also demonstrate that this influence dissipates with age and approaches zero in adulthood; in fact, twin studies of the major special mental abilities (verbal, spatial, perceptual speed and accuracy, memory) yield heritability estimates of about 0 : 50 and modest estimates of common environmental influence (Bouchard, 1998). Between environmental factors, the positive impact of parental IQ (specially maternal) on children's intelligence had been underlined and may be related more to the quality of the stimulation of the child, which in conditions of poverty is strongly limited by both their lower schooling levels and intelligence (Nelson & Deutschberger, 1970;Melhuish et al 1990;Carter et al 1992;Duncan et al 1994;Smith et al 1996;Sandiford et al 1997;Crandell & Hobson, 1999).…”

Petrificación epistémica y la restauración de la confiabilidad epistémica: Una nueva conceptualización del trastorno límite de la personalidad y su tratamiento psicosocial

“…Es este reconocimiento que creemos que ofrece la ventaja cognitiva de asegurar el apego que ha sido consistentemente citado, aunque no, para nuestro conocimiento, estudiado habitualmente (ej., Crandell & Hobson, 1999;Jacobsen & Hofmann, 1997;Moss, Rousseau, Parent, St. Laurent, & Saintong, 1998). Creemos que, con la baja regulación afectiva detonada por la búsqueda de proximidad en el infante afligido, el apego establece no sólo un vínculo duradero, sino también la apertura de un canal para transferir conocimiento entre las generaciones.…”