Inhibited temperament and parent emotional availability differentially predict young children's cortisol responses to novel social and nonsocial events

Abstract

Preschool-aged children (n = 274) were examined in the laboratory to assess behavioral and cortisol responses to nonsocial and social threat. Parents also responded to scales on the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire reflecting exuberant approach to novel/risky activities (reversed scored) and shyness. Multi-method measures of Nonsocial and Social Inhibition were computed. Parents and children were observed engaging in a series of interactive tasks and the Emotional Availability scales were scored for parental sensitivity, nonintrusiveness, non-hostility, and structuring. These scores were factored to yield one measure of Parenting Quality. Analyses revealed that Nonsocial and Social Inhibition could be distinguished and that associations with cortisol response were stressor specific. Moderation analyses revealed that parenting quality buffered cortisol elevations for extremely socially, but not nonsocially inhibited children. These findings are consistent with evidence that sensitive, supportive parenting is an important buffer of the HPA axis response to threat in infants and toddlers, and extends this finding to the preschool period.

The development of an instrument to measure global dimensions of maternal care in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

“…Our findings indicate that the 22 items used in the IMMC can be reliably scored, and can be reduced to four distinct dimensions of maternal care with high levels of internal reliability and validity: 1) Sensitivity/Responsivity, 2) Protectiveness, 3) Permissiveness, and 4) Irritability. Although the inter-dimension correlations in Table II indicated that three of the four dimensions were positively correlated with one another, this is not uncommon in many studies on maternal care [Pederson, Moran, Sitko, Campbell, Ghesquire, & Acton, 1990; Kertes, Donzella, Talge, Garvin, Van Ryzin, & Gunnar, 2009]. The follow-up reliability and validity analyses provided further evidence for the utility of examining these dimensions separately..…”

Temperament and Parenting Styles in Early Childhood Differentially Influence Neural Response to Peer Evaluation in Adolescence

“…These differences are highly salient to the development of children with BI, as they already face high risk for social anxiety. Indeed, associations between parenting style, whether harsh or supportive, and outcomes, including later psychopathology, are stronger in children with BI relative to children without BI (Degnan, Almas, & Fox, 2010; Hastings et al, 2008; Kertes et al, 2009; Rubin, Burgess, Dwyer, & Hastings, 2003; van der Voort et al, 2014; Williams et al, 2009), consistent with a diathesis-stress model of development (Hankin & Abela, 2006). …”

Normal Variation in Early Parental Sensitivity Predicts Child Structural Brain Development

“…Earlier studies have demonstrated the role of early caregiving in stress regulation. 26,42 Early life stress can potentially disrupt the organization and development of the brain by loss of neurons, influence on dendritic branching or spine density, or a decrease in neurogenesis, 43 which can be an adaptive short-term response with maladaptive long-term consequences. 44 Second, the stimulation provided by sensitive caregivers implies a supportive environment that facilitates increases in brain volume and cortical thickness.…”