Prenatal risk and physical aggression during the first years of life: The gender‐specific role of inhibitory control

Abstract

Prenatal risk and a lack of inhibitory control have consistently been related to the development of physical aggression in older children. This study examined whether inhibitory control mediated the relation between prenatal risk and aggression in infants and toddlers. The role of gender in this mediation model was also examined. The sample consisted of 161 mother–child dyads (83 boys). A prenatal cumulative risk score was created from a number of well‐established risk factors including maternal psychopathology, substance use, and social and socioeconomic disadvantages. At 12 months, children performed an inhibitory control task. Physical aggression was assessed through maternal reports at 12 and 20 months of age. Results showed that higher prenatal risk was associated with more physical aggression. Inhibitory control mediated this association at both 12 and 20 months: higher prenatal risk was related to lower inhibitory control, which in turn led to higher aggression. At 20 months, gender moderated the mediation effect: the mediating role of inhibitory control was only found for girls. These results suggest that even before 2 years of age, inhibitory control is an important construct involved in the relation between prenatal risk and physical aggression.

Understanding the terrible twos: A longitudinal investigation of the impact of early executive function and parent–child interactions

“…Converging support for Moffitt’s (1993) proposal that EF sets the stage for early externalizing behavior comes from three previous longitudinal studies that have adopted cross‐lagged designs in preschool and school‐aged children (Hughes & Ensor, 2008; Sulik et al., 2015; Kahle et al, 2018). While prior studies point to a link between related constructs like effortful control and externalizing behavior in the second year of life (e.g., Adrichem et al., 2019; et al., 2000), to date cross‐lagged analyses in this age range have not been undertaken. The current study extends the developmental scope of research on the executive account of externalizing behavior by examining the nature and direction of this association in children under the age of two.…”

“…Furthermore, effortful control at 22 months was negatively correlated with externalizing behaviors at age 6 (Kochanska & Knaack, 2003). More recently, Adrichem, Huijbregts, Van der Heijden, van Goozen, and Swaab (2019) reported negative associations between infant effortful control at 12 months (observed during a parent-child dyadic interaction)…”

“…Furthermore, effortful control at 22 months was negatively correlated with externalizing behaviors at age 6 (Kochanska & Knaack, 2003). More recently, Adrichem, Huijbregts, Van der Heijden, van Goozen, and Swaab (2019) reported negative associations between infant effortful control at 12 months (observed during a parent‐child dyadic interaction) and physical aggression at 20 months. Likewise, Frick, Forslund, and Brocki (2019) reported negative associations between observed sustained attention at 10 months and parent‐rated ADHD symptoms at 36 months.…”

Aggressive behavior during toddlerhood: Interrelated effects of prenatal risk factors, negative affect, and cognition

“…It has been shown that a cumulative risk model is more parsimonious, more ecologically relevant, and statistically more powerful in predicting behavioral development compared to specific patterns of individual risk factors (Evans et al, 2013;Flouri & Kallis, 2007;Sameroff et al, 2004). Studies using the cumulative risk approach have shown that a higher number of risk factors are clearly related to higher levels of aggressive behavior during early childhood (Bennett et al, 2013;Gassman-Pines & Yoshikawa, 2006;Trentacosta et al, 2008;Wallander et al, 2019).…”

Emotion matters in early polite lies: Preschoolers’ polite lie‐telling in relation to cognitive and emotion‐related abilities

“…With respect to age and sex, given that preschoolers' abilities increase with age (Garon et al, 2008;Huang & Su, 2012;Wellman & Liu, 2004 ), we expected that preschoolers' polite lie-telling would increase with age (Hypothesis 4). Finally, given previous findings (Kuhnert et al, 2017;Li et al, 2018;van Adrichem et al, 2019;Walker, 2005 ), we expected these abilities to be more closely related to polite lietelling in girls than in boys (Hypothesis 5).…”