Regulatory disorders in early childhood: Correlates in child behavior, parent–child relationship, and parental mental health

Abstract

According to the guidelines published by the German Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy (2007), regulatory disorders of early childhood are characterized by a symptom triad, including (a) behavioral symptoms such as excessive crying, sleeping, or feeding problems; (b) a disturbed parent-child relationship; and (c) parental psychopathology. On the basis of a clinic-referred sample of 162 children, we examined whether children with and without regulatory symptoms differed in the quality of parent-child relationship and parental mental health, and how often the criteria of the symptom triad were fulfilled in the group of children with regulatory symptoms. In addition, emotional and behavior problems were compared in children with and without regulatory symptoms. Children with regulatory symptoms and children with other psychiatric symptoms did not differ with respect to child-parent relationship quality. However, parents of children with regulatory symptoms scored higher on the Symptom Checklist 90 Items-Revised (G.H. Franke, 2002) than did the other parents. On the Child Behavior Checklist (T.M. Achenbach & L.A. Rescorla, 2000), children with regulatory symptoms tended to show more somatic problems, but they showed significantly less withdrawn behavior than did the other children. Of the 67 children with regulatory symptoms, only 11 (16.4%) fulfilled all three criteria of a regulatory disorder.

Maternal anxiety versus depressive disorders: specific relations to infants' crying, feeding and sleeping problems

“…St James-Roberts and Halil 1991, Wolke et al 1994, Carter et al 2003, Gross et al 2013, particular criteria and items were presented in detail. However, more research is required to confirm the preliminary evidence on the validity of the Baby-DIPS and investigate the clinical usefulness of the applied diagnostic criteria (Barr et al 1992, Lucassen et al 2001, Postert et al 2012, Bolten 2013, Fuths et al 2014.…”

“…To address this possible bias, maternal disorders were considered as preceding and additionally as concurrent condition. Apart from that, maternal perception and impairment represent important criteria within the caregiver-infant dyad to identify early regulation problems in clinical practice (Forsyth et al 1985, von Hofacker and Papousek 1998, DGKJP 2007, Postert et al 2012.…”

“…They are associated with interactional problems within the caregiverinfant dyad (Zero-to-Three 2005, DGKJP 2007, Postert et al 2012, Bolten 2013) and often with a disturbed caregiver-infant relationship, severe parental impairment, frustration and sometimes even maltreatment (Forsyth et al 1985, Papoušek and von Hofacker 1998, von Hofacker and Papousek 1998, DeGangi et al 2000, Barr et al 2006, Barr et al 2014. Regulation problems are also assumed to be important early markers for subsequent clinical syndromes and disorders in infants based on associations with a variety of later unfavourable childhood outcomes.…”

“…Early regulation problems such as excessive crying, feeding and sleeping problems (Postert et al 2012) are common during infancy (Lucassen et al 2001, Moore et al 2006, Jenni 2009, Bryant-Waugh et al 2010, Schmid et al 2011, Tauman et al 2011. Wolke and colleagues (1995) estimated a prevalence of about 33% for single and a further 15% for multiple regulation problems in a representative German sample.…”

Measurement in Sensory Modulation: The Sensory Processing Scale Assessment

“…From a clinical perspective, classifying a specific set of symptoms facilitates the development of appropriate intervention strategies. From a research perspective, identifying a specific cluster of symptoms facilitates investigations into associated neurobiological, psychological, and psychosocial features (Postert, Averbeck-Holocher, Achtergarde, Müller, & Furniss, 2012;Postert et al, 2009).…”