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The interactions most supportive of positive child development take place in moments of close contact with others. In the earliest years of life, a child's caregivers are the primary partners in these important interactions. Little is known about the patterns of real-life physical interactions between children and their caregivers, in part due to an inability to measure these interactions as they occur in real time. We have developed a wearable, infrastructure-free device (TotTag) used to dynamically and unobtrusively measure physical proximity between children and caregivers in real-time. We present a case-study illustration of the TotTag with data collected over two (12-hour) days each from two families: a family of four (30-month-old son, 61month-old daughter, 37-year-old father, 37-year-old mother), and a family of three (12-monthold daughter, 35-year-old-father, 33-year-old mother). We explored patterns of proximity within each parent-child dyad and whether close proximity would indicate periods in which increased opportunity for developmentally critical interactions occur. Each child also wore a widely used wearable audio recording device (LENA) to collect time-synced linguistic input. Descriptive analyses reveal wide variability in caregiver-child proximity both within and across dyads, and that amount of time spent in close proximity with a caregiver is associated with the number of adult words and conversational turns to which a child was exposed. This suggests that variations in proximity are linked to, though, critically, not synonymous with, quantity of a child's exposure to adult language. Potential implications for deepening understanding of early caregiver-child interactions are discussed.

The types of interactions that we believe to be most supportive of positive child development (e.g., joint attention, physical touch) take place in moments of close contact with others, and in the earliest years of life a child’s caregivers are the primary partners in these important interactions. However, we know little about the patterns of real-life interactions between children and their caregivers. To address this gap, we have developed a wearable, infrastructure-free device (TotTag) used to dynamically and unobtrusively measure real-time physical proximity between children and caregivers throughout the day. The present study examines the TotTag validity and reliability with data collected over two days from a family of four (30-month-old son, 61-month-old daughter, 37-year-old father, 37-year-old mother), including information about their patterns of interaction as well as how the children’s experiences might differ depending on proximity to their caregivers. We explored patterns of proximity across the day within each parent–child dyad and whether measurements corresponding to close proximity between child and caregiver would indicate periods in which increased opportunity for developmentally critical interactions occur. Each child also wore a widely-used wearable audio recording device (LENA) to collect time-synced linguistic input. Descriptive analysis of the TotTag data reveal wide variability in caregiver–child proximity over the course of the recordings. Further, results suggest that the amount of time spent in close proximity with a caregiver is associated with the quantity of a child’s exposure to adult language, suggesting that variations in proximity are linked to, though not synonymous with, the experience of adult speech. Potential implications for deepening understanding of early caregiver–child interactions are discussed.

Although it is accepted that experiences of child maltreatment are multidimensional and often include several correlated but distinct experiences, many clinical and research decisions regarding exposure and treatment do not consider their potential overlap or potential independence. The purpose of this meta-analysis—using a single retrospective self-report measure, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), in population-representative samples—was to investigate the magnitude and specificity of associations between forms of child maltreatment. A systematic review of studies available on PubMed, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar was conducted, resulting in the inclusion of nine journal articles, 11 independent samples, and 25,415 participants. Data were converted from Pearson correlations to Z statistics and pooled using a random effects model. All maltreatment types were positively and significantly associated. Effect sizes varied from medium to large, with (1) physical abuse and emotional abuse ( Z = 0.72, 95% CI [.48, .96]), (2) physical neglect and emotional neglect ( Z = 0.62, 95% CI [.43, .81]), and (3) emotional abuse and emotional neglect ( Z = 0.54, 95% CI [.35, .72]) demonstrating the strongest associations. These analyses provide evidence of the associations between types of child maltreatment, indicate the likelihood of shared risk, and point to characteristics that may link different types of maltreatment. These findings have important clinical implications as they may help guide comprehensive screening for associated maltreatment types as well as intervention and prevention efforts. Limitations include the relatively few studies included and those associated with the CTQ—a retrospective, self-report measure that does not account for the concurrence of experiences.

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