Early Maternal and Child Influences on Children's Later Independent Cognitive and Social Functioning

Abstract

The present study examined whether parenting and child characteristics of 2- and 3 1/2-year-old children had common paths of influence on their 4 1/2-year independent cognitive and social functioning. Structural equation modeling was guided by hypotheses that assumed children's later independence is facilitated by specialized parental support in early social interactions. To address the importance of variability in early development for understanding children's later independence, we included 104 term and 185 preterm children, as they are known to differ in early skills. As predicted, mothers' maintaining of children's interests indirectly supported 4 1/2-year cognitive and social independence through a direct, positive influence on 2- and 3 1/2-year skills. Directiveness positively supported children's early cognitive and responsiveness skills but by 3 1/2 years, high levels of this behavior had a direct, negative influence on their cognitive and social independence at 4 1/2 years. Whereas high levels of maintaining interests across these ages support later independence, directiveness needs to decrease in relation to children's increasing competencies. Results support a theoretical framework that emphasizes the importance of the social context for understanding the origins of children's later independent functioning.

Early Psychological Development of Very Preterm and/or Low Birth Weight Children: A Review of the Literature

“…Other studies drew attention to the importance and influence of perinatal risk factors (medical complications during birth, hypoxia, hypertension, white matter abnormalities) in preterm children, particularly regarding their cognitive and language development (17,41,46,69). Similarly, the influence of contextual risk factors (socioeconomic status, educational level and parental interactive style, mother-child attachment and type of attachment, parental and maternal emotional adjustment and mental health, negative maternal anxiety and displayed affect, support networks, early parenthood, expectations and characteristics of the proposed task) on the cognitive, communicative-linguistic, and especially emotional development, of preterm children has also been highlighted (17,39,45,49,66,68,69,71,72,74,75). The majority of these studies investigated the influence of sociocultural factors as covariables on the psychological development of preterm children.…”

“…Other studies compared the cognitive component and social-emotional aspects (35,36,37,44,48,49,73,75) and yet others compared communicative-linguistic skills and emotional development (48,74). However, no studies were found that investigated the influence of prematurity on all the developmental domains at the same time, in the same research.…”

“…Landry et al (75) also found that at 4.5 years, preterm children differed in their levels of play and social initiating skills from full-term children, who engaged in more pretend play and needed fewer trials to succeed in tasks. No differences were found between preterm and full-term children in their patterns of goal-directed behavior and social initiating skills.…”

Prematuridade e interação mãe-criança: revisão sistemática da literatura

“…Os efeitos da diretividade materna no desenvolvimento da criança nascida prematura foram estudados por Landry, Smith, Swank e Miller-Loncar (2000), os quais demonstraram que estes variam de acordo com a idade da criança. A diretividade materna aos dois anos influenciou positivamente as habilidades cognitivas e sociais da criança aos 3 anos e 6 meses, enquanto a diretividade aos 3 anos e seis meses influenciou direta e negativamente a independência social e cognitiva da criança aos 4 anos e 6 meses.…”

Mastery Motivation and Secure Attachment among Preschool Children in the Light of Depending on Domestic Workers in the Saudi Society

“…relationship between mothers and their infants). The available researches focused heavily on this Dyadic Relationship (Landry et al, 2000), as a central relationship in learning self-regulations, this includes attention regulation and future cognitive efficiency. The theoretical cultural and social view, refers to the value of studying child interaction with his caregiver.…”