Mother–child interactions in young children with excessive physical aggression and in typically developing young children

Abstract

These data show that children with excessive aggressive behavior develop disrupted mother-infant interactions from a very young age. Several negative interactive features and correlations between child behavior and maternal behavior were found in clinical samples. The effects of these features add up and probably strengthen each other, thus leading to interactive difficulties from a very young age. More attention should be paid to early parent-child interactions in case of child behavioral problems. The recognition of these interactive dysfunctions is discussed in terms of clinical implications for therapeutic interventions.

Parent-Child Play and the Emergence of Externalizing and Internalizing Behavior Problems in Childhood: A Systematic Review

“…The literature search outlined above yielded 39 articles that met the preregistered inclusion criteria (see Table 1 for an overview). Contrary to our assumption in the preregistration, however, only a few of the articles directly investigated the quality of parent-child play in association with child behavioral adjustment (Gardner, 1994 ; Landy and Menna, 2001 ; Gardner et al, 2003 ; Ahnert et al, 2017 ; Urbain-Gauthier and Wendland, 2017 ) and no studies were found directly investigating parental playfulness. Instead, the majority of studies used parent-child play as a context for observing general parental and child interaction variables that were then examined for a connection with behavioral adjustment.…”

“…With respect to maternal responsiveness during play, a longitudinal study with a large sample of 424 dyads showed that children whose mothers were more sensitive and receptive in a play interaction were more likely to be assigned to a prosocial group than to an aggressive group (Jambon et al, 2019 ). Studies by Landy and Menna ( 2001 ) and Urbain-Gauthier and Wendland ( 2017 ) show similar results in relation to samples with aggressive children, revealing reduced maternal responsiveness and sensitivity in observed mother-child interactions compared to control groups with typically developing children. In addition, an observational study by Ambrose and Menna ( 2013 ) investigating interactional synchrony, supports these results.…”

“…Moreover, five studies investigated the quality of observed parent-child play and how this was associated with children's behavioral adjustment. In the majority of these studies, dyads of parents and children with externalizing problems were compared to non-disordered control dyads (Gardner, 1994 ; Landy and Menna, 2001 ; Gardner et al, 2003 ; Urbain-Gauthier and Wendland, 2017 ). These studies reveal that mothers of children with externalizing problems showed difficulties in supporting their child's pretend play and interrupted play more often (Urbain-Gauthier and Wendland, 2017 ) as well as showing less initiative in play and more difficulties keeping the play activity going (Gardner, 1994 ).…”

“…In the majority of these studies, dyads of parents and children with externalizing problems were compared to non-disordered control dyads (Gardner, 1994 ; Landy and Menna, 2001 ; Gardner et al, 2003 ; Urbain-Gauthier and Wendland, 2017 ). These studies reveal that mothers of children with externalizing problems showed difficulties in supporting their child's pretend play and interrupted play more often (Urbain-Gauthier and Wendland, 2017 ) as well as showing less initiative in play and more difficulties keeping the play activity going (Gardner, 1994 ). Similar results were also shown for the positive association between higher quality of play and fewer internalizing behavior problems in children (Gardner et al, 2003 ; Ahnert et al, 2017 ).…”

Do the Children of Mothers with Optimum PICCOLO Scores Have Better Denver II Test Results?

“… 1 - 3 Positive mother–child interaction is one of the factors associated with positive outcomes in many areas of child development. 4 - 6 The mother's behavior and competency in fulfilling the baby's needs affect mother–child interactions. Positive interactions of babies with their mothers make them more curious about the environment and allow them to be more open to discovering the surrounding objects.…”