The emergence of social approach and avoidance motivation in early parent–child relationships.

Abstract

Individuals differ in their tendencies to approach or avoid social interaction and social relationships. Some seek social contact. They take social initiative, communicate easily and openly, experience pleasure during social interaction, and form close personal ties. Others shy away from social contact. They can be withdrawn and passive, communicate less, experience anxiety in social situations, and fail to maintain close personal ties. These differences have important consequences. As a general rule, happiness and adjustment are better when people are motivated to approach social interaction, worse when they are motivated to avoid it (Baumeister & Leary, 1995;Gable, 2006). Where do these differences come from? In this chapter, we argue that parentchild interaction in the first 2 to 3 years of life may play an initial formative role. We evaluate the interactions that may be critical and the processes that may stabilize children's early approach and avoidance tendencies. Our analysis emphasizes the complex interplay between genes and environments as very young children begin to construct representations of their affective experiences with others, particularly parents.

Mothers' depressive symptoms and infant negative emotionality in the prediction of child adjustment at age 3: Testing the maternal reactivity and child vulnerability hypotheses

“…Negative parenting is also associated with the development of poor strategies for regulating negative emotion. It is linked to negative expectations of mothers and, potentially, other social partners (Dix & Buck, 2011; Shipman & Zeman, 2001) and to reduced exposure to aversive maternal behavior, with suppression of emotional communication and initiative with mothers (Dix, Cheng, & Day, 2009; Dix et al, 2012; Dix, Stewart, Gershoff, & Day, 2007; Feng et al, 2008). A pattern of high stress reactivity, poor self-regulation, and withdrawal from interaction with mothers may limit children's ability to engage events fully, to develop a sense of self-efficacy, and to use parents as a base for exploration, an aid in the regulation of stress, and a tool for the acquisition of information and skill normally acquired from countless interactions with positive, responsive parents.…”

Models of Psychopathology

“…Normatively, one's ability Theoretical Assumptions 20 to love is located in the middle of this dimension of space between oneself and others, according to the appropriate age and developmental stage in one's own life cycle. Dix and Buck's ( 2012 ) model of approach and avoidance motivation may be informative across the lifespan. They contended that "…parent-child interactions in the fi rst 2 to 3 years of life may play an initial formative role… that may stabilize children's early approach and avoidance tendencies" (p. 53).…”

Mothers' early depressive symptoms and children's first‐grade adjustment: a transactional analysis of child withdrawal as a mediator

“…This increases developmental risk because it, first, reduces mother–child interactions that usually promote foundational competencies, and, second, leads to modes of processing and reacting to social information that undermine children's self‐efficacy and ability to engage others effectively. Social withdrawal is associated with avoidance motivation, negative expectations, attention to threat‐related input, and anxiety, anger, and shame (Dix & Buck, ; Gable, Reis, & Elliot, ; Rubin, Coplan, & Bowker, ).…”