Work

Maternal Caregiving Moderates the Relation Between Temperamental Fear and Social Behavior with Peers

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: Temperament works in combination with a child's environment to influence early socioemotional development. We examined whether maternal caregiving behavior at infant age 9 months moderated the relation between infant temperamental fear (9 months) and observations of children's social behavior with an unfamiliar peer at age 2 in a typically-developing sample of 155 children. When infants received lower quality maternal caregiving, temperamental fear was inversely related to observed social engagement and aggression. These relations were nonsignificant when infants received higher quality maternal caregiving. Findings indicate that variations in temperamental fear may predict individual differences in future peer interactions, but sensitive, nonintrusive caregiving behaviors can attenuate these associations.

Source: Infancy

DOI: 10.1111/j.1532-7078.2012.00114.x

Authors: Elizabeth C. Penela, Heather A. Henderson, Amie A. Hane, Melissa M. Ghera, Nathan A. Fox

Institutions: University of Miami, Williams College, St. John Fisher University

Language: English

Topic: Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development