Work

Early mother–child separation, parenting, and child well-being in Early Head Start families

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: Drawing on theories of attachment and family instability, this study examined associations between early mother-child separation and subsequent maternal parenting behaviors and children's outcomes in a sample of 2080 families who participated in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, the vast majority of whom were poor. Multiple regression models revealed that, controlling for baseline family and maternal characteristics and indicators of family instability, the occurrence of a mother-child separation of a week or longer within the first two years of life was related to higher levels of child negativity (at age three) and aggression (at ages three and five). The effect of separation on child aggression at age five was mediated by aggression at age three, suggesting that the effects of separation on children's aggressive behavior are early and persistent.

Source: Attachment & Human Development

DOI: 10.1080/14616734.2010.488119

Authors: Kimberly Howard, Anne Martin, Lisa J. Berlin, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn

Institutions: Columbia University, Duke 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: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Mental Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development