Year: 2006
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Dyadic synchrony has been broadly conceptualized as the quality of the parent-child dyadic relationship from infancy to the school-age period. It has been theorized as a molar construct that captures features of parent-child interaction that are beyond individual attributes. A sample of 120 mother-son dyads from a high-risk, low-income sample were observed at age two years during a series of interactions and coded for their dyadic synchrony. It was hypothesized that characteristics of the child, maternal psychological resources and aspects of parenting would be associated with synchrony. It was also hypothesized that synchrony would be associated with concurrent externalizing symptoms and externalizing symptoms at a 1-year follow-up. Results of a series of bivariate correlations found that synchrony was associated with mother, child and parenting attributes. However, results of a series of hierarchical regression analyses found that synchrony was not associated with concurrent or later externalizing symptoms. While synchrony did not moderate the association between most child characteristics and maternal attributes, synchrony was found to moderate the relationship between maternal depression and later externalizing symptoms. These findings suggest that synchrony is associated with multiple measures of child and maternal functioning; however, in this sample of low-income, high-risk samples where rates of synchrony are generally low and rates of externalizing problems are somewhat higher, an association between externalizing symptoms and synchrony may not be present.
Author: Emily Moye Skuban
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2131214968