Infant attachment strategies, infant mental lag, and maternal depressive symptoms: predictors of internalizing and externalizing problems at age 7.
The predictive relations between assessments in infancy and parent- and teacher-reported behavior problems at age 7 were investigated within a low-income sample. Infancy assessments indexed family adversity, parent-infant interaction at home, infant attachment, infant anger-distress at home, gender, and cognitive functioning. Among children at age 7 identified by teachers as highly externalizing, 83% were both disorganized in their attachment behavior in infancy and below the national mean in mental development scores at 18 months, compared with 13% of nonexternalizing children. Avoidant attachment behavior in infancy was associated with later internalizing symptoms rather than with externalizing symptoms. The behavior problem data reported by mother suggested the possibility of attachment-related biases in maternal report data. The results indicate that child mental lag in the context of a disorganized attachment relationship constitutes 1 early step on the pathway to school-age externalizing behavior.
Lyons-Ruth
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Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Hospital, Massachusetts 02139, USA. kruth@warren.med.harvard.edu
Easterbrooks
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MA
Cibelli
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D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D010552:Personality Assessment; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D012307:Risk Factors