Prediction of 7-year psychopathology from mother-infant joint attention behaviours: a nested case-control study.
BACKGROUND
To investigate whether later diagnosis of psychiatric disorder can be predicted from analysis of mother-infant joint attention (JA) behaviours in social-communicative interaction at 12 months.


METHODS
Using data from a large contemporary birth cohort, we examined 159 videos of a mother-infant interaction for joint attention behaviour when children were aged one year, sampled from within the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort. Fifty-three of the videos involved infants who were later considered to have a psychiatric disorder at seven years and 106 were same aged controls. Psychopathologies included in the case group were disruptive behaviour disorders, oppositional-conduct disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, pervasive development disorder, anxiety and depressive disorders. Psychiatric diagnoses were obtained using the Development and Wellbeing Assessment when the children were seven years old.


RESULTS
None of the three JA behaviours (shared look rate, shared attention rate and shared attention intensity) showed a significant association with the primary outcome of case-control status. Only shared look rate predicted any of the exploratory sub-diagnosis outcomes and was found to be positively associated with later oppositional-conduct disorders (OR [95% CI]: 1.5 [1.0, 2.3]; p = 0.041).


CONCLUSIONS
JA behaviours did not, in general, predict later psychopathology. However, shared look was positively associated with later oppositional-conduct disorders. This suggests that some features of JA may be early markers of later psychopathology. Further investigation will be required to determine whether any JA behaviours can be used to screen for families in need of intervention.
Centre for Rural Health, University of Aberdeen, The Centre for Health Science, Old Perth Road, Inverness IV2 3JH, Scotland. p.wilson@abdn.ac.uk.
Clare S
CS
Allely
Paul C D
PC
Johnson
Helen
H
Marwick
Emma
E
Lidstone
Eva
E
Kočovská
Christine
C
Puckering
Alex
A
McConnachie
Jean
J
Golding
Christopher
C
Gillberg
Philip
P
Wilson
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D014743:Videotape Recording