title: Children's responses to mother-infant and father-infant interaction with a baby sibling: jealousy or joy?
abstract: Firstborn children's reactions to mother-infant and father-infant interaction after a sibling's birth were examined in an investigation of 224 families. Triadic observations of parent-infant-sibling interaction were conducted at 1 month after the birth. Parents reported on children's problem behaviors at 1 and 4 months after the birth and completed the Attachment Q-sort before the birth. Latent profile analysis (LPA) identified 4 latent classes (behavioral profiles) for mother-infant and father-infant interactions: regulated-exploration, disruptive-dysregulated, approach-avoidant, and anxious-clingy. A fifth class, attention-seeking, was found with fathers. The regulated-exploration class was the normative pattern (60%), with few children in the disruptive class (2.7%). Approach-avoidant children had more behavior problems at 4 months than any other class, with the exception of the disruptive children, who were higher on aggression and attention problems. Before the birth, anxious-clingy children had less secure attachments to their fathers than approach avoidant children but more secure attachments to their mothers. Results underscore individual differences in firstborns' behavioral responses to parent-infant interaction and the importance of a person-centered approach for understanding children's jealousy.
authors.affiliation: Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: Brenda L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Volling
authors.affiliation: Center for Family Research, University of Georgia.
authors.forename: Tianyi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Human Development, University of La Verne.
authors.forename: Denise E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
authors.affiliation: Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: Wonjung
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Oh
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000523:psychology*; D007578:Jealousy; D008016:Life Change Events; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D019962:Reactive Attachment Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D012801:Sibling Relations