title: Maternal Sensitivity: a Resilience Factor against Internalizing Symptoms in Early Adolescents Born Very Preterm?
abstract: Compared with full-terms, preterm individuals are more at risk from infancy to adulthood for developing internalizing symptoms. Early maternal interactive behavior, especially maternal sensitivity, has been found to be a resilience factor in the developmental outcome of preterm children. The present longitudinal study aimed at examining whether early interactive parenting behaviors have a long term impact on the internalizing symptoms of preterm-born young adolescents. A total sample of 36 very preterm and 22 full-term children participated in an 11-year follow-up study. Maternal interactive behavior was assessed during a mother-infant interaction when the infant was 18 months old. At 11 years, internalizing symptoms were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the interaction between groups (preterm/full-term) and maternal sensitivity at 18 months significantly explained CBCL internalizing symptoms at 11 years (β = -0.526; p < 0.05). Specifically, although prematurity was related to internalizing problems, preterm children with higher maternal sensitivity did not differ from their full-term-born peers on the CBCL internalizing problems domain. These results suggest that maternal sensitivity is a long-term resilience factor preventing the development of internalizing problems at early adolescence in very preterm individuals.
authors: Clinic of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital of Lausanne, Av. Pierre-Decker 2, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland. Noemie.Faure@chuv.ch.
authors: Noémie
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2991-678X
authors: N
authors: Faure
authors: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors: Stéphanie
authors: S
authors: Habersaat
authors: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors: Mathilde Morisod
authors: MM
authors: Harari
authors: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors: Carole
authors: C
authors: Müller-Nix
authors: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors: Ayala
authors: A
authors: Borghini
authors: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors: François
authors: F
authors: Ansermet
authors: Clinic of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital of Lausanne, Av. Pierre-Decker 2, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors: Jean-François
authors: JF
authors: Tolsa
authors: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors: Sébastien
authors: S
authors: Urben
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D062071:Infant, Extremely Premature / Q000523:psychology; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000523:psychology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D000066553:Problem Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D055500:Resilience, Psychological
keywords: Internalizing symptoms; Maternal sensitivity; Prematurity; Resilience factor