Child Development and Social Structure: A Longitudinal Study of Individual Differences

2014 ◽  
pp. 171-206
Author(s):  
C. G. Smith ◽  
E. J. H. Jones ◽  
S. V. Wass ◽  
G. Pasco ◽  
M. H. Johnson ◽  
...  

AbstractInternalising problems are common within Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); early intervention to support those with emerging signs may be warranted. One promising signal lies in how individual differences in temperament are shaped by parenting. Our longitudinal study of infants with and without an older sibling with ASD investigated how parenting associates with infant behavioural inhibition (8–14 months) and later effortful control (24 months) in relation to 3-year internalising symptoms. Mediation analyses suggest nondirective parenting (8 months) was related to fewer internalising problems through an increase in effortful control. Parenting did not moderate the stable predictive relation of behavioural inhibition on later internalising. We discuss the potential for parenting to strengthen protective factors against internalising in infants from an ASD-enriched cohort.


2019 ◽  
Vol 180 ◽  
pp. 104-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanne B. Geeraerts ◽  
Roy S. Hessels ◽  
Stefan Van der Stigchel ◽  
Jorg Huijding ◽  
Joyce J. Endendijk ◽  
...  

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 669-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary C. Maguire ◽  
Judy Dunn

This study had two goals. The first was to provide descriptive data on the nature of individual differences in young children’s close friendships, and the second, to examine the relations between these individual differences and children’s earlier understanding of others’ emotions and mental states, and their later appreciation of ambivalent or mixed emotions. A total of 41 children participating in a longitudinal study from 33 months to 6-7 years were studied with their close friends as 6-year-olds, with a combination of observations and standard sociocognitive assessments. The results showed that different aspects of friendship interactions, such as co-ordination of play and amity, were neither closely related nor linked to power assertion. Early differences in the assessment of social understanding were associated with later differences in pretend play with the friend, and friendship interactions at 6 years were linked to later appreciation of mixed emotions. The two-way process of influence linking individual development and friendship quality is discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 20180065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Levrero ◽  
Nicolas Mathevon ◽  
Katarzyna Pisanski ◽  
Erik Gustafsson ◽  
David Reby

Voice pitch (fundamental frequency, F 0 ) is a key dimension of our voice that varies between sexes after puberty, and also among individuals of the same sex both before and after puberty. While a recent longitudinal study indicates that inter-individual differences in voice pitch remain stable in men during adulthood and may even be determined before puberty (Fouquet et al. 2016 R. Soc. open sci. 3 , 160395. ( doi:10.1098/rsos.160395 )), whether these differences emerge in infancy remains unknown. Here, using a longitudinal study design, we investigate the hypothesis that inter-individual differences in F 0 are already present in the cries of pre-verbal babies. While based on a small sample ( n = 15), our results indicate that the F 0 of babies' cries at 4 months of age may predict the F 0 of their speech utterances at 5 years of age, explaining 41% of the inter-individual variance in voice pitch at that age in our sample. We also found that the right-hand ratio of the length of their index to ring finger (2D : 4D digit ratio), which has been proposed to constitute an index of prenatal testosterone exposure, was positively correlated with F 0 at both 4 months and 5 years of age. These findings suggest that a substantial proportion of between-individual differences in voice pitch, which convey important biosocial information about speakers, may partly originate in utero and thus already be present soon after birth.


2020 ◽  
Vol 275 ◽  
pp. 23-30
Author(s):  
Hsin-Yi Wang ◽  
Jian-Pei Huang ◽  
Chen-li Lin ◽  
Heng-Kien Au ◽  
Yi-Hua Chen

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. e033011
Author(s):  
Drew M Altschul ◽  
Christina Wraw ◽  
Catharine R Gale ◽  
Ian J Deary

ObjectivesWe investigated how youth cognitive and sociodemographic factors are associated with the aetiology of overweight and obesity. We examined both onset (who is at early risk for overweight and obesity) and development (who gains weight and when).DesignProspective cohort study.SettingWe used data from the US National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 (NLSY) and the UK National Child Development Study (NCDS); most of both studies completed a cognitive function test in youth.Participants12 686 and 18 558 members of the NLSY and NCDS, respectively, with data on validated measures of youth cognitive function, youth socioeconomic disadvantage (eg, parental occupational class and time spent in school) and educational attainment. Height, weight and income data were available from across adulthood, from individuals’ 20s into their 50s.Primary and secondary outcome measuresBody mass index (BMI) for four time points in adulthood. We modelled gain in BMI using latent growth curve models to capture linear and quadratic components of change in BMI over time.ResultsAcross cohorts, higher cognitive function was associated with lower overall BMI. In the UK, 1 SD higher score in cognitive function was associated with lower BMI (β=−0.20, 95% CI −0.33 to −0.06 kg/m²). In America, this was true only for women (β=−0.53, 95% CI −0.90 to −0.15 kg/m²), for whom higher cognitive function was associated with lower BMI. In British participants only, we found limited evidence for negative and positive associations, respectively, between education (β=−0.15, 95% CI −0.26 to −0.04 kg/m²) and socioeconomic disadvantage (β=0.33, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.43 kg/m²) and higher BMI. Overall, no cognitive or socioeconomic factors in youth were associated with longitudinal changes in BMI.ConclusionsWhile sociodemographic and particularly cognitive factors can explain some patterns in individuals’ overall weight levels, differences in who gains weight in adulthood could not be explained by any of these factors.


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