Cynthia A Stifter
Biographic Data
| ID | 1463490 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Cynthia A Stifter |
| GIVEN NAMES | Cynthia A |
| FAMILY NAME | Stifter |
| SIGNATURE | STIFTER C A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Pennsylvania State University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 35 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 208 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 35 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1990 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Enhancing home visits to promote parents’ sensitive scaffolding among families living in poverty
This study examined how different groups of families responded to participation in the Recipe 4 Success preventive intervention and what happened to families after the intervention ended. Recipe 4 Success was designed to promote parents’ sensitive scaffolding of toddlers’ self-regulation among families living in poverty. It was embedded within 12 weekly Early Head Start home visits and tested against usual practice home visits in a randomized con…
What predicts improvements from home visits
Objective This study examined how implementation fidelity to Recipe 4 Success, a preventive intervention embedded within home visits, was related to family enjoyment of those home visits and how both implementation fidelity and enjoyment were related to improvements in parents' sensitive scaffolding and toddlers' self‐regulation. Background Implementation fidelity to evidence‐based interventions is necessary for achieving intended benefits. Howev…
A preventive intervention promoting toddlers' self‐regulation improves parental resilience in the future
What makes home visits effective? An examination of therapeutic mechanisms in the Recipe 4 Success preventive intervention
Promoting toddlers' self-regulation and healthy eating habits among families living in poverty
The Recipe 4 Success preventive intervention targeted multiple factors critical to the health and well-being of toddlers living in poverty. This randomized controlled trial, which was embedded within Early Head Start home visits for 12 weeks, included 242 racially and ethnically diverse families (51% girls; toddler mean age = 2.58 years; data collected 2016–2019). Compared to parents in usual practice home visits, parents in Recipe 4 Success disp…
It takes two
The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine the association of infant fussing and crying with self-regulation in toddlerhood and the preschool years, as well as the moderating role of maternal sensitivity therein. When children ( n = 149, 53.69% boys) were 6 months old, parents reported on their fussing and crying using a cry diary, and maternal sensitivity was coded during a novel toy procedure. Children participated in various tasks to as…
Temperament in obesity-related research
Predicting toddler temperamental approach-withdrawal
Exuberant and inhibited children
The current study aimed to substantiate and extend our understanding regarding the existence and developmental pathways of 3 distinct temperament profiles-exuberant, inhibited, and average approach-in a sample of 3.5-year-old children (n = 121). The interactions between temperamental styles and specific types of effortful control, inhibitory control and attentional control, were also examined in predicting kindergarten peer acceptance. Latent pro…
Stability of food neophobia from infancy through early childhood
Temperamental approach/withdrawal and food neophobia in early childhood
Infant and maternal predictors of early life feeding decisions. The timing of solid food introduction
Understanding and measuring parent use of food to soothe infant and toddler distress
Emotional reactivity and parenting sensitivity interact to predict cortisol output in toddlers
Cortisol output in response to emotion induction procedures was examined at child age 24 months in a prospective longitudinal sample of 1,292 children and families in predominantly low-income and nonurban communities in two regions of high poverty in the United States. Multilevel analysis indicated that observed emotional reactivity to a mask presentation but not a toy removal procedure interacted with sensitive parenting to predict cortisol leve…
Temperament, Parenting, and Moral Development
This longitudinal study highlights the role of specific parenting behaviors in specific contexts when predicting moral development in children of varying temperament types. A sample of mother-child dyads took part in a competing demands task involving differing "do" and "don't" contextual demands when the child was 2 years of age. Child temperament was also assessed at this time, yielding inhibited, exuberant, and low-reactive temperament groups.…
Infant temperament and feeding history predict infants' responses to novel foods
Emotional reactivity and regulation in infancy interact to predict executive functioning in early childhood
The relation of observed emotional reactivity and regulation in infancy to executive function in early childhood was examined in a prospective longitudinal sample of 1,292 children from predominantly low-income and rural communities. Children participated in a fear eliciting task at ages 7, 15, and 24 months and completed an executive function battery at age 48 months. Results indicated that the relation of child negative emotional reactivity at …
Parent use of food to soothe infant/toddler distress and child weight status. An exploratory study
Temperament and Maternal Emotion Socialization Beliefs as Predictors of Early Childhood Social Behavior in the Laboratory and Classroom
Mothers' emotion socialization beliefs appear to play an important role in modifying the developmental course of approach behavior during early childhood
Maternal Emotion‐related Socialization and Preschoolers' Developing Emotion Self‐awareness
Preschoolers' ability to demonstrate awareness of their own emotion is an important socio‐emotional competence which has received increasing attention in the developmental literature. The present study examined emotion self‐awareness of happiness, sadness, and anger in response to a delay of gratification task in 78 preschool children. Maternal emotion‐related socialization behaviors (ERSBs) including reported emotional expressivity, responses to…
Temperament and the Development of Conscience
In this longitudinal study we examined whether two components of effortful control, behavioral control and executive function, moderated the relation between temperament and conscience development. Temperament was assessed when participants were 2 years of age, and three temperament groups were formed; inhibited, exuberant, and low reactive. At 4.5 years of age children's behavioral control and executive function were assessed. Moral behavior, em…
Neurobehavioral Consequences of Prenatal Exposure to Smoking at 6 to 8 Months of Age
Between 400,000 and 800,000 infants are born in the United States each year to women who smoked cigarettes during their pregnancy. Whereas the physical health consequences to infants of prenatal exposure to smoking are well established, the early neurobehavioral consequences are less well understood. This study investigated the neurobehavioral consequences of prenatal exposure to smoking using an epidemiologically derived sample of 454 infants wh…
Individual Differences in the Contribution of Maternal Soothing to Infant Distress Reduction
This study investigates individual differences in the contribution of specific maternal regulatory behaviors to the mother‐infant dyad's regulation of infant distress response. Additionally, we examined the stability of infants' stress responses and the stability of specific maternal soothing behaviors. The sample included 128 mother‐infant dyads that were observed during an inoculation at 2 and 6 months. The average intensity of infant cry respo…
Toddlers' Empathy‐Related Responding to Distress
This study focused on the predictive contributions of infants' temperamental negative emotionality (proneness to fear, anger), sex, maternal responsivity, and their interaction on toddlers' empathy‐related responding to distress in 3 contexts. Ninety‐eight infants and their mothers participated in a longitudinal study. When the infants were 10 months of age, mothers completed assessments of infant temperamental anger and fear, and maternal behavi…
Mothers’ Regulation Strategies in Response to Toddlers’ Affect
Recently, there has been a great deal of research on the socialization of children's emotions and self‐regulation. In the present study, the specific strategies that mothers use to help their young children regulate their emotional responses were examined using a longitudinal design. Forty‐three mother–toddler pairs were observed when toddlers were both 18 and 30 months of age, and mothers’ attempts to regulate their toddlers’ emotions during sev…
Parent use of food to soothe infant/toddler distress and child weight status. An exploratory study
The regulation of negative reactivity in infancy
This study examined the function and effectiveness of certain behaviors in regulating negative arousal in 5- and 10-month-old infants. Infants participated in an arm restraint procedure at 5 months (N=87) and a toy removal task at 10 months (N=82). Negative reactivity and regulatory behaviors ― avoidance, orienting, self-comforting, and communicative behaviors (10-month only) ― were coded and sectioned into 10-s epochs. Results showed that self-c…
Infant reactivity
Etude des relations entre des mesures de l'activite cardiaque et vagale et la reactivite de l'enfant lors d'une etude longitudinale de la naissance a 5 mois
Understanding and measuring parent use of food to soothe infant and toddler distress
Maternal Regulation of Infant Reactivity From 2 to 6 Months
Previous research has investigated the effect of maternal soothing behaviors on reducing infant reactivity but not the differential effects of specific maternal behaviors on infant stress responses. The present study investigated maternal regulation of 2- and 6-month-olds' responses to an inoculation and found a significant decline with age in both the intensity and duration of infants' crying. Maternal affection and touching decreased from 2 to …
Emotional reactivity and regulation in infancy interact to predict executive functioning in early childhood
The relation of observed emotional reactivity and regulation in infancy to executive function in early childhood was examined in a prospective longitudinal sample of 1,292 children from predominantly low-income and rural communities. Children participated in a fear eliciting task at ages 7, 15, and 24 months and completed an executive function battery at age 48 months. Results indicated that the relation of child negative emotional reactivity at …
Mothers’ Regulation Strategies in Response to Toddlers’ Affect
Recently, there has been a great deal of research on the socialization of children's emotions and self‐regulation. In the present study, the specific strategies that mothers use to help their young children regulate their emotional responses were examined using a longitudinal design. Forty‐three mother–toddler pairs were observed when toddlers were both 18 and 30 months of age, and mothers’ attempts to regulate their toddlers’ emotions during sev…
Infant temperament and feeding history predict infants' responses to novel foods
Exuberant and inhibited children
The current study aimed to substantiate and extend our understanding regarding the existence and developmental pathways of 3 distinct temperament profiles-exuberant, inhibited, and average approach-in a sample of 3.5-year-old children (n = 121). The interactions between temperamental styles and specific types of effortful control, inhibitory control and attentional control, were also examined in predicting kindergarten peer acceptance. Latent pro…
Temperamental approach/withdrawal and food neophobia in early childhood
Temperament in obesity-related research
Infant and maternal predictors of early life feeding decisions. The timing of solid food introduction
Stability of food neophobia from infancy through early childhood
Vagal Regulation and Observed Social Behavior in Infancy
The goal of the present study was to test a recent hypothesis that the ability to suppress cardiac vagal tone during a cognitive challenge was related to social behavior. One hundred thirty‐six infants participated with their parents in laboratory visits when infants were 12 (mother visit) and 13 months (father visit) of age. To measure the infants’ regulation of cardiac vagal tone, heart rate responses were recorded during the administration of …
Emotional reactivity and parenting sensitivity interact to predict cortisol output in toddlers
Cortisol output in response to emotion induction procedures was examined at child age 24 months in a prospective longitudinal sample of 1,292 children and families in predominantly low-income and nonurban communities in two regions of high poverty in the United States. Multilevel analysis indicated that observed emotional reactivity to a mask presentation but not a toy removal procedure interacted with sensitive parenting to predict cortisol leve…
Temperament, Parenting, and Moral Development
This longitudinal study highlights the role of specific parenting behaviors in specific contexts when predicting moral development in children of varying temperament types. A sample of mother-child dyads took part in a competing demands task involving differing "do" and "don't" contextual demands when the child was 2 years of age. Child temperament was also assessed at this time, yielding inhibited, exuberant, and low-reactive temperament groups.…
Maternal Sensitivity and Infant Emotional Reactivity
Although the construct of infant reactivity is thought to be a temperamental dimension, investigators have been interested in the relation between emotional reactivity and maternal behaviors. In this study, infants' emotional reactivity to frustrating stimuli and maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness were observed at 5 and 10 months of age. Cluster analysis of infants' emotional expressions revealed three patterns of expressive behavior emerged …
It takes two
The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine the association of infant fussing and crying with self-regulation in toddlerhood and the preschool years, as well as the moderating role of maternal sensitivity therein. When children ( n = 149, 53.69% boys) were 6 months old, parents reported on their fussing and crying using a cry diary, and maternal sensitivity was coded during a novel toy procedure. Children participated in various tasks to as…
Temperament and Maternal Emotion Socialization Beliefs as Predictors of Early Childhood Social Behavior in the Laboratory and Classroom
Mothers' emotion socialization beliefs appear to play an important role in modifying the developmental course of approach behavior during early childhood
Maternal Emotion‐related Socialization and Preschoolers' Developing Emotion Self‐awareness
Preschoolers' ability to demonstrate awareness of their own emotion is an important socio‐emotional competence which has received increasing attention in the developmental literature. The present study examined emotion self‐awareness of happiness, sadness, and anger in response to a delay of gratification task in 78 preschool children. Maternal emotion‐related socialization behaviors (ERSBs) including reported emotional expressivity, responses to…
Temperament and the Development of Conscience
In this longitudinal study we examined whether two components of effortful control, behavioral control and executive function, moderated the relation between temperament and conscience development. Temperament was assessed when participants were 2 years of age, and three temperament groups were formed; inhibited, exuberant, and low reactive. At 4.5 years of age children's behavioral control and executive function were assessed. Moral behavior, em…
Infant reactivity
Etude des relations entre des mesures de l'activite cardiaque et vagale et la reactivite de l'enfant lors d'une etude longitudinale de la naissance a 5 mois
Self-expressiveness within the family context
The family appears to be an important setting for learning about emotions and how to express them within a social context. Because of the need for reliable and valid measures of emotional expressiveness in the family, the Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire (SEFQ) is introduced and evaluated in four studies with 499 mothers and 362 fathers. Factor analyses indicate highly consistent patterns of loadings for a two-factor solution acros…
The regulation of negative reactivity in infancy
This study examined the function and effectiveness of certain behaviors in regulating negative arousal in 5- and 10-month-old infants. Infants participated in an arm restraint procedure at 5 months (N=87) and a toy removal task at 10 months (N=82). Negative reactivity and regulatory behaviors ― avoidance, orienting, self-comforting, and communicative behaviors (10-month only) ― were coded and sectioned into 10-s epochs. Results showed that self-c…
Vagal Regulation and Observed Social Behavior in Infancy
The goal of the present study was to test a recent hypothesis that the ability to suppress cardiac vagal tone during a cognitive challenge was related to social behavior. One hundred thirty‐six infants participated with their parents in laboratory visits when infants were 12 (mother visit) and 13 months (father visit) of age. To measure the infants’ regulation of cardiac vagal tone, heart rate responses were recorded during the administration of …
Mother‐Child Coregulation During Delay of Gratification at 30 Months
Fifty‐eight 30‐month‐old children and their mothers were observed during a task in which the child was asked to refrain from touching an attractive toy. Child and maternal regulatory strategies were independently coded in 5‐sec intervals. Consistent with past research, the ability to refrain from touching the toy was associated with less time orienting to the forbidden object and more time focusing on other stimuli. Mothers of children who refrai…
The Effect of Excessive Crying on the Development of Emotion Regulation
The goal of this study was to examine the effect of excessive crying in early infancy on the development of emotion self‐regulation. Cry diaries were used to categorize excessive criers and typical criers at 6 weeks of age. At 5 and 10 months of age, infants and mothers participated in procedures to elicit infant reactivity and regulation during a frustration task and maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness during a free‐play session. Last, matern…
Individual Differences in Emotion Regulation in Infancy
Maternal Sensitivity and Infant Emotional Reactivity
Although the construct of infant reactivity is thought to be a temperamental dimension, investigators have been interested in the relation between emotional reactivity and maternal behaviors. In this study, infants' emotional reactivity to frustrating stimuli and maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness were observed at 5 and 10 months of age. Cluster analysis of infants' emotional expressions revealed three patterns of expressive behavior emerged …
Maternal Attention‐Directing Strategies and Infant Focused Attention During Problem Solving
Forty‐nine mother‐infant dyads participated in the study. Mothers were observed during free play with their infants to assess their attention‐directing strategies. Infants were observed during the Bayley to assess their focused attention abilities. Assessments were made when infants were 10 and 18 months. Whereas consistently high levels of maintaining over time were modestly associated with better infant focused attention at 18 months, consisten…
Mothers’ Regulation Strategies in Response to Toddlers’ Affect
Recently, there has been a great deal of research on the socialization of children's emotions and self‐regulation. In the present study, the specific strategies that mothers use to help their young children regulate their emotional responses were examined using a longitudinal design. Forty‐three mother–toddler pairs were observed when toddlers were both 18 and 30 months of age, and mothers’ attempts to regulate their toddlers’ emotions during sev…
Maternal Regulation of Infant Reactivity From 2 to 6 Months
Previous research has investigated the effect of maternal soothing behaviors on reducing infant reactivity but not the differential effects of specific maternal behaviors on infant stress responses. The present study investigated maternal regulation of 2- and 6-month-olds' responses to an inoculation and found a significant decline with age in both the intensity and duration of infants' crying. Maternal affection and touching decreased from 2 to …
Toddlers' Empathy‐Related Responding to Distress
This study focused on the predictive contributions of infants' temperamental negative emotionality (proneness to fear, anger), sex, maternal responsivity, and their interaction on toddlers' empathy‐related responding to distress in 3 contexts. Ninety‐eight infants and their mothers participated in a longitudinal study. When the infants were 10 months of age, mothers completed assessments of infant temperamental anger and fear, and maternal behavi…
Neurobehavioral Consequences of Prenatal Exposure to Smoking at 6 to 8 Months of Age
Between 400,000 and 800,000 infants are born in the United States each year to women who smoked cigarettes during their pregnancy. Whereas the physical health consequences to infants of prenatal exposure to smoking are well established, the early neurobehavioral consequences are less well understood. This study investigated the neurobehavioral consequences of prenatal exposure to smoking using an epidemiologically derived sample of 454 infants wh…
Individual Differences in the Contribution of Maternal Soothing to Infant Distress Reduction
This study investigates individual differences in the contribution of specific maternal regulatory behaviors to the mother‐infant dyad's regulation of infant distress response. Additionally, we examined the stability of infants' stress responses and the stability of specific maternal soothing behaviors. The sample included 128 mother‐infant dyads that were observed during an inoculation at 2 and 6 months. The average intensity of infant cry respo…
Maternal Emotion‐related Socialization and Preschoolers' Developing Emotion Self‐awareness
Preschoolers' ability to demonstrate awareness of their own emotion is an important socio‐emotional competence which has received increasing attention in the developmental literature. The present study examined emotion self‐awareness of happiness, sadness, and anger in response to a delay of gratification task in 78 preschool children. Maternal emotion‐related socialization behaviors (ERSBs) including reported emotional expressivity, responses to…
Temperament and the Development of Conscience
In this longitudinal study we examined whether two components of effortful control, behavioral control and executive function, moderated the relation between temperament and conscience development. Temperament was assessed when participants were 2 years of age, and three temperament groups were formed; inhibited, exuberant, and low reactive. At 4.5 years of age children's behavioral control and executive function were assessed. Moral behavior, em…
Temperament and Maternal Emotion Socialization Beliefs as Predictors of Early Childhood Social Behavior in the Laboratory and Classroom
Mothers' emotion socialization beliefs appear to play an important role in modifying the developmental course of approach behavior during early childhood
Parent use of food to soothe infant/toddler distress and child weight status. An exploratory study
Emotional reactivity and regulation in infancy interact to predict executive functioning in early childhood
The relation of observed emotional reactivity and regulation in infancy to executive function in early childhood was examined in a prospective longitudinal sample of 1,292 children from predominantly low-income and rural communities. Children participated in a fear eliciting task at ages 7, 15, and 24 months and completed an executive function battery at age 48 months. Results indicated that the relation of child negative emotional reactivity at …
Temperament, Parenting, and Moral Development
This longitudinal study highlights the role of specific parenting behaviors in specific contexts when predicting moral development in children of varying temperament types. A sample of mother-child dyads took part in a competing demands task involving differing "do" and "don't" contextual demands when the child was 2 years of age. Child temperament was also assessed at this time, yielding inhibited, exuberant, and low-reactive temperament groups.…
Infant temperament and feeding history predict infants' responses to novel foods
Infant and maternal predictors of early life feeding decisions. The timing of solid food introduction
Understanding and measuring parent use of food to soothe infant and toddler distress
Emotional reactivity and parenting sensitivity interact to predict cortisol output in toddlers
Cortisol output in response to emotion induction procedures was examined at child age 24 months in a prospective longitudinal sample of 1,292 children and families in predominantly low-income and nonurban communities in two regions of high poverty in the United States. Multilevel analysis indicated that observed emotional reactivity to a mask presentation but not a toy removal procedure interacted with sensitive parenting to predict cortisol leve…
Stability of food neophobia from infancy through early childhood
Psychology (32 works) · Developmental psychology (30 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (29 works) · Social Psychology (23 works) · Infant Health and Development (15 works) · Medicine (13 works) · Clinical Psychology (12 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (12 works) · Personality (12 works) · Temperament (12 works)