Joan T D Suwalsky
Biographic Data
| ID | 205418 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Joan T D Suwalsky |
| GIVEN NAMES | Joan T D |
| FAMILY NAME | Suwalsky |
| SIGNATURE | SUWALSKY J T D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 44 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1980 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Children’s utilization of toys is moderated by age-appropriateness, toy category, and child age
Play during childhood is essential to growth and learning. Little is known about whether categories of toys moderate play behaviors at different ages, or how children interact with toys that are simple, appropriate, or complex for their developmental level. Two hundred and forty-three children between the ages of 1 and 8 years, divided into four age groups, played with toys that were targeted to their age group as well as toys aimed at one age gr…
Retrospective report revisited: Long-term recall in European American mothers moderated by developmental domain, child age, person, and metric of agreement
Retrospective parental reports are common in the developmental science literature, but their validity has been questioned. We investigated the consistency of retrospective maternal recall by comparing original with retrospective maternal reports in three domains (maternal cognitions, mother-reported child and mother behaviors, and observed child and mother behaviors) at three retention intervals (12, 14, and 15 years) in two metrics (individual s…
Child, Mother, Father, and Teacher Beliefs About Child Academic Competence: Predicting Math and Reading Performance in European American Adolescents
Beliefs about child competence in math and reading have important implications for academic performance in adolescence. However, it is unclear whether children's own beliefs are the most important predictor of their academic performance or whether parents' and teachers' beliefs about child competence influence child academic performance. We assessed mothers', fathers', teachers', and children's beliefs about European American children's (N = 189)…
Continuity, stability, and concordance of socioemotional functioning in mothers and their sibling children
This within-family longitudinal study accomplishes a novel multivariate assessment of socioemotional parenting cognitions and practices in mothers and their sibling children's socioemotional behaviors. Mothers participated with their 20-month-old firstborns and again, an average of 3 years later, with their 20-month-old secondborns (55 families, 165 participants). Continuity and stability in maternal cognitions and practices between the two times…
Cognitive Abilities, Social Adaptation, and Externalizing Behavior Problems in Childhood and Adolescence: Specific Cascade Effects Across Development
Infant–Mother and Infant–Caregiver Emotional Relationships: Process Analyses of Interactions in Three Contemporary Childcare Arrangements
Emotional relationships in infant–mother dyads in families where mothers provided full‐time childcare were compared with those of families where mothers used in‐home childcare providers and family childcare providers ( N = 245). Infant relationships with childcare providers were also studied. Emotional relationships were adequate in all three childcare arrangements, but infant–mother dyads in in‐home childcare arrangements displayed healthier emo…
Emotional interactions in European American mother–infant firstborn and secondborn dyads: A within-family study
The developmental science literature is riven with respect to (a) parental similar versus different treatment of siblings and (b) sibling similarities and differences. Most methodologies in the field are flawed or confounded. To address these issues, this study employed a within-family longitudinal design to examine developmental processes of continuity and stability in emotional interactions in mothers with their firstborn and secondborn 5-month…
Adoptive and Nonadoptive Mother–Child Behavioral Interaction: A Comparative Study at 4 Years of Age
Comparable samples of low-risk adopted and nonadopted children and mothers were observed during 3 tasks at age 4 years. Quality of mother-child interactions, child level of functioning in 4 domains, and maternal parenting satisfaction and social support were assessed. Adopted children were as competent as nonadopted children on measures of developmental functioning. Both groups of mothers expressed high satisfaction and support as parents. Howeve…
Developmental Pathways Among Adaptive Functioning and Externalizing and Internalizing Behavioral Problems: Cascades From Childhood Into Adolescence
A developmental cascade describes a longitudinal cross-domain unique relation. Here, a 3-wave multivariate design and developmental cascade analysis were used to investigate pathways among adaptive functioning and externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems in a community sample of 134 children seen at 4, 10, and 14 years. Children, mothers, and teachers provided data. Nested path analytic models tested the plausible cascades among the th…
A Longitudinal Process Analysis of Mother–Child Emotional Relationships in a Rural Appalachian European American Community
This prospective longitudinal study examines emotional relationships in 58 Appalachian mother–child dyads observed at home at 5 and 20 months. Between infancy and toddlerhood, 3 of 4 dimensions of dyadic emotional relationships were stable, and three remained continuous in their mean level. Increasing maternal age was associated with greater maternal sensitivity and structuring and with more responsive and involving children. Marital status and f…
Emotional Relationships in Mothers and Infants: Culture-Common and Community-Specific Characteristics of Dyads From Rural and Metropolitan Settings in Argentina, Italy, and the United States
This study uses country and regional contrasts to examine culture-common and community-specific variation in mother-infant emotional relationships. Altogether, 220 Argentine, Italian, and U.S. American mothers and their daughters and sons, living in rural and metropolitan settings, were observed at home at infant age 5 months. Both variable- and person-centered perspectives of dyadic emotional relationships were analyzed. Supporting the notion th…
Maternal and infant behavior and context associations with mutual emotion availability
Emotional availability (EA) is a prominent index of mutual socioemotional adaptation in the parent–infant dyad. This study examines zero‐order and unique associations of multiple maternal and infant behavior and context indicators to variation in aspects of EA in mothers and their young infants. The associations to each were explored in separate analyses for maternal sensitivity and infant responsiveness in 369 European American mothers and their…
Stability, Continuity, and Similarity of Parenting Stress in European American Mothers and Fathers Across Their Child's Transition to Adolescence
OBJECTIVE: Experiencing some degree of parenting stress is virtually unavoidable, particularly as children enter early adolescence and assert their independence. In this study, we examined how parenting stress attributed to the parent, the child, or the dyad changed in mean level and relative standing across their child's transition to adolescence. We also compared mothers and fathers from the same families in terms of parenting stress and explor…
Families by Adoption and Birth: I. Mother-Infant Socioemotional Interactions
The role of adoptive family dynamics in the etiology of both resilient and adverse developmental outcomes is not well understood. In this study, socio-emotional aspects of the mother-infant relationship were examined in families by adoption and by birth. Matched groups of mothers and their 5-month-old first babies were observed in the home setting. Dyads in the two groups were comparable in the frequency and ranking of a full array of age-appropr…
Families by Adoption and Birth: II. Mother-Infant Cognitive Interactions
Adopted children are more likely to develop learning and school adjustment problems than are their non-adopted peers, despite the fact that learning potential appears to be comparable in the two groups. In an effort to explain this phenomenon, the present study examined cognitive behavior repertoires in healthy 5-month-old first infants and their mothers during their normal daily routine in families by adoption and by birth. Two areas of function…
Mother-child emotional availability in ecological perspective: Three countries, two regions, two genders
This study used a cross-national framework to examine country, region, and gender differences in emotional availability (EA), a prominent index of mutual socioemotional adaptation in the parent-child dyad. Altogether 220 Argentine, Italian, and U.S. mothers and their daughters and sons from both rural and metropolitan areas took part in home observations when the children were 20 months old. In terms of country, Italian mothers were more sensitiv…
Adolescent-Mother Agreement about Adolescent Problem Behaviors: Direction and Predictors of Disagreement
Short-Term Reliability and Continuity of Emotional Availability in Mother-Child Dyads Across Contexts of Observation
Emotional availability (EA) is a prominent index of socioemotional adaptation in the parent-child dyad. Is EA affected by context? In this methodological study, 34 mothers and their 2-year-olds were observed in 2 different settings (home vs. laboratory) 1 week apart. Significant cross-context reliability and continuity in EA as measured with the Emotional Availability Scales emerged. Because EA is not affected by context, cross-context generaliza…
Maternal employment and parent-infant interaction at one year
Dimensions of naturally occurring mother-infant separations during the first year of life
The goals of this paper are (1) to introduce a methodology developed to study mother-infant separations that occur in the context of normal family life, including but going beyond separations associated with maternal employment; (2) to present illustrative data that describe the range of separations experienced by one sample of infants; and (3) to demonstrate how a focus on specific underlying dimensions results in a more precise characterization…
Fathering during the infancy period: Implications of the mother's employment role
This study addressed fathers' satisfaction with their wives' employment role and fathers' participation in child care and household tasks in a middle-class sample of families with first-born infants in which the mother was either employed or a homemaker. Observations of mother, father, and infant were carried out in the home on weekday evenings when the infants were 12 months old, and parent interviews were carried out after the completion of the…
Convergent Validity of Two Measures of Attachment
The convergent and divergent validity of two methods for measuring the quality of infant-mother attachment, the Differential Social Reaction Procedure (DSRP) and the Strange Situation, were assessed using a sample of 21 infants between 15 and 18 months of age. The two procedures were administered on two separate days and scored by separate raters so as to minimize shared method variance. In addition, the infants were observed in a Free Play situa…
Effects of naturally-occuring nontraumatic separations from mother
Thirty-three twelve-month-old infants were divided into three groups based on the frequency and length of naturally-occurring nontraumatic separations from mother during the first year. One group had experienced only brief separations when left with a babysitter for an evening. A second group had been left once or twice for an average of five days while parents vacationed. A third group had been left regularly and frequently during the daytime, u…
Mother-child emotional availability in ecological perspective: Three countries, two regions, two genders
This study used a cross-national framework to examine country, region, and gender differences in emotional availability (EA), a prominent index of mutual socioemotional adaptation in the parent-child dyad. Altogether 220 Argentine, Italian, and U.S. mothers and their daughters and sons from both rural and metropolitan areas took part in home observations when the children were 20 months old. In terms of country, Italian mothers were more sensitiv…
Adolescent-Mother Agreement about Adolescent Problem Behaviors: Direction and Predictors of Disagreement
Stability, Continuity, and Similarity of Parenting Stress in European American Mothers and Fathers Across Their Child's Transition to Adolescence
OBJECTIVE: Experiencing some degree of parenting stress is virtually unavoidable, particularly as children enter early adolescence and assert their independence. In this study, we examined how parenting stress attributed to the parent, the child, or the dyad changed in mean level and relative standing across their child's transition to adolescence. We also compared mothers and fathers from the same families in terms of parenting stress and explor…
Child, Mother, Father, and Teacher Beliefs About Child Academic Competence: Predicting Math and Reading Performance in European American Adolescents
Beliefs about child competence in math and reading have important implications for academic performance in adolescence. However, it is unclear whether children's own beliefs are the most important predictor of their academic performance or whether parents' and teachers' beliefs about child competence influence child academic performance. We assessed mothers', fathers', teachers', and children's beliefs about European American children's (N = 189)…
Maternal employment and parent-infant interaction at one year
Continuity, stability, and concordance of socioemotional functioning in mothers and their sibling children
This within-family longitudinal study accomplishes a novel multivariate assessment of socioemotional parenting cognitions and practices in mothers and their sibling children's socioemotional behaviors. Mothers participated with their 20-month-old firstborns and again, an average of 3 years later, with their 20-month-old secondborns (55 families, 165 participants). Continuity and stability in maternal cognitions and practices between the two times…
Cognitive Abilities, Social Adaptation, and Externalizing Behavior Problems in Childhood and Adolescence: Specific Cascade Effects Across Development
A Longitudinal Process Analysis of Mother–Child Emotional Relationships in a Rural Appalachian European American Community
This prospective longitudinal study examines emotional relationships in 58 Appalachian mother–child dyads observed at home at 5 and 20 months. Between infancy and toddlerhood, 3 of 4 dimensions of dyadic emotional relationships were stable, and three remained continuous in their mean level. Increasing maternal age was associated with greater maternal sensitivity and structuring and with more responsive and involving children. Marital status and f…
Emotional Relationships in Mothers and Infants: Culture-Common and Community-Specific Characteristics of Dyads From Rural and Metropolitan Settings in Argentina, Italy, and the United States
This study uses country and regional contrasts to examine culture-common and community-specific variation in mother-infant emotional relationships. Altogether, 220 Argentine, Italian, and U.S. American mothers and their daughters and sons, living in rural and metropolitan settings, were observed at home at infant age 5 months. Both variable- and person-centered perspectives of dyadic emotional relationships were analyzed. Supporting the notion th…
Emotional interactions in European American mother–infant firstborn and secondborn dyads: A within-family study
The developmental science literature is riven with respect to (a) parental similar versus different treatment of siblings and (b) sibling similarities and differences. Most methodologies in the field are flawed or confounded. To address these issues, this study employed a within-family longitudinal design to examine developmental processes of continuity and stability in emotional interactions in mothers with their firstborn and secondborn 5-month…
Effects of naturally-occuring nontraumatic separations from mother
Thirty-three twelve-month-old infants were divided into three groups based on the frequency and length of naturally-occurring nontraumatic separations from mother during the first year. One group had experienced only brief separations when left with a babysitter for an evening. A second group had been left once or twice for an average of five days while parents vacationed. A third group had been left regularly and frequently during the daytime, u…
Convergent Validity of Two Measures of Attachment
The convergent and divergent validity of two methods for measuring the quality of infant-mother attachment, the Differential Social Reaction Procedure (DSRP) and the Strange Situation, were assessed using a sample of 21 infants between 15 and 18 months of age. The two procedures were administered on two separate days and scored by separate raters so as to minimize shared method variance. In addition, the infants were observed in a Free Play situa…
Fathering during the infancy period: Implications of the mother's employment role
This study addressed fathers' satisfaction with their wives' employment role and fathers' participation in child care and household tasks in a middle-class sample of families with first-born infants in which the mother was either employed or a homemaker. Observations of mother, father, and infant were carried out in the home on weekday evenings when the infants were 12 months old, and parent interviews were carried out after the completion of the…
Dimensions of naturally occurring mother-infant separations during the first year of life
The goals of this paper are (1) to introduce a methodology developed to study mother-infant separations that occur in the context of normal family life, including but going beyond separations associated with maternal employment; (2) to present illustrative data that describe the range of separations experienced by one sample of infants; and (3) to demonstrate how a focus on specific underlying dimensions results in a more precise characterization…
Maternal employment and parent-infant interaction at one year
Short-Term Reliability and Continuity of Emotional Availability in Mother-Child Dyads Across Contexts of Observation
Emotional availability (EA) is a prominent index of socioemotional adaptation in the parent-child dyad. Is EA affected by context? In this methodological study, 34 mothers and their 2-year-olds were observed in 2 different settings (home vs. laboratory) 1 week apart. Significant cross-context reliability and continuity in EA as measured with the Emotional Availability Scales emerged. Because EA is not affected by context, cross-context generaliza…
Adolescent-Mother Agreement about Adolescent Problem Behaviors: Direction and Predictors of Disagreement
Families by Adoption and Birth: I. Mother-Infant Socioemotional Interactions
The role of adoptive family dynamics in the etiology of both resilient and adverse developmental outcomes is not well understood. In this study, socio-emotional aspects of the mother-infant relationship were examined in families by adoption and by birth. Matched groups of mothers and their 5-month-old first babies were observed in the home setting. Dyads in the two groups were comparable in the frequency and ranking of a full array of age-appropr…
Families by Adoption and Birth: II. Mother-Infant Cognitive Interactions
Adopted children are more likely to develop learning and school adjustment problems than are their non-adopted peers, despite the fact that learning potential appears to be comparable in the two groups. In an effort to explain this phenomenon, the present study examined cognitive behavior repertoires in healthy 5-month-old first infants and their mothers during their normal daily routine in families by adoption and by birth. Two areas of function…
Mother-child emotional availability in ecological perspective: Three countries, two regions, two genders
This study used a cross-national framework to examine country, region, and gender differences in emotional availability (EA), a prominent index of mutual socioemotional adaptation in the parent-child dyad. Altogether 220 Argentine, Italian, and U.S. mothers and their daughters and sons from both rural and metropolitan areas took part in home observations when the children were 20 months old. In terms of country, Italian mothers were more sensitiv…
Stability, Continuity, and Similarity of Parenting Stress in European American Mothers and Fathers Across Their Child's Transition to Adolescence
OBJECTIVE: Experiencing some degree of parenting stress is virtually unavoidable, particularly as children enter early adolescence and assert their independence. In this study, we examined how parenting stress attributed to the parent, the child, or the dyad changed in mean level and relative standing across their child's transition to adolescence. We also compared mothers and fathers from the same families in terms of parenting stress and explor…
Maternal and infant behavior and context associations with mutual emotion availability
Emotional availability (EA) is a prominent index of mutual socioemotional adaptation in the parent–infant dyad. This study examines zero‐order and unique associations of multiple maternal and infant behavior and context indicators to variation in aspects of EA in mothers and their young infants. The associations to each were explored in separate analyses for maternal sensitivity and infant responsiveness in 369 European American mothers and their…
A Longitudinal Process Analysis of Mother–Child Emotional Relationships in a Rural Appalachian European American Community
This prospective longitudinal study examines emotional relationships in 58 Appalachian mother–child dyads observed at home at 5 and 20 months. Between infancy and toddlerhood, 3 of 4 dimensions of dyadic emotional relationships were stable, and three remained continuous in their mean level. Increasing maternal age was associated with greater maternal sensitivity and structuring and with more responsive and involving children. Marital status and f…
Emotional Relationships in Mothers and Infants: Culture-Common and Community-Specific Characteristics of Dyads From Rural and Metropolitan Settings in Argentina, Italy, and the United States
This study uses country and regional contrasts to examine culture-common and community-specific variation in mother-infant emotional relationships. Altogether, 220 Argentine, Italian, and U.S. American mothers and their daughters and sons, living in rural and metropolitan settings, were observed at home at infant age 5 months. Both variable- and person-centered perspectives of dyadic emotional relationships were analyzed. Supporting the notion th…
Developmental Pathways Among Adaptive Functioning and Externalizing and Internalizing Behavioral Problems: Cascades From Childhood Into Adolescence
A developmental cascade describes a longitudinal cross-domain unique relation. Here, a 3-wave multivariate design and developmental cascade analysis were used to investigate pathways among adaptive functioning and externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems in a community sample of 134 children seen at 4, 10, and 14 years. Children, mothers, and teachers provided data. Nested path analytic models tested the plausible cascades among the th…
Adoptive and Nonadoptive Mother–Child Behavioral Interaction: A Comparative Study at 4 Years of Age
Comparable samples of low-risk adopted and nonadopted children and mothers were observed during 3 tasks at age 4 years. Quality of mother-child interactions, child level of functioning in 4 domains, and maternal parenting satisfaction and social support were assessed. Adopted children were as competent as nonadopted children on measures of developmental functioning. Both groups of mothers expressed high satisfaction and support as parents. Howeve…
Infant–Mother and Infant–Caregiver Emotional Relationships: Process Analyses of Interactions in Three Contemporary Childcare Arrangements
Emotional relationships in infant–mother dyads in families where mothers provided full‐time childcare were compared with those of families where mothers used in‐home childcare providers and family childcare providers ( N = 245). Infant relationships with childcare providers were also studied. Emotional relationships were adequate in all three childcare arrangements, but infant–mother dyads in in‐home childcare arrangements displayed healthier emo…
Emotional interactions in European American mother–infant firstborn and secondborn dyads: A within-family study
The developmental science literature is riven with respect to (a) parental similar versus different treatment of siblings and (b) sibling similarities and differences. Most methodologies in the field are flawed or confounded. To address these issues, this study employed a within-family longitudinal design to examine developmental processes of continuity and stability in emotional interactions in mothers with their firstborn and secondborn 5-month…
Cognitive Abilities, Social Adaptation, and Externalizing Behavior Problems in Childhood and Adolescence: Specific Cascade Effects Across Development
Continuity, stability, and concordance of socioemotional functioning in mothers and their sibling children
This within-family longitudinal study accomplishes a novel multivariate assessment of socioemotional parenting cognitions and practices in mothers and their sibling children's socioemotional behaviors. Mothers participated with their 20-month-old firstborns and again, an average of 3 years later, with their 20-month-old secondborns (55 families, 165 participants). Continuity and stability in maternal cognitions and practices between the two times…
Child, Mother, Father, and Teacher Beliefs About Child Academic Competence: Predicting Math and Reading Performance in European American Adolescents
Beliefs about child competence in math and reading have important implications for academic performance in adolescence. However, it is unclear whether children's own beliefs are the most important predictor of their academic performance or whether parents' and teachers' beliefs about child competence influence child academic performance. We assessed mothers', fathers', teachers', and children's beliefs about European American children's (N = 189)…
Retrospective report revisited: Long-term recall in European American mothers moderated by developmental domain, child age, person, and metric of agreement
Retrospective parental reports are common in the developmental science literature, but their validity has been questioned. We investigated the consistency of retrospective maternal recall by comparing original with retrospective maternal reports in three domains (maternal cognitions, mother-reported child and mother behaviors, and observed child and mother behaviors) at three retention intervals (12, 14, and 15 years) in two metrics (individual s…
Children’s utilization of toys is moderated by age-appropriateness, toy category, and child age
Play during childhood is essential to growth and learning. Little is known about whether categories of toys moderate play behaviors at different ages, or how children interact with toys that are simple, appropriate, or complex for their developmental level. Two hundred and forty-three children between the ages of 1 and 8 years, divided into four age groups, played with toys that were targeted to their age group as well as toys aimed at one age gr…
Psychology (23 works) · Developmental psychology (22 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (17 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (11 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (9 works) · Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum (8 works) · Demography (7 works) · Medicine (6 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Demography (5 works)