Early maternal sensitivity and markers of physical health

Enduring or transient associations from childhood to adulthood

Bibliographic Data

ID9788016
AuthorsJacob J Kunkel (0000-0002-4150-0752, University of Minnesota, corresponding author), Sophia W Magro (0000-0002-6923-103X, University of Minnesota), Maria E Bleil (0000-0002-2006-4533, University of Washington), Cathryn Booth‐laforce (0000-0002-9630-9250, University of Washington), Deborah L Vandell (0000-0003-2373-9783, University of California, Irvine), R Chris Fraley (0000-0003-3437-0336, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Glenn I Roisman (0000-0002-6941-6560, University of Minnesota)
Year2022
Volume58
Issue12
Pages2252-2263
Publication date2022-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDevelopmental Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0012-1649 • E-ISSN: 1939-0599
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/dev0001430
PMID36074590
OpenAlexW4294990918
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited24

Individual differences in the quality of early experiences with primary caregivers have been reliably implicated in the development of socioemotional adjustment and, more recently, physical health. However, few studies have examined the development of such associations with physical health into the adult years. To that end, the current study used prospective, longitudinal data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development ( N = 1,306, 52% male, 77% White/non-Hispanic) to investigate whether associations between direct observations of maternal sensitivity in the first 3 years of life and repeated assessments of two commonly used, objective indicators of physical health (i.e., body mass and mean arterial blood pressure) remained stable or diminished in magnitude over time. Associations between early maternal sensitivity and lower body mass remained relatively stable from age 54 months to 26 years and were robust to the modeling of autoregressive and second-order stability processes as well as the inclusion of potential demographic confounders. In contrast, although associations between early caregiving and lower mean arterial pressure remained relatively stable from Grade 4 to age 15 years (the oldest age for which mean arterial pressure was assessed thus far), these associations were not robust to the inclusion of covariates and the modeling of second-order stability processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Blood pressure · Confounding · Developmental psychology · Early childhood · Latent growth modeling · Longitudinal study · MEDLINE · PsycINFO · Socioemotional selectivity theory · Young adult · Birth, Development, and Health · Demography · Early Childhood Education and Development · Internal Medicine · Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum · Medicine · Psychology · Gerontology

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