Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T22:05:35.811Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

External-environmental and internal-health early life predictors of adolescent development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 November 2017

Sarah Hartman ,
Zhi Li ,
Daniel Nettle  and
Jay Belsky
Sarah Hartman*
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
Zhi Li
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
Daniel Nettle
Affiliation:
Newcastle University
Jay Belsky
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Sarah Hartman, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, 3321 Hart Hall, Davis, CA 95616; E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A wealth of evidence documents associations between various aspects of the rearing environment and later development. Two evolutionary-inspired models advance explanations for why and how such early experiences shape later functioning: (a) the external-prediction model, which highlights the role of the early environment (e.g., parenting) in regulating children's development, and (b) the internal-prediction model, which emphasizes internal state (i.e., health) as the critical regulator. Thus, by using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the current project draws from both models by investigating whether the effect of the early environment on later adolescent functioning is subject to an indirect effect by internal-health variables. Results showed a significant indirect effect of internal health on the relation between the early environment and adolescent behavior. Specifically, early environmental adversity during the first 5 years of life predicted lower quality health during childhood, which then led to problematic adolescent functioning and earlier age of menarche for girls. In addition, for girls, early adversity predicted lower quality health that forecasted earlier age of menarche leading to increased adolescent risk taking. The discussion highlights the importance of integrating both internal and external models to further understand the developmental processes that effect adolescent behavior.

Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 29 , Special Issue 5: Biological and Behavioral Effects of Early Adversity on Multiple Levels of Development , December 2017 , pp. 1839 - 1849
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The preparation of this article was supported by European Research Council Grant AdG 666669 (COMSTAR; to D.N.). The first two authors contributed equally to this article.

References

Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. (2001). ASEBA school-age forms and profiles. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Asher, S. R., Hymel, S., & Renshaw, P. D. (1984). Loneliness in children. Child Development, 55, 1456–1464. doi:10.2307/1130015 Google Scholar
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182. doi:10.1037/022-3514.51.6.1173 Google Scholar
Belsky, J. (2012). The development of human reproductive strategies progress and prospects. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 310–316. doi:10.1177/0963721412453588 Google Scholar
Belsky, J., & Pluess, M. (2009). Beyond diathesis stress: Differential susceptibility to environmental influences. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 885. doi:10.1037/a0017376 Google Scholar
Belsky, J., & Pluess, M. (2013). Beyond risk, resilience, and dysregulation: Phenotypic plasticity and human development. Development and Psychopathology, 25, 1243–1261. doi:10.1017/S095457941300059X Google Scholar
Belsky, J., Ruttle, P. L., Boyce, W. T., Armstrong, J. M., & Essex, M. J. (2015). Early adversity, elevated stress physiology, accelerated sexual maturation, and poor health in females. Developmental Psychology, 51, 816. doi:10.1037/dev0000017 Google Scholar
Belsky, J., Schlomer, G. L., & Ellis, B. J. (2012). Beyond cumulative risk: Distinguishing harshness and unpredictability as determinants of parenting and early life history strategy. Developmental Psychology, 48, 662. doi:10.1037/a0024454 Google Scholar
Belsky, J., Steinberg, L. D., & Draper, P. (1991). Childhood experience, interpersonal development, and reproductive strategy: An evolutionary theory of socialization. Child Development, 62, 647–670. doi:1992-05035-00110.2307/1131166 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belsky, J., Steinberg, L., Houts, R. M., & Halpern-Felsher, B. L. (2010). The development of reproductive strategy in females: Early maternal harshness → earlier menarche → increased sexual risk taking. Developmental Psychology, 46, 120–128. doi:10.1037/a0015549 Google Scholar
Case, A., Fertig, A., & Paxson, C. (2005). The lasting impact of childhood health and circumstance. Journal of Health Economics, 24, 365–389. doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2004.09.008 Google Scholar
Ellis, B. J., Boyce, W. T., Belsky, J., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2011). Differential susceptibility to the environment: An evolutionary–neurodevelopmental theory. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 7–28. doi:10.1017/S0954579410000611 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, B. J., & Essex, M. J. (2007). Family environments, adrenarche, and sexual maturation: A longitudinal test of a life history model. Child Development, 78, 1799–1817. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01092.x Google Scholar
Halpern-Felsher, B. L., Biehl, M., Kropp, R. Y., & Rubinstein, M. L. (2004). Perceived risks and benefits of smoking: Differences among adolescents with different smoking experiences and intentions. Preventive Medicine, 39, 559–567. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2004.02.017 Google Scholar
Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55. doi:10.1080/10705519909540118 Google Scholar
Kovacs, M. (1992). Children's Depression Inventory. North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health System.Google Scholar
Lewis, M. (1997). Altering fate: Why the past does not predict the future. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, D. P., & Fairchild, A. J. (2009). Current directions in mediation analysis. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 16–20. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01598.x Google Scholar
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998–2011). Mplus user's guide (6th ed.). Los Angeles: Author.Google Scholar
Nederhof, E., & Schmidt, M. V. (2012). Mismatch or cumulative stress: Toward an integrated hypothesis of programming effects. Physiology & Behavior, 106, 691–700. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.12.008 Google Scholar
Nettle, D., Frankenhuis, W. E., & Rickard, I. J. (2013). The evolution of predictive adaptive responses in human life history. Proceedings of the Royal Society Part B, 280, 1343. doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.2822 Google ScholarPubMed
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2001). Nonmaternal care and family factors in early development: An overview of the NICHD study of early child care. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 22, 457–492. doi:10.1016/S0193-3973(01)00092-2 Google Scholar
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2003). Does amount of time spent in child care predict socioemotional adjustment during the transition to kindergarten? Child Development, 74, 976–1005. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00582 Google Scholar
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2005). Child care and child development: Results of the NICHD study of early child care and youth development. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Pettit, G. S., Laird, R. D., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Criss, M. M. (2001). Antecedents and behavior—Problem outcomes of parental monitoring and psychological control in early adolescence. Child Development, 72, 583–598. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00298 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rickard, I. J., Frankenhuis, W. E., & Nettle, D. (2014). Why are childhood family factors associated with timing of maturation? A role for internal prediction. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9, 3–15. doi:10.1177/1745691613513467 Google Scholar
Shumow, L., Vandell, D. L., & Posner, J. K. (1998). Harsh, firm, and permissive parenting in low-income families relations to children's academic achievement and behavioral adjustment. Journal of Family Issues, 19, 483–507. doi:10.1177/019251398019005001 Google Scholar
Waynforth, D. (2012). Life-history theory, chronic childhood illness and the timing of first reproduction in a British birth cohort. Proceedings of the Royal Society Part B, 279, 2998–3002. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.0220 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weinberger, D. A., & Schwartz, G. E. (1990). Distress and restraint as superordinate dimensions of self-reported adjustment: A typological perspective. Journal of Personality, 58, 381–417. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1990.tb00235.x Google Scholar