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Developmental correlates and predictors of emotional availability in mother–child interaction: A longitudinal study from infancy to middle childhood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2012

M. Ann Easterbrooks ,
Jean-Francois Bureau  and
Karlen Lyons-Ruth
M. Ann Easterbrooks*
Affiliation:
Tufts University
Jean-Francois Bureau
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Karlen Lyons-Ruth
Affiliation:
Harvard University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Ann Easterbrooks, Eliot–Pearson Department of Child Development, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155; E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

In this investigation we examined the developmental correlates and predictors of maternal emotional availability in interactions with their 7-year-old children among a sample of families at psychosocial risk. We found developmental coherence in maternal interactive behavior, and in the relations between maternal emotional availability and children's functioning in middle childhood. Mothers and children were observed at home and in a laboratory playroom in infancy to assess maternal interactive behavior and child attachment security. When children were 7 years of age, dyads were observed in the lab; maternal emotional availability was coded using the Emotional Availability Scales, and children's disorganized and controlling attachment behavior was assessed. Classroom teachers reported on children's behavior problems; at age 8, children reported on their depressive symptoms. Results showed that aspects of maternal emotional availability (sensitivity, nonhostility, nonintrusiveness [passive/withdrawn behavior]) were associated with children's functioning in middle childhood: (a) controlling and disorganized attachment behavior, (b) behavior problems in school, and (c) self-reported depressive symptoms. Maternal emotional availability in childhood was predicted by early mother–infant relationship dysfunction (maternal hostility, disrupted communication, and infant attachment insecurity).

Type
Special Section Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , February 2012 , pp. 65 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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