Célia Matte-Gagné

Social factors in the development of early executive functioning: a closer look at the caregiving environment

This study investigated prospective links between quality of the early caregiving environment and childrens subsequent executive functioning (EF). Sixty-two families were met on five occasions, allowing for assessment of maternal interactive behavior, paternal interactive behavior, and child attachment security between 1 and 2 years of age, and child EF at 2 and 3 years. The results suggested that composite scores of parental behavior and child attachment were related to child performance on EF tasks entailing strong working memory and cognitive flexibility components (conflict-EF). In particular, child attachment security was related to conflict-EF performance at 3 years above and beyond what was explained by a combination of all other social antecedents of child EF identified thus far: child verbal ability and prior EF, family SES, and parenting behavior. Attachment security may thus play a meaningful role in young childrens development of executive control.

Prospective relations between maternal autonomy support and child executive functioning: Investigating the mediating role of child language ability

Although emerging evidence suggests that parental behavior is related to the development of child executive functioning (EF), the mechanisms through which parenting affects child EF have yet to be investigated. The goal of this study was to examine the potential mediating role of child language in the prospective relation between maternal autonomy support and child EF. A total of 53 mother-infant dyads took part in three home visits at 15months, 2years, and 3years, allowing for the assessment of maternal autonomy support (T1), child expressive vocabulary (T2), and child EF (T3). The results suggested that child language played a mediating role in the relation between maternal autonomy support and child performance on EF tasks entailing a strong impulse control component above and beyond child previous EF and family socioeconomic status (SES). In contrast, no such mediating role of language was found with EF tasks tapping mostly into working memory and set shifting. Thus, this study highlights one pathway through which parenting can affect child executive control.

Taking stock of two decades of attachment transmission gap: broadening the assessment of maternal behavior.

This report aimed to investigate the capacity of maternal behaviors tailored to childrens attachment and exploration systems to jointly explain the well-known mother-child transmission of attachment. Four home visits were conducted between ages 7 months and 2 years with 130 mother-child dyads to assess maternal attachment state of mind, sensitivity, autonomy support, and mother-child attachment security. Results showed that together, maternal sensitivity and autonomy support fully accounted for the relation between maternal and child attachment, that they each accounted for a unique portion of this relation, and that the magnitude of these mediated pathways was equivalent. These results suggest that the attachment transmission gap can be narrowed by the use of a theory-driven multidimensional approach to maternal behavior.

Contextual Specificity in the Relationship between Maternal Autonomy Support and Children’s Socio-emotional Development: A Longitudinal Study from Preschool to Preadolescence

The benefits of an autonomy supportive environment have been established as a key component in children’s development at various ages. Nonetheless, research examining the outcomes of early autonomy supportive environments has largely neglected socio-emotional development. The first objective of the present longitudinal study was to examine the socio-emotional outcomes associated with maternal autonomy support during the preschool period. Second, we explored the contextual specificity of the relationships between maternal autonomy support and children’s later socio-emotional outcomes. Finally, we investigated the indirect effect of maternal autonomy support on children’s later socio-emotional outcomes through earlier children’s socio-emotional outcomes. Sixty-six mothers and their pre-school aged children (41 girls) were followed during preschool (Time 1), elementary school (Time 2) and preadolescence (Time 3). Maternal autonomy support (Time 1) was measured in two contexts (free-play and interference task) using observational coding. Furthermore, the children’s internalizing and externalizing problems as well as their social competence were measured at Times 2 and 3. The results revealed the importance of maternal autonomy support during preschool for children’s later socio-emotional development, especially during challenging contexts, and the mediating role of children’s socio-emotional outcomes during elementary school in the link between maternal autonomy support during the preschool years and children’s later socio-emotional outcomes during preadolescence. The results highlight the contextual specificity of the relationship between maternal autonomy support and children’s later socio-emotional development and reveal one of the mechanisms through which the effect of early childhood parental autonomy support on children’s later socio-emotional development is carried forward over time.

More bridges: Investigating the relevance of self-report and interview measures of adult attachment for marital and caregiving relationships

The aim of this report was to investigate the associations between attachment state of mind, romantic attachment style, and indices of maternal functioning in two relational spheres: the mother—child relationship (i.e., maternal sensitivity and child attachment security) and the marital relationship (i.e., mothers’ and their partners’ marital satisfaction). The results, based on 59 families, indicated that attachment state of mind was associated with maternal sensitivity and with child attachment security, although not to mothers’ or their partners’ subjective feelings of marital satisfaction. In contrast, romantic attachment styles were related to both mothers’ and their partners’ marital satisfaction, although not to maternal sensitivity or child attachment. These findings add to the growing literature highlighting the unique value of each tradition of assessment in adult attachment research, by suggesting that variation in attachment security tapped by each measure may bear particular relevance for specific relationships.

A prospective study of the impact of child maltreatment and friend support on psychological distress trajectory: From adolescence to emerging adulthood

BACKGROUND Transition into adulthood is a critical developmental period that may be influenced by adverse life events as well as by protective factors. This study aimed at investigating the effect of different forms of child maltreatment experienced prior to age 14 (i.e., sexual abuse, physical abuse and exposure to intimate partner violence), and of friend support at age 14 on the psychological distress trajectory from age 14 to 24. METHODS Participants were 605 adolescents from the general population involved in a 10-year longitudinal study. Psychological distress was evaluated at ages 14, 16, 18 and 24. Child maltreatment prior to 14 years was retrospectively assessed at 14 and 24 years while perception of support from friends was evaluated at age 14. RESULTS Multilevel growth modeling indicated that psychological distress followed a significant decreasing curvilinear trajectory, with participants reporting fewer distressing psychological symptoms after 18 years. All three forms of child maltreatment, as well as their cumulative effect, predicted more psychological distress over 10 years above and beyond the protective effect of support from friends. Higher support from friends at age 14 was related to lower distress at baseline andover 10 years, beyond the effect of child maltreatment. LIMITATIONS Self-report nature of all measures, attrition, and measures of child maltreatment forms. CONCLUSIONS Psychological distress decreased during the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Results also revealed the detrimental impact of child maltreatment and the promotive role of friend support, which underscore the importance of early intervention.

Examining the Interface of Children’s Sleep, Executive Functioning, and Caregiving Relationships: A Plea Against Silos in the Study of Biology, Cognition, and Relationships

Research in developmental psychology is increasingly showing that children’s biology, cognition, and social relationships, which have often been studied separately, are in fact closely tied and influence each other in complex ways. This article summarizes work by our team and others on the connections among young children’s sleep, their executive functioning, and the quality of their caregiving relationships. Overall, children exposed to higher-quality parenting perform better on executive tasks and get sleep of higher quality or duration. In turn, sleep relates to subsequent executive performance, while also modulating the links between parenting and child outcomes. We propose directions for future research to address causal relations and to better pinpoint the direction and magnitude of the associations between these areas of child development.

Ready! Set? Let's Train!: Feasibility of an intensive attention training program and its beneficial effect after childhood traumatic brain injury

BACKGROUND Attention deficits are common after pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI); they complicate return to activities of daily living and disrupt socioacademic reintegration. Yet, clinicians in rehabilitation settings have limited access to cognitive remediation protocols for which feasibility has been demonstrated. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of intensive attention process training program Ready! Set? Lets Train! (RST), based on an adaptation of the Attention Process Training-I program. MATERIALS AND METHODS In a randomized controlled trial, participants with attention deficits were assigned to receive the attention process training intervention (RST) or Homework Assistance (HWA). Pre- and post-intervention assessments consisted of standardized attentional and executive tests and a behavior checklist. RESULTS Analyses conducted for 17 participants (RST, n=8; HWA, n=9; mean age 14.70±2.17 years, 11 males) indicated the study was successful in that it showed improvements in working memory (F(14)=5.44, P=0.04; η2=0.19), inhibition (F(14)=10.18, P=0.007; η2=0.75) and cognitive flexibility (F(14)=5.36, P=0.04; η2=0.57). CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate positive support for combined process-specific and metacognitive strategy training for attention and executive functions.

Les enfants avec retard sont plus exposés à la maltraitance et relèvent davantage des services de la protection de la jeunesse

Les enfants ayant un retard sont plus a risques d’etre victimes de maltraitance et d’etre impliques dans les mandats de la protection de la jeunesse en comparaison avec les autres enfants. Dans ce contexte, la presente etude vise a distinguer les enfants qui presentent un retard de ceux n’en presentant pas sur le plan des caracteristiques individuelles, familiales et liees aux services. Ces deux groupes sont compares a deux etapes decisionnelles du processus d’evaluation et d’orientation d’un signalement a la protection de la jeunesse, soit lorsque le signalement est retenu, et lorsque la securite et le developpement de l’enfant sont compromis. L’etude a ete realisee aupres d’un echantillon representatif de 4 474 enfants dont le signalement a ete retenu a la protection de la jeunesse, et d’un echantillon representatif de 2 278 enfants dont la securite et le developpement ont ete juges compromis. Les analyses de regressions logistiques revelent que plusieurs caracteristiques individuelles, familiales et liees aux services distinguent les deux groupes d’enfants (avec un retard et sans retard) dans les deux echantillons, notamment la presence de negligence, le jeune âge de l’enfant, des parents vivant de l’aide sociale ou qui ne cooperent pas avec les intervenants de la protection de la jeunesse. Chez les enfants en retard, les intervenants considerent plus souvent que les faits fondes impliquent que le developpement et la securite sont compromis. La prise en charge est plus souvent judiciarisee ou volontaire et les intervenants identifient davantage de besoins de services. La discussion porte sur les facteurs pouvant expliquer ces differences.

Empathie, comportements pro-sociaux et troubles du comportement

Resume Les Troubles du comportement (TC) etant de plus en plus presents dans le milieu scolaire, il est primordial de s’attacher aux facteurs qui sont lies a l’apparition ou a la chronicisation de ces troubles. Parmi ces facteurs, cette recherche vise a explorer le role de l’empathie et des comportements pro-sociaux en lien avec les TC. Pour ce faire, cinquante et un garcons âges de 7 a 12 ans et leurs parents ont participe a l’etude. Les enfants ont rempli un questionnaire concernant leur capacite d’empathie. Pour leur part, les parents ont repondu a des questionnaires mesurant les TC, la capacite d’empathie et les comportements pro-sociaux chez leurs enfants. Les resultats suggerent que l’empathie est un facteur lie au bon developpement psychosocial de l’enfant. Ils mettent egalement en relief le role que peuvent jouer les comportements pro-sociaux de l’enfant pour realiser une mediation entre la capacite d’empathie et les TC.