Kathryn E. Barnard

Home environment and cognitive development in the first 3 years of life: A collaborative study involving six sites and three ethnic groups in North America.

Attempted to examine the generalizability of environment/development relationships among 3 ethnic groups across the first 3 years of life. Social status did not show a consistent relationship to either quality of home environment or childrens developmental status across the various groups. Results indicated a fairly consistent relationship between HOME scores and childrens developmental status, although there were some ethnic and social status differences in the relationship. Measures of specific aspects of the childs home environment, such as parental responsivity and availability of stimulating play materials, were more strongly related to child developmental status than global measures of environmental quality such as SES. When the childs early developmental status and early home environment were both very low, the likelihood of poor developmental outcomes was markedly increased compared with cases when only one was low.

Prediction of IQ and language skill from perinatal status, child performance, family characteristics, and mother–infant interaction.

193 basically healthy working-class and middle-class mothers and their infants participated in a 4-year longitudinal study which focused on the relative potency of several clusters of variables for predictions of intellectual and language outcome during the preschool years. The major results were: (1) Measures of perinatal or infant physical status were extremely weak predictors of 4-year IQ or language. (2) Assessments of child performance were poor predictors prior to 24 months, but excellent predictors from 24 months on. (3) Assessments of mother-infant interaction and general environmental quality were among the best predictors at each age tested, and were as good as measures of child performance at 24 and 36 months in predicting IQ and language. (4) Measures of the family ecology (level of stress, social support, maternal education) and parent perception of the child, especially when assessed at birth, were strongly related to child IQ and language within a low-education subsample, but not among mothers with more than high school education. Patterns of prediction were similar for 48-month IQ and 36-month receptive language; predictions were notably weaker for 36-month expressive language.

Prevention of Parenting Alterations for Women with Low Social Support

Parenting is a demanding role. Traditionally societies provide mechanisms for supporting major caregivers. For most parents the partner relationship is a source of refueling energy. In addition, often the extended family members provide support for the parent(s). In a prior research study dealing with early intervention where the family demonstrated double vulnerability, defined by pregnancy complications and social problems, we found the mothers most resistant to help were women who both had a lot of situational problems and few if any friends or family supporting them (Barnard et al. 1985). This finding prompted us to think about parents who did not have the supportive mechanisms cultures generally provide.

Dysregulation of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis in Postpartum Depression:

Postpartum depression (PPD) affects at least 10% to 15% of postpartum women, including more than 600,000 American mothers in 2003 alone. Dramatic changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system in the transition from pregnancy to postpartum coupled with research on the psychobiology of depression provided the foundation for this study. The purpose of this study was to compare the reactivity and regulation of the HPA axis components, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol, in depressed and nondepressed postpartum women. A comparative, longitudinal study design was used with 22 normal, healthy, nondepressed pregnant women. Physiologic and postpartum depression data were collected at 6 and 12 weeks postpartum at a university clinical research center. Maximal treadmill exercise stimulated plasma ACTH and serum cortisol levels which were measured before, during, and after 20 min of exercise. Postpartum depression was measured with the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale. Lag within-subject ACTH levels predicting cortisol regression slopes were significantly different between the depressed and nondepressed groups at both 6 and 12 weeks. The depressed group showed no relationship between their ACTH and cortisol levels, with higher ACTH and lower cortisol levels when compared with the nondepressed group. The expected regulated relationship with cortisol levels rising in response to rising ACTH levels was found in the non-depressed group. These findings indicate that the HPA axis was dysregulated in the depressed group, but regulated in the nondepressed group at 6 and 12 weeks postpartum. This pattern of higher ACTH levels to stimulate less cortisol is similar to patterns found in women with early life stresses.

Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention: Assessment of Parent–Child Interaction: Implications for Early Intervention

Traditionally, those working with children who have special needs and their parents have focused on helping the child master cognitive, language, and motor goals in which functionally based curricula are used. This approach has centered on the child because of parental concerns about the childs ability to accomplish developmental milestones and because of the emphases of professional training programs on remediating the childs skill deficits. Evaluations of intervention programs demonstrate, however, that focusing on family interactions, as well as on childrens skills, may have a greater effect on child development than focusing solely on the child (e.g., Brofenbrenner, 1975; Shonkoff, Hauser-Cram, Krauss, & Upshur, 1992). As a result, the importance of encouraging reciprocal and motivating parent–child interaction is now increasingly recognized (e.g., Bernstein, Hans, & Percansky, 1991; Glovinsky, 1993; Greenspan, 1988; Kelly & Barnard, 1990; McCollum & Hemmeter, 1997; McLean & McCormick, 1993; Thorp & McCollom, 1994). Previous research has shown that the quality of the early parent–child relationship has important consequences for a childs development (e.g., Bakeman & Brown, 1980; Beckwith & Rodning, 1996; Bee et al. 1982; Belsky, Goode, & Most, 1980; Brazelton, 1988; Coates & Lewis, 1984; Farran & Ramey, 1980; Hann, Osofsky, & Culp, 1996; Kelly, Morisset, Barnard, Hammond, & Booth, 1996; Papousek & Bornstein, 1992; Redding, Harmon, & Morgan, 1990; Tamis-LeMonda & Bornstein, 1989, Wachs & Gruen, 1982).

Toddlers' Language Development: Sex Differences within Social Risk.

Sex differences in the association between environmental risk and language development were examined in a longitudinal study of 54 high-social-risk families. Measures of the environment included information about family stress and coping, opportunities for cognitive and linguistic stimulation, the nature of learning experiences, and the affective quality of the infant-mother relationship. Despite apparently similar family conditions and early experiences, there were significant sex differences favoring girls on observational measures of spontaneous language production at 20 and 30 months of age. For the group as a whole, sex differences on standardized tests at 24 and 36 months of age were nonsignificant. In addition, relations between aspects of the learning environment and childrens language performance differed for boys and girls, supporting a moderator interpretation of the findings.

Parenting of low birth weight infants: a review of issues and interventions

Factors that may adversely affect parenting of low birth weight infants, including infant characteristics, parental emotional responses to premature birth, and patterns of parent-infant interaction, are reviewed. In addition, intervention studies designed to improve infant developmental outcomes through influencing parenting behaviors are examined. There was great diversity in theoretical frameworks, in timing of onset and frequency of interventions, and in measurement of outcomes. The interventions that were most effective in influencing behaviors and infant developmental outcomes were those in which there were multiple long-term contacts with parents and/or those that actively involved them in the intervention. The specific theoretical framework upon which the interventions were based appeared to be of less importance in influencing results. In order to increase our knowledge and ability to provide costeffective programs, there is a need to focus attention and data collection efforts on the process and intermediary steps of intervention as well as on outcome measures. There is also a need to improve our ability to recruit and retain those families who are most at risk for parenting and infant developmental problems including those with very low birth weight infants, those whose infants have serious perinatal complications, and those with indications of high social risk such as poverty-level incomes and problems of substance abuse.

The influence of early mother—child interaction on preschool cognitive/linguistic outcomes in a high-social-risk group

In this paper, elements of early mother—child interaction are related to later cognitive and linguistic outcomes in a sample of 53 high social risk mothers and their preschoolers. Mother—child interaction was observed longitudinally when the children were 13 and 20 months old. Multiple regression analyses were used to predict cognitive and linguistic outcomes at 3 and 5 years from measures of early mother—child interaction. The results indicated that the quality of early mother—child interaction was a significant predictor of preschool cognitive and linguistic outcomes. This was shown to be true regardless of the contribution of the mothers IQ.

Joint influence of child care and infant attachment security for cognitive and language outcomes of low-income toddlers

Abstract Examined two hypotheses on the joint effects of 19-month attachment security and child care experience in the second year of life on six cognitive and language measures at 24, 30, and 36 months in a sample of low-income toddlers. Both hypotheses were tested with planned single degree of freedom simple main effect contrasts. The compensatory hypothesis, that center care mitigates the adverse effects of insecure attachment on cognitive and language development of low-income children by providing children with a more stimulating environment than would have been experienced at home with mothers, was supported. However, there was little support for the lost resources hypothesis, that any type of out-of-home care would negatively impact secure children’s language and cognitive development because of the time spent away from a secure mother–child relationship.

Factors Affecting Toddler Cognitive Development in Low-Income Families: Implications for Practitioners

This article reviews the literature on factors affecting toddler cognitive development in low-income families. It discusses a model in which maternal factors, such as knowledge of child development, stress, and depression, influence the quality of mother–child interaction, which in turn influences the childs cognitive development. The results of a recent study of 84 low-income mothers and their toddlers are then summarized. This study both supported and contradicted the suggested model. As expected, observed maternal supportiveness of the child during mother–child interaction directly influenced child cognitive competence. Maternal knowledge of child development and maternal stress affected child cognitive competence indirectly, by influencing maternal supportiveness. Contrary to expectations, maternal depressive symptoms were not associated with maternal supportiveness or child cognitive development. The findings suggest that intervention programs with low-income families that improve maternal knowledge, reduce maternal stress, and promote maternal supportiveness of the infant during mother–child interaction, may improve child cognitive development. The lack of associations with maternal depression suggests that care providers may need to consider whether other attitudes and expectations of the mothers, perhaps learned in childhood, may influence both their reports of depressive symptoms specifically, and the quality of their parenting, more generally.