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Longitudinal Associations Between the Quality of Mother–Infant Interactions and Brain Development Across Infancy
Author(s) -
Bernier Annie,
Calkins Susan D.,
Bell Martha Ann
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12518
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , normative , longitudinal study , electroencephalography , child development , infant development , brain development , typically developing , medicine , psychiatry , philosophy , epistemology , pathology , neuroscience , autism
The aim of this study was to investigate if normative variations in parenting relate to brain development among typically developing children. A sample of 352 mother–infant dyads came to the laboratory when infants were 5, 10, and 24 months of age (final N = 215). At each visit, child resting electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. Mother–infant interactions were videotaped at the 5‐month visit. The results indicated that higher quality maternal behavior during mother–infant interactions predicted higher frontal resting EEG power at 10 and 24 months, as well as increases in power between 5 and 10 months, and between 10 and 24 months. These findings provide rare support for the hypothesis that normative variation in parenting quality may contribute to brain development among typically developing infants.