Growth in parent-child relationship during early childhood in predicting school-age functioning in a racially diverse sample

The importance of the parent-child relationship during early childhood (i.e., 0-5 years) on children’s socioemotional functioning has been extensively documented in the literature. However, limited work has examined the degree to which affective features of the parent-child relationship change over the course of early childhood and whether growth in these features relate to children’s early school-age functioning. The present study aimed to address this limitation by examining trajectories of maternal positive regard, maternal negative regard, and dyadic affective mutuality in very early childhood and whether these trajectories were associated with child socioemotional functioning at age six. The initial sample was comprised of 403 low-income, infant-mother dyads recruited for an efficacy trial of a tiered parenting program designed to promote school readiness. Positive regard, negative regard, and affective mutuality were assessed via coding of observational interaction tasks between mothers and their children at 6, 18, 24, and, in one case, 48 months. Mothers reported on children’s problem behavior, inhibitory control, and positive social behavior at 75 months (i.e., age 6). Results from latent growth curve analysis revealed that maternal positive regard quadratically changed from 6-48 months, maternal negative regard linearly decreased from 6-24 months, and dyads’ affective mutuality linearly increased from 6-24 months. Positive regard and affective mutuality at 6 months did not relate to child outcomes at 75 months. However, linear growth in affective mutuality from 6 to 24 months positively related to 75-month child inhibitory control. Maternal race and ethnicity did not moderate any of the relationships explored in the present study. Pending replication, these findings could emphasize the importance of conducting work that centers the dyad as the unit of study and explores how early changes in the parent-child relationship may be important indicators of children’s future self-regulation.