abstract: Clinically meaningful emotional and behavioral problems are thought to be present beginning in infancy, and may be reliably assessed in children as young as 12 months old. However, few studies have investigated early correlates of emotional and behavioral problems assessed in infancy. The current study investigates the direct and interactive contributions of early infant and caregiver characteristics thought to play an important role in the ontogeny of behavior problems. Specifically, the study examines: (1) the links between temperamental reactivity across the first year of life and behavior problems at 18 months, (2) whether children high in temperamental reactivity are differentially susceptible to variations in maternal sensitivity, (3) the extent to which child temperamental risk or susceptibility may further be explained by mothers’ experiences of stressful life events (SLEs) during and before pregnancy. Data were collected from 322 Mexican American families during prenatal, 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-week home interviews, as well as during 12- and 18-month lab interviews. Mother reports of SLEs were obtained between 23-40 weeks gestation; temperamental negativity and surgency at 6 weeks and 12 months; and internalizing and externalizing behaviors at 18 months. Maternal sensitivity during structured mother-infant interaction tasks at the 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-week visits was assessed by objective observer ratings. Study findings indicated that maternal SLEs before birth were associated with more infant negativity across the first year of life, and that negativity in turn was associated with more internalizing problems at 18 months. Ecological stressors thought to be associated with sociodemographic risk factors such as low-income and ethnic minority status may begin to exert cascades of influence on children’s developmental outcomes even before birth. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Psychology 2016

Background: Developing a well-adept social competence in preschool years is considered important and seems to play a pivotal role in later social functioning like school readiness and academic competence. Due to the individual development in children, establishing potential early markers of early social problems has been difficult. Although parent, peer, and contextual factors may be important to children’s development of social competence, the present study addressed the range of individual differences in children that may facilitate or impede social skills development. Method: The paper is based on data from the comprehensive longitudinal Trondheim Early Secure Study (TESS) of a screen-stratified community sample of 2475 children who were assessed at 4 year of age (T1) and followed up at the age of 6 (T2) (n=797). General linear modeling weighting data back to yield true population estimates of the predictive value of Social Competence, Gender, Negative Affectivity, Surgency, Effortful Control, Inattention, Hyperactivity, Impulsivity, Peer Problems, Disorganized Attachment and Callous-Unemotional traits assessed at T1 in predicting Social Competence at T2, when adjusting for Social Competence at T1. Results: Analysis indicates that Social Competence, Surgency, Inattention, Peer Problems high levels of Callous-Unemotional traits and Disorganization were unique predictors of Social Competence when adjusting for all variables. Negative Affectivity failed to predict Social Competence. Conclusions: Beyond a sizable continuity in social competence a range of child characteristics may enhance social skills development in young children . The identification of such child factors, when controlling for other potential factors, may inform health promotion efforts towards increasing young children’s social competence.

Selon la théorie de l’auto-détermination, l’autonomie est un besoin universel de base qui, lorsque soutenu, permet aux individus de mieux fonctionner et de vivre plus de bien-être psychologique (p. ex., Deci & Ryan, 2008). Le style parental des parents qui soutiennent l’autonomie de leur enfant est caractérisé par le soutien du fonctionnement autodéterminé de ce dernier. Sa définition traditionnelle inclut des pratiques telles qu’offrir des explications et des choix lors des requêtes, communiquer de l’empathie, et encourager les prises d’initiatives tout en minimisant l’utilisation d’un langage contrôlant (p. ex., Soenens et al., 2007). Les bénéfices d’un style parental qui soutient l’autonomie d’un enfant ont été bien documentés (p. ex., Grolnick, Deci, & Ryan, 1997), toutefois, peu d’études ont été effectuées auprès des bambins. Or, cette thèse visait à enrichir la littérature sur le « parentage » en explorant les pratiques soutenantes qui sont utilisées par des parents de bambins dans un contexte de socialisation (étude 1), ainsi qu’en examinant les facteurs qui peuvent brimer leur mise en pratique (étude 2). La première étude a examiné un grand nombre de pratiques de socialisation que les parents qui favorisent davantage le soutien à l’autonomie (SA) pourraient utiliser plus fréquemment lorsqu’ils font des demandes à leurs bambins. Cette étude nous a permis d’explorer comment les parents manifestent leur SA et si le SA dans ce type de contexte est associé à un plus grand niveau d’internalisation des règles. Des parents (N = 182) de bambins (M âge = 27.08 mois) ont donc été invités à rapporter la fréquence avec laquelle ils utilisent 26 pratiques potentiellement soutenantes lorsqu’ils demandent à leurs bambins de compléter des tâches importantes mais non intéressantes et de rapporter à quel point ils valorisent le SA. Huit pratiques ont été identifiées comme étant soutenantes: quatre façons de communiquer de l’empathie, donner des explications courtes, expliquer pourquoi la tâche est importante, décrire le problème de façon informative et neutre, et mettre en pratique le comportement désiré soi-même. De plus, l’ensemble des huit pratiques corrélait positivement avec le niveau d’internalisation des bambins, suggérant aussi que celles-ci représentent bien le concept du SA. Des études futures pourraient tenter de répliquer ces résultats dans des contextes potentiellement plus chargés ou ébranlants (p. ex., réagir face à des méfaits, avec des enfants souffrant de retard de développement). La deuxième étude a poursuivi l’exploration du concept du SA parental en examinant les facteurs qui influencent la fréquence d’utilisation des stratégies soutenantes dans des contextes de socialisation. Puisque la littérature suggère que le stress parental et le tempérament difficile des bambins (c.-à-d., plus haut niveau d’affectivité négative, plus faible niveau de contrôle volontaire/autorégulation, plus faible niveau de surgency) comme étant des facteurs de risque potentiels, nous avons exploré de quelle façon ces variables étaient associées à la fréquence d’utilisation des stratégies soutenantes. Les buts de l’étude étaient: (1) d’examiner comment le tempérament des bambins et le stress parental influençaient le SA parental, et (2) de vérifier si le stress parental médiait la relation possible entre le tempérament des bambins et le SA parental. Le même échantillon de parents a été utilisé. Les parents ont été invités à répondre à des questions portant sur le tempérament de leur enfant ainsi que sur leur niveau de stress. Les résultats ont démontré qu’un plus grand niveau d’affectivité négative était associé à un plus grand niveau de stress parental, qui à son tour prédisait moins de SA parental. De plus, le stress parental médiait la relation positive entre l’autorégulation du bambin et le SA parental. Des recherches futures pourraient évaluer des interventions ayant pour but d’aider les parents à préserver leur attitude soutenante durant des contextes de socialisation plus difficiles malgré certaines caractéristiques tempéramentales exigeantes des bambins, en plus du stress qu’ils pourraient vivre au quotidien. / According to self-determination theory, psychological autonomy is a basic, universal need that, when supported, enables individuals to function more positively and experience greater psychological well-being (e.g., Deci & Ryan, 2008). Parenting that supports the autonomy of a child is classically defined as the parental support for their self-determined functioning and includes practices such as providing rationales and choices for requests, communicating empathy, and encouraging initiatives while using non-controlling language (e.g., Soenens et al., 2007). The benefits of autonomy-supportive parenting have been well-documented (e.g., Grolnick, Deci, & Ryan, 1997) however, few studies to date have been conducted with toddlers. The present thesis thus sought to enrich the parenting literature by exploring what autonomy-supportive parenting practices are used by parents of toddlers in a socialization context (Study 1) and by examining the factors that may hinder their use (Study 2). The first study examined a wide range of socialization practices that parents who favoured AS to a greater extent may use more frequently when making requests to their toddlers. The study allowed us to explore how parents manifest AS towards their toddlers and whether AS in this context is associated with greater rule internalization. Parents (N = 182) of toddlers (M age = 27.08 months) were thus asked to report the frequency at which they used 26 potentially autonomy-supportive practices when asking their toddlers to complete important yet uninteresting activities and the extent to which they valued AS. Eight practices were identified as being autonomy-supportive: four forms of communicating empathy, providing short rationales, explaining why the task is important, giving an informational and neutral description of the problem, and modeling the desired behaviour. The set of eight practices was positively associated with toddlers’ level of internalization, further suggesting that they embodied the concept of AS. Future studies may seek to replicate these findings in more potentially volatile or distressing contexts (e.g., reacting to misdeeds, with children with developmental delays). The second study extended the results further by examining what factors influenced the use of parental AS in socialization contexts. Since the literature points to parental stress and toddler difficult temperament (i.e., higher levels of negative affectivity, lower levels of effortful control, and lower levels of surgency) as possible risk factors, we explored how they related to the frequency of use of autonomy-supportive practices. The goals of the study were: (1) to examine how toddlers’ temperament and parental stress influenced parental AS, and (2) to verify if parental stress played a mediating role in the putative relationship between toddlers’ temperament and parental AS. Using the same sample, parents were asked to answer questions regarding their toddler’s temperament and their own stress levels. The results showed that greater child negative affectivity was associated with greater parental stress, which in turn predicted lower parental AS. Moreover, parental stress partially mediated the positive relationship between child effortful control and parental AS. Future research could investigate possible interventions that aim to help parents preserve their autonomy-supportive stance during challenging socialization contexts, in the face of exacting child temperamental characteristics, and in addition to the stress brought on by daily life.

Объектом данного исследования является когнитивное, моторное и речевое развитие детей. Предметом: взаимосвязь темперамента и когнитивного развития детей младенческого и раннего возраста. Магистерская диссертация состоит из введения, трех глав, заключения, списка литературы (71 источник) и приложения, включающего в себя бланки применявшихся методик. Объем магистерской диссертации 129 страниц, на которых размещены 3 рисунка и 4 таблицы. Во введении раскрывается актуальность проблемы исследования, ставятся цель и задачи исследования, определяются объект и предмет исследования, формулируются основная гипотеза. Первая глава включает в себя обзор иностранной и отечественной литературы по теме исследования, описание понятия темперамента в историческом контексте, рассмотрены современные представления о темпераменте отечественной и западной школ Рассмотрены основные методы изучения темперамента. Более детальное рассмотрена концепция психобиологического подхода к развитию темперамента Мэри Ротбарт, а также результаты исследований, посвященных данной концепции. Во второй главе были рассмотрены особенности психического развития детей, был сделан обзор периодизаций развития детей до 3 лет. А также были рассмотрены особенности когнитивного, сенсомоторного и речевого развития в младенческом и раннем возрасте. Третья глава посвящена эмпирической части. В ней рассмотрены методики, использованные в данном исследовании: опросник поведения младенцев, а также «Шкалы развития Бэйли». Здесь представлен корреляционный анализ результатов исследования. А также обсуждение этих результатов. В заключении изложены выводы эмпирической части исследования. А также выводы по выдвинутой гипотезе, обоснована практическая значимость работы и описаны возможные перспективы дальнейшей разработки данной проблематики. / The object of this study is the cognitive, motor and speech development of children. Subject: the relationship of temperament and cognitive development of infants and young children. The master's thesis consists of an introduction, three chapters, conclusion, list of references (71 sources) and an Appendix, including the forms of the applied techniques. The volume of the master's thesis is 129 pages, which contains 3 figures and 4 tables. The introduction reveals the relevance of the research problem, sets the purpose and objectives of the study, determines the object and subject of the study, and formulates the main hypothesis. The first Chapter includes a review of foreign and domestic literature on the topic of research, the description of the concept of temperament in a historical context, modern ideas about the temperament of domestic and Western schools, the main methods of studying temperament. The concept of a psychobiological approach to the development of Mary Rothbart's temperament is considered in more detail, as well as the results of studies devoted to this concept. In the second Chapter, the features of mental development of children were considered, a review of periodization of development of children up to 3 years. The features of cognitive, sensorimotor and speech development in infancy and early age were also considered. The third Chapter is devoted to the empirical part. It describes the methods used in this study: a of infant behavior questionnaire (IBQ-R), and Веyley Scales of Infant Development. Here is a correlation analysis of the results of this research. As well as discussion of these results. In conclusion, the result of the empirical part of the research are presented. As well as conclusions on the proposed hypothesis, the practical significance of the work is justified and possible prospects for further development of this problem are described.

L’attachement parent-enfant et le tempérament sont deux concepts fondamentaux dans le développement de l’enfant, car ils sont impliqués dans le développement de ses capacités de socialisation et de régulation émotionnelle. Cependant, le lien entre l’attachement et le tempérament est encore mal compris. La présente recherche évalue s’il y a un lien entre les catégorie d’attachement (A, B, C, D) ainsi que les sous-catégories d’attachement mère-enfant (A, B1, B2, B3, B4, C et D) et père-enfant (A1, A2, B1, B2, B3, B4, C1 et D) et le tempérament (affect négatif, extraversion et autocontrôle) chez les trottineurs (12-30 mois). Les données proviennent du premier temps de mesure du projet de recherche Complémentarité des relations d’attachement père-enfant et mère-enfant : une approche systémique de la famille pour mieux comprendre le développement des enfants d’âge préscolaire (CRA). L’échantillon comprend des familles composées de la mère (n=174), du père (n=173) et de leur enfant. L’attachement mère-enfant et père-enfant a été mesuré à un mois d’intervalle à l’aide de la Situation étrangère de Ainsworth à 12-18 mois. Le tempérament a été mesuré par le questionnaire de Rothbart «Early Child Beavior Questionnaire - Short Form» rempli par la mère et le père à 24-30 mois. Aucun des tests de différence de moyenne ne sont significatifs. Cela indique que les enfants des différentes catégories et sous-catégories d’attachement mère-enfant et père-enfant ne diffèrent pas quant à leur niveau d’affect négatif, l’extraversion et d’autocontrôle. / Parent-child attachment and temperament are two fundamental concepts in child development, because they are involved in the development of both socialization and emotional regulation capacity. However, the connection between those two concepts is still misunderstood. The foregoing research assesses whether there is a connection between mother-child and fatherchild attachment (A, B, C, D), mother-child sub-categories (A, B1, B2, B3, B4, C and D) and father-child sub-categories (A1, A2, B1, B2, B3, B4, C and D) with the temperament (negative affect, surgency and effortful control) of 12-18 month-old toddlers. Data come from the first measurement time in the Complémentarité des relations d’attachement père-enfant et mèreenfant : une approche systémique de la famille pour mieux comprendre le développement des enfants d’âge préscolaire (CRA) research project. The sample is made of families with the mother (n=174) the father (n=173) and their child. The attachment was measured with the Ainsworth Strange Situation at 12-18 month and the temperament was measured by the mothers’ and the fathers’ answers to the Rothbart questionnaire « Early Child Behavior Questionnaire - Short Form » when the child was 24-30 month old. The two MANCOVAS models are not significant. Results indicate that there is no difference between children of either attachment category and sub-category as to toddlers’ negative affect, surgency and effortful control.