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Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Parenting behavior is associated with the early neurobehavioral development of very preterm children
Karli Treyvaud1, Vicki A Anderson, Kelly Howard
1Critical Care and Neurosciences, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Victoria, Australia. ktreyvaud@parentingrc.org.au
Insights
Parent-child synchrony and positive parenting behaviors significantly impact neurobehavioral development in very preterm infants. These findings support parent-based interventions to improve early development outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neonatal Medicine
- Pediatric Neurodevelopment
Background:
- Vulnerable infants, including those born very preterm, benefit from supportive social and environmental factors.
- Early development in very preterm children is influenced by a complex interplay of biological and environmental factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between parenting behaviors, parent-child synchrony, and neurobehavioral outcomes in very preterm children at 24 months corrected age.
- To identify specific parenting dimensions that predict cognitive, motor, and socioemotional development in this population.
Main Methods:
- 152 very preterm infants (<30 weeks gestation or <1250g) and their parents participated.
- Parent-child interaction tasks assessed synchrony and parenting behaviors (positive/negative affect, sensitivity, facilitation, intrusiveness).
- Neurobehavioral development evaluated using Bayley Scales of Infant Development II and Infant Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment.
Main Results:
- Parent-child synchrony was the strongest predictor of cognitive development, surpassing other parenting domains.
- Positive, warm, and sensitive parenting correlated with enhanced social-emotional competence.
- Higher parental negative affect unexpectedly linked to optimal psychomotor development, but also to child withdrawal and anxiety.
Conclusions:
- Parenting behaviors, especially synchrony, are significantly associated with neurobehavioral development in very preterm children.
- Findings highlight the potential for parent-based interventions to foster positive developmental trajectories.
- Targeted interventions can support diverse developmental domains in the first two years for very preterm infants.
Objective:
There is an increasing focus on social and environmental factors that promote and support the early development of highly vulnerable children such as those born very preterm. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between parenting behavior, parent-child synchrony, and neurobehavioral development in very preterm children at 24 months of age.
Methods:
Participants were 152 very preterm children (<30 weeks' gestation or <1250 g birth weight) and their parents/guardians. At 2 years' corrected age, parents/guardians and children completed a semistructured parent-child interaction task assessing dyad synchrony and parenting behavior (positive affect, negative affect, sensitivity, facilitation, and intrusiveness). Cognitive and motor development was assessed by using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II, and the Infant Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment was used to assess socioemotional development (social-emotional competence and internalizing and externalizing behavior).
Results:
fter controlling for social risk, most parenting domains were associated with cognitive development, with parent-child synchrony emerging as the most predictive. Greater parent-child synchrony was also associated with greater social-emotional competence, as was parenting that was positive, warm, and sensitive. Parents who displayed higher levels of negative affect were more likely to rate their children as withdrawn, anxious, and inhibited, but, unexpectedly, higher negative affect was also associated with more optimal psychomotor development. Parenting was not associated with externalizing behaviors at this age.
Conclusions:
Specific parenting behaviors, particularly parent-child synchrony, were associated with neurobehavioral development. These findings have implications for the development of targeted parent-based interventions to promote positive outcomes across different developmental domains during the first 2 years of life for very preterm children.
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