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Early life experiences: Meaningful differences within and between families
Sophie von Stumm1, Rachel M Latham2
1Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, WC2A NAE, London, UK.
Infant Behavior & Development
|September 15, 2018
Summary
Early life experiences vary more within families than between them. A smartphone app effectively tracked these within-family variations in maternal wellbeing, support, and infant care.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Family Studies
- Digital Health
Background:
- Research traditionally examines differences in early life experiences between families.
- Less is understood about the variations in early life experiences occurring within families.
- Understanding within-family dynamics is crucial for child development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate within-family variations in early life experiences.
- To assess the feasibility of using a smartphone application for data collection.
- To explore associations between contemporaneous within-family variations.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a smartphone application for repeated data collection from mothers.
- Collected data on maternal wellbeing, support, and infant/maternal sleep and diet.
- Data collected over 3 weeks with 4 app alerts weekly (12 total assessments).
Main Results:
- The smartphone app proved to be a practical tool for observing early life experiences.
- Early life experiences showed greater variation within families (59%) compared to between families (41%).
- Preliminary evidence suggests associations between concurrent within-family variations in early life experiences.
Conclusions:
- Within-family variations in early life experiences are substantial and measurable.
- Smartphone applications are viable tools for ecological momentary assessment in family research.
- Further research is warranted to explore the implications of within-family variations on child development.
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