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Parenting Behavior at 18 Months Predicts Internalizing and Externalizing Problems at 6 Years in Moderately Preterm

Lisa Oosterom1, Lilly Bogičević1, Marjolein Verhoeven1

  • 1Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
|November 26, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Moderately preterm born (MPT) children face more behavioral issues. Maternal structure in toddlerhood predicts fewer problems for both MPT and full-term (FT) children, highlighting parenting

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Pediatric Health
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Moderately preterm born (MPT) children exhibit a higher risk for behavioral problems compared to full-term (FT) born children.
  • Parenting quality and mother-child interaction may influence the development of behavioral issues in MPT children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if parenting behavior and mother-child interaction quality mediate the link between birth status and child behavior problems.
  • To analyze the predictive role of maternal parenting and interaction quality on behavioral outcomes at age 6.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study involving 120 MPT and 100 FT children.
  • Assessment of maternal parenting (support, structure) and mother-child interaction (sensitivity, limit-setting) at 18 months.
  • Evaluation of child behavior problems (attention, internalizing, externalizing) at 6 years using maternal reports.
  • Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the relationships.

Main Results:

  • Birth status predicted attention problems but not internalizing or externalizing problems at age 6.
  • Mothers of MPT children demonstrated less appropriate limit-setting compared to mothers of FT children at 18 months.
  • Higher maternal structure at 18 months was associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing problems at age 6 for both MPT and FT children.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal structure during toddlerhood is a significant predictor of later internalizing and externalizing behavior problems.
  • The associations between parenting behaviors, interaction quality, and child behavior problems appear consistent across MPT and FT children.
  • Interventions focusing on enhancing maternal structure may benefit behavioral development in both preterm and full-term children.

Keywords:
behavior problemsmoderately pretermmother–child interactionparenting behaviorprematurity

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