Exploring the relationship between child temperament, maternal psychiatric symptoms, family environment and infant
Ginger McCorkle1, Aline Andres1,2, Clark R Sims1,2
1Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
Insights
Maternal psychiatric symptoms and environmental stressors negatively impact infant temperament, while breastfeeding shows no lasting effect. Transient feeding method differences in infant temperament were observed.
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Child psychology
- Infant behavior
Background:
- Infant temperament is traditionally viewed as innate.
- Emerging research indicates maternal affection and environmental factors, like feeding methods, influence infant temperament.
- This study explores longitudinal temperament development from 6 to 72 months.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the longitudinal impact of maternal psychiatric symptoms and environmental variables on infant temperament.
- To examine the relationship between feeding method (breastfeeding, soy formula, dairy formula) and infant temperament.
- To test hypotheses linking maternal factors and environment to temperament outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 504 mother-infant dyads from 6 to 72 months.
- Mothers completed validated rating scales on child temperament, maternal psychiatric symptoms, environmental stressors, and family dynamics.
- Linear mixed-effects models analyzed relationships, controlling for covariates and repeated measures.
Main Results:
- Maternal psychiatric symptoms correlated with environmental stressors, impaired family dynamics, and higher infant adaptability and mood ratings.
- No sustained differences in infant temperament were found between feeding groups (breastfeeding, soy formula, dairy formula).
- Transient increases in rhythmicity and adaptability were noted in soy formula-fed infants compared to breastfed infants.
Conclusions:
- Family environment stressors and maternal psychiatric ratings are positively related.
- Feeding method demonstrated transient effects on specific aspects of infant temperament.
Objectives:
Infant temperament is assumed to be primarily innate. However, newer research suggests that maternal affection impacts ratings of temperament and environmental factors, including feeding method, can also influence infant temperament. This study investigates child temperament and its relationships with maternal psychiatric symptoms, environmental variables and feeding method longitudinally in a cohort of children followed from 6 to 72 months. Differences in temperament by feeding group are also investigated. We hypothesized that maternal psychiatric symptoms, environmental stressors, and impaired family dynamics would have negative impact on child temperament, whereas breastfeeding would have a positive impact on child temperament.
Method:
Mothers' ratings of child's temperament, own psychiatric symptomatology, environmental stresses and family cohesion were obtained in 504 mother-infant dyads via rating scales completed by mothers. Infants were breastfeed (BF), fed soy-based infant formula (SF) or dairy-based infant formula (MF). Linear mixed effect models investigated the relationship of variables on child's temperament while controlling for significant covariates and repeated measurements.
Results:
Mothers in this study did not endorse clinical-level psychiatric symptomatology; however, when adjusted for significant covariates, higher psychiatric symptomatology significantly correlated with environmental stressors, impaired family dynamics and elevations in temperament ratings of infants' adaptability and mood. There were no lasting differences for temperament between feeding groups. However, some significant transient increases in rhythmicity and adaptability were found between SF and BF children.
Conclusion:
Positive relationships between family environment stressors and maternal psychiatric ratings were found. Transient differences were found in child temperament based upon feeding method.
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