File(s) under embargo
4
month(s)24
day(s)until file(s) become available
The Role of Negative Affectivity in Concurrent Relations Between Caregiver Psychological Distress and Social‐Emotional Difficulties in Infants With Early Signs of Autism
journal contribution
posted on 22.10.2020, 01:05 by Lacey Chetcuti, Mirko UljarevicMirko Uljarevic, Kandice J Varcin, Maryam Boutrus, Ming Wai Wan, Vicky Slonims, Jonathan Green, Leonie Segal, Teresa IaconoTeresa Iacono, Cheryl Dissanayake, Andrew J.O. Whitehouse, Kristelle Hudry, The AICES teamRecent evidence suggests the link between caregiver psychological
distress and offspring social‐emotional difficulties may be accounted
for by offspring temperament characteristics. However, existing studies
have only focused on neurotypical children; thus, the current study
sought to provide an initial examination of this process among children
with varying levels of early autism features. Participants included 103
infants aged 9–16 months (M = 12.39, SD = 1.97; 68% male) and
their primary caregiver (96% mothers) referred to a larger study by
community healthcare professionals. We utilized caregiver‐reported
measures of psychological distress (Depression Anxiety Stress Scales),
infant temperament (Infant Behavior Questionnaire‐Revised) and
internalizing and externalizing symptoms (Infant‐Toddler Social and
Emotional Assessment) and administered the Autism Observation Schedule
for Infants (AOSI) at an assessment visit to quantify autism features.
Infant negative affectivity was found to mediate positive concurrent
relations between caregiver psychological distress and infant
internalizing and externalizing symptoms, irrespective of the infants'
AOSI score. While preliminary and cross‐sectional, these results
replicate and extend previous findings suggesting that the pathway from
caregiver psychological distress to negative affectivity to
social‐emotional difficulties might also be apparent among infants with
varying levels of autism features. More rigorous tests of causal effects
await future longitudinal investigation.
Funding
Angela Wright Bennett Foundation
Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism
La Trobe University
Western Australia Children's Research Fund
History
School
- School of Psychology and Public Health