Dyadic development in the family: Stability in mother-child relationship quality from infancy to adolescence.

Abstract

A central concern of family psychology and developmental science is assessing the stability or instability (i.e., relative standing) of family-level constructs across time. Almost exclusively, such constructs have heretofore been unitary variables. Using a longitudinal design, for the first time, this study traces the developmental stability of the dyadic construct of mother-child relationship quality from infancy to adolescence. Multiple age-appropriate measures converging on the construct of relationship quality were assessed in 375 mother-child dyads at 4 times: 5 months and 4, 10, and 14 years. Mother-child relationship quality showed stability (βs = .18-.53) in all families together, in families with girls and boys, and when family socioeconomic status was controlled. Consistent patterns of relationship quality are developmentally significant in themselves, convert to broader behavioral tendencies in children, and guide more effective intervention designs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).