Exploring Perinatal Indicators of Infant Social-Emotional Development: A Review of the Replicated Evidence.

Abstract

The importance of infant social-emotional development for outcomes across the lifecourse has been amply demonstrated. Despite this, most screening measures of social-emotional development are designed for children 18months of age and over, with a clear gap in earlier infancy. Nosystematicreview has yet harvested the evidence for candidate indicators in the perinatal window. This paper examines modifiable risk and protective factors for two seminal earlymarkers of social-emotional development: attachment security and behavioral regulation mid-infancy. We searched meta-analytic and longitudinal studies of developmental relationships between modifiable exposures in the perinatal window (pregnancy to 10months postpartum) and attachment and behavioral regulation status measured between 12 and 18months. Six electronic databases were used: ERIC, PsycINFO, Medline Complete, Informit, Embase, and Scopus. Twelve meta-analytic reviews and 38 original studies found replicated evidence for 12 indicators across infant, caregiving, and contextual domains predictive of infant behavioral regulation and attachment status between 12 and 18months. Key among these were caregiving responsiveness, maternal mental health, couple relationship, and SES as a contextual factor. Perinatal factors most proximal to the infant had the strongest associations with social-emotional status. Beyond very low birthweight and medical risk, evidence for infant-specific factors was weaker. Risk and protective relationships were related but not always inverse. Findings from this review have the potential to inform the development of reliable tools for early screening of infant social-emotional development for application in primary care and population health contexts.