Predictors of instability in children's mental test performance at 24, 48, and 96 months

Abstract

Deviations in children's mental test performance from 24 to 48 and 48 to 96 months were examined in a sample of 169 disadvantaged mothers and their first-born children. Deviations from mental test performance were indexed by residuals computed from 24-month Bayley MDI and 48-month WPPSI correlations, and from 48-month WPPSI and 96-month WISC-R correlations. Deviations from predicted values of mental test performance across 24 to 48 months were predicted by maternal personality, the HOME, mother-child interaction, and child problem-solving behavior. Deviations from predicted values across the 48- to 96-month period were predicted by maternal social support and mother interactive behavior from the 24- to 48-month period, and in a separate regression, from children's internalizing behaviors in kindergarden. The results are discussed with regard to the relations between specific aspects of the childrearing environment and child intelligence and the role of child characteristics.