The relational basis of adolescent adjustment: trajectories of mother–child interactive behaviors from infancy to adolescence shape adolescents' adaptation

Abstract

Theories of social-emotional growth propose that repeatedly-experienced parent–infant interactions shape the individual's adaptation across development, yet few studies examined interactive behaviors repeatedly from infancy to adolescence. This study assessed the trajectories of four mother–child relational behaviors at six time-points from 3 months to 13 years: maternal sensitivity, child social engagement, mother intrusiveness, and dyadic reciprocity. Trajectories were examined separately for infants who later exhibited higher and lower psychological adaptation in adolescence. Overall, relational behaviors changed substantially with age in non-linear ways and changes in the four patterns were inter-related. Differences between the high- and low-adaptation groups were observed for maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness already in infancy and differences on all factors emerged at the transition to adolescence. Maternal sensitivity, mother intrusiveness, and dyadic reciprocity were individually stable from infancy to adolescence. Maternal psychological distress, infant difficult temperament, and dyadic reciprocity predicted adolescent adaptation. Results point to the long-term effects of risk and resilience components in the mother–infant relationship and underscore continuity in social development from infancy.