Childhood Unpredictability Research Articles

Does ecology or character matter? The contributions of childhood unpredictability, harshness, and temperament to life history strategies in adolescence.

Does ecology or character matter? The contributions of childhood unpredictability, harshness, and temperament to life history strategies in adolescence.

Evidence of a Bidirectional Association Between Daily Sexual and Relationship Satisfaction That Is Moderated by Daily Stress.

Prior research provides mixed evidence regarding the direction of the association between sexual and marital satisfaction. Whereas some studies suggest a bidirectional association, other studies fail to document one direction or the other. The current investigation used a 12-day diary study of 287 married individuals to clarify the nature of this association. Results from time-lagged mixed modeling revealed a significant positive bidirectional association. Both higher global sexual satisfaction one day and satisfaction with sex that occurred that day predicted higher marital satisfaction the next day; likewise, higher marital satisfaction one day significantly predicted higher global sexual satisfaction the next day and higher satisfaction with sex that occurred the next day. Both associations remained significant after controlling for participant’s gender/sex, neuroticism, attachment insecurity, self-esteem, stress, perceived childhood unpredictability and harshness, age of first intercourse, construal level, age, and length of marriage. We also explored whether these covariates moderated either direction of the association. Daily stress was the most reliable moderator, with three of the four interactions tested remaining significant after Bonferroni corrections. The bidirectional association between global sexual and marital satisfaction and the positive association between satisfaction with sex that occurred that day and marital satisfaction the next day were significantly stronger when individuals experienced high versus low stress. Although the exploratory nature of all moderation analyses suggests they should be replicated before drawing strong conclusions, these findings highlight the importance of sexual satisfaction to marital satisfaction and vice versa and point to the power of stress in strengthening these associations.

Associations Between Childhood Stressors, COVID-19-Related Anxiety, and Sleep Quality of Adults During the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel.

PurposeStudies point to a persistent effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on sleep quality and mental health, including anxiety. Exposure to stressors during childhood increases the susceptibility to anxiety in later life. Given the negative effects of anxiety on sleep quality, the present study aimed to examine the associations between various childhood stressors and poor sleep quality of adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether these associations are mediated by COVID-19-related anxiety.Participants and MethodsA total of 586 participants aged 18–40 (mean age 27.53± 6.48 years, 301 females) were recruited to take part in an online survey conducted in Israel between February 7 and 15, 2021, during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed questionnaires assessing retrospectively adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), childhood harshness (indexed separately by exposure to morbidity and mortality and low socioeconomic status, SES), and childhood unpredictability. COVID-19-related anxiety was assessed using two items. Sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and insomnia symptoms with the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). Participants were asked to complete the ISI concerning two time points: (a) retrospectively, before the COVID-19 outbreak, and (b) currently, during the pandemic.ResultsPath analysis indicated that poor sleep quality (PSQI) was directly and indirectly (through COVID-19-related anxiety) predicted by the number of ACEs and childhood morbidity-mortality exposure, directly predicted by childhood low SES, and indirectly predicted by childhood unpredictability. Insomnia symptoms increase (ISI) was indirectly predicted by the number of ACEs, childhood morbidity-mortality exposure, and childhood unpredictability.ConclusionACEs as well as harsh and unpredictable childhood environments are predictive of poorer sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19-related anxiety mediates the effects of childhood stressors (other than low SES) on sleep. These findings may have clinical implications relevant to stressful periods in general.

Contribution of early-life unpredictability to neuropsychiatric symptom patterns in adulthood.

Recent studies in both human and experimental animals have identified fragmented and unpredictable parental and environmental signals as a novel source of early-life adversity. Early-life unpredictability may be a fundamental developmental factor that impacts brain development, including reward and emotional memory circuits, affecting the risk for psychopathology later in life. Here, we tested the hypothesis that self-reported early-life unpredictability is associated with psychiatric symptoms in adult clinical populations. Using the newly validated Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood, we assessed early-life unpredictability in 156 trauma-exposed adults, of which 65% sought treatment for mood, anxiety, and/or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. All participants completed symptom measures of PTSD, depression and anhedonia, anxiety, alcohol use, and chronic pain. Relative contributions of early-life unpredictability versus childhood trauma and associations with longitudinal outcomes over a 6-month period were determined. Early-life unpredictability, independent of childhood trauma, was significantly associated with higher depression, anxiety symptoms, and anhedonia, and was related to higher overall symptom ratings across time. Early-life unpredictability was also associated with suicidal ideation, but not alcohol use or pain symptoms. Early-life unpredictability is an independent and consistent predictor of specific adult psychiatric symptoms, providing impetus for studying mechanisms of its effects on the developing brain that promote risk for psychopathology.

Relationships between Depression and Executive Functioning in Adolescents: The Moderating Role of Unpredictable Home Environment.

Although researchers have explored the link between depression and executive functioning (EF), the influence of early-life environmental and relational instability on this association has not been comprehensively assessed in adolescents. This cross-sectional study examined whether unpredictability of home environment in childhood moderated the relationship between depression and EF in adolescents. Participants were 138 adolescents aged 13 to 17 years (72% female; 47.8% White; 47.1% Hispanic). Diagnostic status (major depression versus healthy control) and depression severity were assessed using psycho-diagnostic interviews and self-reports from parents and adolescents. Participants also completed the Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood (QUIC). EF was assessed using self-report (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Second Edition; BRIEF2) and a battery of performance-based measures. Results showed that QUIC scores moderated the relationship between depression and BRIEF2 scores, such that high unpredictability was associated with poorer EF for adolescents exhibiting low depression severity. Participants with the highest levels of depression exhibited the poorest EF ratings, regardless of childhood unpredictability. Unpredictability was moderately associated with performance-based measures, but did not interact with depressive symptoms to predict complex performance-based EF. Recommendations include assessing for unpredictable childhood environment and acknowledging this risk factor for poor EF in youth with sub-threshold depression. Treatment implications are discussed with respect to family systems/parenting interventions, as mildly depressed adolescents growing up in unstable homes may be vulnerable to EF difficulties. Further, this study adds to the EF measurement literature by examining associations between self-report and performance-based EF instruments in a diverse sample of adolescents.

Perceptions of childhood unpredictability, delay discounting, risk-taking, and adult externalizing behaviors: A life-history approach.

Guided by principles from life-history theory, theories of adaptive calibration provide an overarching theoretical framework for understanding the developmental roots of impulsivity and externalizing psychopathology. The current research provides evidence for robust associations between perceptions of childhood unpredictability, delay discounting (Studies 1a and 1b), and adult externalizing traits and behaviors (Study 2). Both associations were observed while controlling for perceptions of the harshness of childhood environments, as well as a range of demographic characteristics. The association with externalizing traits and behavior was observed over and above current mood and depressive symptoms. Study 2 also replicated a previously documented association between changes in maternal employment, residence, and cohabitation during childhood and externalizing behavior and, furthermore, suggested that this association was mediated by perceptions of unpredictability. These studies provided no evidence for links between perceived childhood unpredictability and basic forms of risk-taking (Studies 1a and 1c). This research adds to a growing body of work leveraging principles from life-history theory to demonstrate links between childhood experiences, impulsivity, and potentially debilitating forms of mental illness. This work also highlights the value of assessing people's perceptions of their childhood environments.

The effects of childhood unpredictability and harshness on emotional control and relationship quality: A life history perspective.

Being able to control oneself in emotionally upsetting situations is essential for good relationship functioning. According to life history theory, childhood exposure to harshness and unpredictability should forecast diminished emotional control and lower relationship quality. We examined this in three studies. In Studies 1 and 2, greater childhood unpredictability (frequent financial, residential, and familial changes), but not harshness (low SES), was associated with lower emotional control in adolescents (N = 1041) and adults (N = 327). These effects were stronger during the participants' reproductive years. Moreover, in Study 2, greater childhood unpredictability was indirectly associated with lower relationship quality through lower emotional control. In study 3, we leveraged the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (N = 160). Greater early-life unpredictability (ages 0-4) prospectively predicted lower relationship quality at age 32 via lower emotional control at the same age. This relation was serially mediated by less supportive observed early maternal care (ages 1.5-3.5) and insecure attachment representations (ages 19 and 26). Early unpredictability also predicted greater observed emotional distress during conflict interactions with romantic partners (ages 19-36). These findings point to the role of emotional control in mediating the effects of unpredictable childhood environments on relationship functioning in adulthood.

Childhood unpredictability, life history, and intuitive versus deliberate cognitive styles

Cognitive style is a major component of individuals' life history and everyday life. However, individual variations in cognitive styles are not well understood from an evolutionary functional perspective. Through two studies, we investigated how childhood unpredictability might be related to deliberate or intuitive cognitive styles. Study 1, in which we surveyed 301 undergraduate students, revealed that lower childhood unpredictability was a predictor of slower life-history strategies, and such strategies in turn predicted higher self-reported deliberate cognitive style. In Study 2 (N = 269), we experimentally manipulated mortality cues and subsequently assessed participants' deliberate responses by using the Cognitive Reflection Test. The results indicated that individuals who experienced higher childhood unpredictability, relative to those who had low childhood unpredictability, displayed a smaller proportion of deliberate responses when exposed to mortality cues but not when exposed to control cues. These results imply that childhood unpredictability might predispose individuals to specific cognitive styles that serve distinct adaptive functions. This is manifested as both long-term propensities in life-history development and short-term behavioral tendencies in threatening situations.

The behavioral ecology of moral dilemmas: Childhood unpredictability, but not harshness, predicts less deontological and utilitarian responding.

Childhood unpredictability and harshness are associated with patterns of psychology and behavior that enable individuals to make the most of adverse environments. The current research assessed effects of childhood unpredictability and harshness on individual differences in sacrificial moral decision making. Six studies (N = 1,503) supported the hypothesis that childhood unpredictability, but not harshness, would be associated with fewer decisions to reject harm (consistent with deontological ethics) and to maximize overall outcomes (consistent with utilitarian ethics). These associations were not moderated by perceptions of current environmental unpredictability (Studies 3a and 3b) and were robust to potential confounds (religiosity, political conservativism, Big 5 personality traits, and social desirability; Study 5). The associations between childhood unpredictability and lower deontological and utilitarian tendencies were statistically mediated by low levels of empathic concern and poor-quality social relationships (Study 4). Findings are consistent with the possibility that early calibration to ecological unpredictability, but not harshness, undermines other-oriented psychological processes which, in turn, reduce moral concerns about harm and consequences for other people. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Experiences of developmental unpredictability and harshness predict adult cognition: An examination of maladaptive schemas, positive schemas, and cognitive distortions

Cognitive models of psychopathology propose that early developmental environments give rise to cognitive schemas and distortions, which color our interpretations of the world. Evolutionary theorizing suggests that developmental environments have far-reaching consequences for behavior. Accordingly, we examined associations between self-reportedunpredictable and harsh early developmental environments, positive and maladaptive schemas, and cognitive distortions (n = 257). Results indicated thatunpredictable and harsh childhood environments were associated with greater maladaptive schemas and cognitive distortions, and fewer positive schemas. Path analyses suggested that a model of unpredictable and harsh environments leading to maladaptive schemas and cognitive distortions had excellent statistical fit. Taken together, these results suggest early developmental environments have important influence on adult cognition. These results are the first to demonstrate that childhood unpredictability is associated with cognitive schemas and distortions. Our findings have direct implications for understanding schema development and may have consequences for schema therapy.

Supplemental Material for The Behavioral Ecology of Moral Dilemmas: Childhood Unpredictability, but Not Harshness, Predicts Less Deontological and Utilitarian Responding

Supplemental Material for The Behavioral Ecology of Moral Dilemmas: Childhood Unpredictability, but Not Harshness, Predicts Less Deontological and Utilitarian Responding

Childhood Environmental Adversity and Career Decision-Making Difficulty: A Life History Theory Perspective

Although research has examined and supported the role of environmental adversity in career decision-making, little is known about the prediction power of childhood environmental adversity for career decision-making. To provide guidance for early career interventions, particularly in disadvantaged populations, the current study drew on life history theory and used a sample of U.S. college students ( n = 310) and a sample of U.S. noncollege individuals during emerging adulthood ( n = 308) to examine a mediation model involving childhood unpredictability, childhood poverty, career decision ambiguity aversion, and career decision-making difficulty. The results support the mediation of ambiguity aversion in the positive predictions of childhood unpredictability for all four factors of career decision-making difficulty. However, the results do not support the indirect predictions of childhood poverty for all four factors of career decision-making difficulty through ambiguity aversion but support the direct prediction of childhood poverty for lack of readiness. Therefore, the current study illuminates the importance of a predictable family environment during childhood for career decision-making during emerging adulthood and provides implications for the validity of life history theory in career decision-making, the development of ambiguity aversion, and early career interventions. Implications and future directions of research regarding childhood poverty are also discussed.

The effect of childhood unpredictability on co-parenting relationships during the transition to parenthood: A life history approach

Recent extensions to life history theory posit that exposure to environmental unpredictability during childhood should forecast negative parental behaviors in adulthood. In the current research, this logic was extended to co-parental behaviors, which refer to how parents coordinate, share responsibility, and support each other’s parental efforts. The effects of early-life unpredictability on individual and dyadic co-parental functioning were examined in a sample of 109 families (two parents and their firstborn child) who were followed longitudinally from before the child’s birth until the age of two. Greater early-life unpredictability (family changes, residential changes, and parents’ occupational changes by age 8) experienced by mothers, but not fathers, predicted more negative co-parental behaviors in triadic observations 6 months post birth, and lower couple-reported co-parenting quality assessed 3, 9, 18, and 24 months post birth. These effects were not explained by parents’ childhood socioeconomic status or current relationship quality. These findings highlight the role of mothers in shaping co-parenting relationships and how these relationships might be influenced by mothers’ early-life experiences.

Attachment anxiety in young adulthood is associated with childhood unpredictability and predicts intentions to engage in unprotected sex

Developing a better understanding of the individual differences associated with people's intentions to engage in unprotected sex is crucial to reducing rates of unplanned pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among young adults. We thus used a sample of young adults in the U.S. to examine the extent to which two notable individual differences—romantic attachment insecurity and childhood ecology—account for variability in people's intentions to engage in unprotected sex. Individuals with more (versus less) unpredictable childhood ecologies demonstrated greater attachment anxiety in early adulthood that was associated with stronger intentions to engage in sex without protection against pregnancy (but not against STDs). In contrast, harsh childhood ecologies were unassociated with attachment insecurity and intentions to engage in unprotected sex. We discuss implications and future research directions.

Measuring novel antecedents of mental illness: the Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood.

Increasing evidence indicates that, in addition to poverty, maternal depression, and other well-established factors, unpredictability of maternal and environmental signals early in life influences trajectories of brain development, determining risk for subsequent mental illness. However, whereas most risk factors for later vulnerability to mental illness are readily measured using existing, clinically available tools, there are no similar measures for assessing early-life unpredictability. Here we validate the Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood (QUIC) and examine its associations with mental health in the context of other indicators of childhood adversity (e.g., traumatic life events, socioeconomic status, and parenting quality). The QUIC was initially validated through administration to a cohort of adult females (N = 116) and then further refined in two additional independent cohorts (male Veterans, N = 95, and male and female adolescents, N = 175). The QUIC demonstrated excellent internal (α = 0.89) and test-retest reliability (r = 92). Scores on the QUIC were positively correlated with other prospective indicators of exposures to unpredictable maternal inputs in infancy and childhood (unpredictable maternal mood and sensory signals), and accuracy of recall also was confirmed with prospective data. Importantly, the QUIC predicted symptoms of anxiety, depression, and anhedonia in the three study cohorts, and these effects persisted after adjusting for other previously established risk factors. The QUIC, a reliable and valid self-report assessment of exposure to unpredictability in the social, emotional, and physical domains during early life, is a brief, comprehensive, and promising instrument for predicting risk for mental illness.

Exploring the links between early life and young adulthood social experiences and men's later life psychobiology as fathers

Early life cues of environmental harshness and unpredictability have been hypothesized to influence within-species variation in the timing of life history transitions and the dynamics of reproductive strategies, such as investments in mating and parenting. It is also believed that adolesence is an influential developmental period for male reproductive strategies, with those who achieve greater social and sexual success during that period maintaining faster life history strategies into adulthood. If correct, such early life and post-pubertal experiences could also help shape the psychobiological pathways that mediate reproductive strategies, including the well documented physiological shifts that occur when some men become parents. Drawing on a large sample of Filipino men (n=417), we evaluate whether men who experienced cues of harshness or unpredictability in childhood or have earlier ages at sexual debut have elevated testosterone (T) as fathers. We also test whether males who experienced a combination of early life experiences of harshness or unpredictability and had earlier ages of sexual debut during adolescence had the most elevated T as fathers. We found that fathers who experienced early life harshness and who engaged in sex at an earlier age had elevated waking T. Among men transitioning to fatherhood across the 4.5-year follow-up period of this study, those who experienced unpredictability and who engaged in sex at an earlier age showed attenuated declines in waking T between baseline and follow-up. Complementing these findings, we found that fathers who first engaged in sex at later ages had greater acute declines in T when they played with their toddlers. We suggest that these patterns could reflect programming effects of sociosexual experiences during the years following the marked biological transitions that accompany puberty, which occur along with the better-studied effects of earlier life exposures to stressors. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that early life circumstances and social and sexual experiences, from early life to young adulthood, help calibrate physiological axes as key mechanisms coordinating dynamic life history strategies.

Relationship between childhood (un)predictability and life milestones in young Brazilians

The present study sought to investigate whether perceived family unpredictability affects the development of life history strategies in both the reproductive and somatic domains by evaluating the ages at which life milestones occurred. In this study 211 young Brazilians answered a 10-item instrument that contained future milestones, the Family Unpredictability in Childhood, and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Not all participants had already achieved the milestones. Earlier ages of giving birth to the first child, marrying, starting a family, and at first formal employment were correlated with greater unpredictability scores. Significant correlations were found more frequently for the participants who had already met the milestones. Data support the importance of the childhood environment for later development. Results suggest that data obtained based on the ages at which milestones occurred and ages at which milestones are expected to occur may present important differences with regard to the influence of environmental factors.

Implications of life-history strategies for obesity

The association between low socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity is well documented. In the current research, a life history theory (LHT) framework provided an explanation for this association. Derived from evolutionary behavioral science, LHT emphasizes how variability in exposure to unpredictability during childhood gives rise to individual differences in a range of social psychological processes across the life course. Consistent with previous LHT research, the current findings suggest that exposure to unpredictability during childhood (a characteristic common to low SES environments) is associated with the adoption of a fast life-history strategy, one marked by impulsivity and a focus on short-term goals. We demonstrate that a fast life-history strategy, in turn, was associated with dysregulated weight-management behaviors (i.e., eating even in the absence of hunger), which were predictive of having a high body mass index (BMI) and being obese. In both studies, findings held while controlling for participants' current socioeconomic status, suggesting that obesity is rooted in childhood experiences. A serial mediation model in study 2 confirmed that effects of childhood SES on adult BMI and obesity can be explained in part by exposure to unpredictability, the adoption of a fast life-history strategy, and dysregulated-eating behaviors. These findings suggest that weight problems in adulthood may be rooted partially in early childhood exposure to unpredictable events and environments. LHT provides a valuable explanatory framework for understanding the root causes of obesity.

Before and after: Personality pathology, childhood conditions, and life history outcomes

In this study (N=253), we examined how pathological personality traits are related to (self-reported) childhood conditions and the adult life outcomes of rates of education, socioeconomic status, income, and number of offspring for men and women. We found (1) childhood unpredictability was more strongly associated with pathological personality traits than was harshness; (2) higher levels of psychoticism were associated with a broad-spectrum of adverse life history outcomes; (3) men reported higher levels of detachment, antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism than women reported; and (4) moderated-mediational analyses suggested detachment and antagonism differentially mediated the associations between childhood socioecological conditions and adult life outcomes for men and women.

On the Psychometric Study of Human Life History Strategies.

This article attends to recent discussions of validity in psychometric research on human life history strategy (LHS), provides a constructive critique of the extant literature, and describes strategies for improving construct validity. To place the psychometric study of human LHS on more solid ground, our review indicates that researchers should (a) use approaches to psychometric modeling that are consistent with their philosophies of measurement, (b) confirm the dimensionality of life history indicators, and (c) establish measurement invariance for at least a subset of indicators. Because we see confirming the dimensionality of life history indicators as the next step toward placing the psychometrics of human LHS on more solid ground, we use nationally representative data and structural equation modeling to test the structure of middle adult life history indicators. We found statistically independent mating competition and Super-K dimensions and the effects of parental harshness and childhood unpredictability on Super-K were consistent with past research. However, childhood socioeconomic status had a moderate positive effect on mating competition and no effect on Super-K, while unpredictability did not predict mating competition. We conclude that human LHS is more complex than previously suggested-there does not seem to be a single dimension of human LHS among Western adults and the effects of environmental components seem to vary between mating competition and Super-K.