Maternal sensitivity and internalizing problems: evidence from two longitudinal studies in early childhood

Abstract

The goal of this study is to clarify the relation between maternal sensitivity and internalizing problems during the preschool period. For this purpose, a longitudinal, bidirectional model was tested in two large prospective, population-based cohorts, the Generation R Study and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD), including over 1,800 mother-child dyads in total. Maternal sensitivity was repeatedly observed in mother-child interaction tasks and information on child internalizing problems was obtained from maternal reports. Modest but consistent associations between maternal sensitivity and internalizing problems were found in both cohorts, confirming the importance of sensitive parenting for positive development in the preschool years. Pathways from maternal sensitivity to child internalizing problems were consistently observed but child-to-mother pathways were only found in the NICHD SECCYD sample.