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Aim: To examine the extent to which estimates of a latent trait or underlying construct of motor ability differ in infants born at term and preterm, based on caregiver ratings of the motor domain of PediaTrac v3.0. Method: The sample consisted of 571 caregiver–infant dyads (331 born at term, 240 born preterm), 48% female, with 51.7% of caregivers identifying as an ethnic minority. Latent trait of motor ability was estimated based on item response theory modeling. Gestational group differences (term and preterm birth) were examined at the newborn/term‐equivalent, 2‐, 4‐, 6‐, 9‐, and 12‐month time points. Results: Caregiver ratings of latent trait of motor ability were reliably modeled across the range of abilities at each time point. While the group born preterm exhibited significantly more advanced motor abilities at the term‐equivalent time point, by 6 months the group born at term was more advanced. Biological sex difference main and interaction effects were not significant. Interpretation: Caregivers provided reliable, longitudinal estimates of motor ability in infancy, reflecting important differences in the motor development of infants born at term and preterm. The findings suggest that significant motor development occurs in infants born preterm from birth to the term‐equivalent time point and provide a foundation to examine motor growth trajectories as potential predictors in the early identification of neurodevelopmental conditions and needs. What this paper adds: Longitudinal caregiver ratings of motor function in early infancy yielded reliable estimates of the latent trait of motor ability.Motor ability at the term‐equivalent time point was higher in infants born preterm than infants born at term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coping styles employed by parents of children with cancer have significant implications for parents' and children's well-being. To supplement the minimal literature in this area, activism (participation in activities that serve to benefit children with cancer as a group) was investigated as a potential coping strategy. Method: Parents (N = 67) of children with cancer completed an online survey that included measures of COPE inventory (COPE), hopefulness (Adult Hope Scale), and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire—9-item). Participants retrospectively reported their engagement in activism to benefit children with cancer and to benefit other causes, including actions that were taken before and after their child's cancer diagnosis. Relations between activism, overall styles of coping, hopefulness, and depression were assessed. Results: Activism was positively correlated with hope and active coping, but not associated with depression. Participants reported a significant increase in childhood-cancer-related activism following their own child's diagnosis, with 100% of parents endorsing engagement in such activism. Postdiagnosis childhood-cancer-related activism uniquely explained 17% of the variance in hopefulness after other forms of activism had been accounted for. Discussion: Childhood-cancer-related activism is a common activity among parents of children with cancer that has significant implications for parental hopefulness. Parents who endorse an active, solution-focused approach to coping with the childhood cancer experience may be more likely than others to engage in activism. Further research is needed to clarify the role of activism in the lives of families of children with cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sleep problems and externalizing problems tend to be positively associated, but the direction of this association is unclear. Day-to-day associations between sleep and behavior were examined in children (N = 22) ages 3–8 with clinical levels of externalizing problems. These children were enrolled in Parent Management Training and behavioral sleep intervention. During assessments before and after treatment, children wore actigraphs for seven days and parents concurrently completed sleep diaries and daily tallies of noncompliance, aggression, and tantrums. Multilevel modeling was used to account for the nested structure of the data, at the day-to-day level (level 1), within assessment points (level 2), and within children (level 3). Late sleep timing and fragmentation were predictive of next-day noncompliance and tantrums, respectively. There were fewer associations for a given day's behavior predicting that night's sleep, although children who showed more aggression and noncompliance at baseline tended to have later bedtimes and sleep onset times compared to other children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Family processes during the pre-bedtime period likely have a crucial influence on toddler sleep, but relatively little previous research has focused on family process in this context. The current study examined several aspects of family process during the pre-bedtime period, including the use of bedtime routines, the qualities of the child's home sleep environment, and the promotion of child emotional security, in families of 30-month-old toddlers (N= 546; 265 female) who were part of a multi-site longitudinal study of toddler development. These characteristics were quantified using a combination of parent- and observer-reports and examined in association with child sleep using correlation and multiple regression. Child sleep was assessed using actigraphy to measure sleep duration, timing, variability, activity, and latency. Bedtime routines were examined using parents' daily records. Home sleep environment and emotional security induction were quantified based on observer ratings and in-home observation notes, respectively. All three measures of pre-bedtime context (i.e., bedtime routine inconsistency, poor quality sleep environments, and emotional security induction) were correlated with various aspects of child sleep (significant correlations:.11-.22). The most robust associations occurred between the pre-bedtime context measures and sleep timing (i.e., the timing of the child's sleep schedule) and variability (i.e., night to night variability in sleep timing and duration). Pre-bedtime variables, including bedtime routine consistency, home sleep environment quality, and positive emotional security induction, also mediated the association between family socioeconomic status and child sleep. Our findings underscore the value of considering family context when examining individual differences in child sleep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Research has established the importance of early identification and intervention for children with developmental disorders and delays. In striving toward earlier recognition and treatment of developmental concerns, it is crucial to have a universal system to monitor infant and toddler development over time. This system should comprehensively assess the desired areas of development, be based on normative data from large samples, and have strong psychometric properties. While a few developmental monitoring tools are currently in use, they lack many of the aforementioned qualities. The current study reports on the cross-sectional psychometric properties of PediaTrac, which is a novel caregiver-report measure of infant and toddler development. Specifically, this study focuses on psychometric properties of PediaTrac's social/communication/cognition (SCG) domain during the first 9 months of life. Participants and Methods: The current sample included 571 caregiver-infant dyads recruited into term (n=331) and preterm (n=240) groups. Participants were from the PediaTrac multisite, longitudinal study and were socioeconomically (41.9% below median income) and racially (33.6% Black, 47.6% White, 11.0% multiracial/other) diverse. Data included caregiver reports of infant development from the SCG domain of PediaTrac at 5 sampling periods (newborn, 2, 4, 6, and 9 months). Item response theory (IRT) graded response modeling was used to estimate theta, an index of the latent trait, social/communication/cognition. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to further examine the underlying structure of the SCG domain. Results: Mean theta values could be reliably estimated at all time periods and followed a linear trend consistent with development. At 9 months, theta values were statistically different between the term and preterm groups, indicating that term infants demonstrated more advanced SCG abilities. Item parameters (discrimination and difficulty) could be modeled at each time period across the range of ability. Reliability of the SCG domain ranged from 0.97 to 0.99. Results of the EFA suggested a two-factor solution (affect/emotional expression, social responsiveness) at the newborn period accounting for 43% of the variance, a three-factor solution (affect/emotional expression, social responsiveness, imitation/emerging communication) at the 2-, 4-, and 6-month periods accounting for 43%, 34%, and 34% of the variance, respectively, and a four-factor solution (affect expression, social responsiveness, imitation/communication, nonverbal/gestural communication) at the 9-month period accounting for 34% of the variance. Conclusions: The PediaTrac SCG domain has strong psychometric properties, including reliability estimates higher than other existing caregiver-report measures of SCG abilities. EFA analyses demonstrated that the structure of affect/emotional expression and social responsiveness remains relatively stable and may reflect affective and regulatory aspects of temperament. Conversely, the quality and type of communication continually develops and becomes more differentiated throughout the time periods of interest. Notably, parents appear to be capable of observing and reliably reporting on their infants' abilities in these areas. The use of a universal screening tool developed with rigorous psychometric methods, such as PediaTrac, could transform the way that clinicians identify infants in need of early intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Imitation has pervasive associations with social and communicative development. However, few methods have been developed to measure this construct in typically developing infants, and even less is available for at-risk populations, such as infants born preterm. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a particular risk of premature birth, is associated with atypical imitation and social communication. Although imitation emerges in infancy, most current screening and diagnostic tools for ASD cannot be utilized prior to 12 months. The present study aimed to develop and validate a caregiver-report measure of infant imitation, characterize imitation profiles at 4, 6, and 9 months in term and preterm infants, and explore the relationship between imitation and scores on an ASD screening questionnaire at 18 months. Participants and Methods: Participants (N = 571) were recruited from a larger multi-site study of PediaTrac™ v3.0, a web-based tool for monitoring and tracking infant development, and were surveyed longitudinally at birth, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 months. Participants completed the online PediaTrac™ survey and several reliable and validated questionnaires via pen-and-paper format. For the purposes of this study, only the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (3rd ed.; ASQ-3), Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales-Developmental Profile (CSBS-DP), Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (BISQ), and the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers - Revised with Follow-Up (M-CHAT-R/F) were examined. The following hypotheses were tested: (1) proposed imitation items will represent a unitary latent construct, for which convergent and discriminant validity will be demonstrated, (2) there will be measurement invariance between term status groups at each assessment period, (3) preterm infants will obtain lower caregiver-reported imitation scores compared to term infants, and (4) imitation abilities at the assessment period with the most robust imitation factor will predict M-CHAT-R/F scores at 18 months. Results: Distinct imitation factors at 4, 6, and 9 months were modeled with confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses. Relationships between the factors and established measures of infant communication (CSBS; ASQ) and sleep (BISQ) revealed convergent and discriminant validity, respectively. Strict measurement invariance was demonstrated for the 4- and 9-month factors, and metric invariance for the 6-month measure. Full term infants scored higher on imitation at 9 months, though variance in this outcome was related to term status differences in sensorimotor skills. Lastly, the 9-month imitation factor, coupled with 6-month sensorimotor skills, predicted 18-month ASD risk over and above gestational age. Conclusions: This study provides support for the assessment of infant imitation, utilizing imitation to detect risk in preterm infants, and extending the age of identification for ASD risk into the first year. PediaTrac™ imitation, in combination with the PediaTrac™ sensorimotor domain, may be useful in detecting developmental risk, and specifically risk for ASD, within the first year, leading to earlier initiation of intervention. Further, with its minimal completion time and ease of dissemination through digital platforms, this measure can expand access to care and improve long-term outcomes for children and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests that arousal during the transition to sleep—presleep arousal—is associated with sleep disturbances. Although a robust literature has examined the role of presleep arousal in conferring risk for sleep disturbances in adults, substantially less research has examined the developmental origins of presleep arousal in early childhood. The authors examined presleep arousal using parent report and psychophysiological measures in a sample of preschoolers to explore the association between different measures of presleep arousal, and to examine how nightly presleep arousal is associated with sleep. Participants included 29 children assessed at 54 months of age. Presleep arousal was measured using parent reports of child arousal each night at bedtime and using a wearable device that took minute-by-minute recordings of heart rate, peripheral skin temperature, and electrodermal activity each night during the child's bedtime routine. This yielded a dataset with 4,550 min of ambulatory recordings across an average of 3.52 nights per child (SD = 1.84 nights per child; range = 1–8 nights). Sleep was estimated using actigraphy. Findings demonstrated an association between parent-reported and psychophysiological arousal, including heart rate, peripheral skin temperature, and skin conductance responses during the child's bedtime routine. Both the parent report and psychophysiological measures of presleep arousal showed some associations with poorer sleep, with the most robust associations occurring between presleep arousal and sleep onset latency. Behavioral and biological measures of hyperarousal at bedtime are associated with poorer sleep in young children. Findings provide early evidence of the utility of wearable devices for assessing individual differences in presleep arousal in early childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are well-known associations between stress, poor sleep, and cognitive deficits, but little is known about their interactive effects, which the present study explored in a sample of mothers of toddlers. Since certain types of cognitive decline start during the 20s and continue into later ages, we also explored whether mothers' age interacted with stress and sleep in the prediction of cognitive functioning. We hypothesized that poorer sleep [measured using one week of 24-hour wrist actigraphy data] and having more chronic stressors [e.g., life events, household chaos, work/family role conflict] would be linked with poorer cognitive performance [both executive function and standardized cognitive ability tasks], and that the interactive combination of poorer sleep and more stressors would account for the effect. We also explored whether this process operated differently for younger versus older women. In a socioeconomically and geographically diverse community sample of 227 women with toddler-age children [age, M = 32.73 yrs, SD = 5.15 yrs], poorer cognitive performance was predicted by greater activity during the sleep period, shorter sleep duration, and lower night-to-night consistency in sleep; it was not associated with higher levels of stress. The interactive effects hypothesis was supported for sleep activity [fragmented sleep] and sleep timing [when mothers went to bed]. The combination of more exposure to stressors and frequent night waking was particularly deleterious for older women's performance. For younger women, going to bed late was associated with poorer performance if they were experiencing high levels of stress; for those experiencing low levels of stress, going to bed late was associated with better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sleep is thought to be important for behavioral and cognitive development. However, much of the prior research on sleep's role in behavioral/cognitive development has relied upon self‐report measures and cross‐sectional designs. Methods: The current study examined how early childhood sleep, measured actigraphically, was developmentally associated with child functioning at 54 months. Emphasis was on functioning at preschool, a crucial setting for the emergence of psychopathology. Participants included 119 children assessed longitudinally at 30, 36, 42, and 54 months. We examined correlations between child sleep and adjustment across three domains: behavioral adjustment (i.e., internalizing and externalizing problems), socioemotional skills, and academic/cognitive abilities. We further probed consistent associations with growth curve modeling. Results: Internalizing problems were associated with sleep variability, and cognitive and academic abilities were associated with sleep timing. Growth curve analysis suggested that children with more variable sleep at 30 months had higher teacher‐reported internalizing problems in preschool and that children with later sleep timing at 30 months had poorer cognitive and academic skills at 54 months. However, changes in sleep from 30 to 54 months were not associated with any of the domains of adjustment. Conclusions: Findings indicate that objectively measured sleep variability and late sleep timing in toddlerhood are associated with higher levels of internalizing problems and poorer academic/cognitive abilities in preschool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a robust literature examining the association between sleep problems and cognitive abilities in childhood, little is known about this association in toddlerhood, a period of rapid cognitive development. The present study examined the association between various sleep problems, using actigraphy, and performance on a standardized test of cognitive abilities, longitudinally across three ages (30, 36, and 42 months) in a large sample of toddlers (N = 493). Results revealed a between-subject effect in which the children who had more delayed sleep schedules on average also showed poorer cognitive abilities on average but did not support a within-subjects effect. Results also showed that delayed sleep explains part of the association between family socioeconomic context and child cognitive abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study considered multiple aspects of sleep in a community sample of young children (at ages 30, 36, and 42 months) and their mothers, using both diaries and actigraphy. Through principal components analysis, 17 of 20 commonly used actigraphy variables were reduced to four main components whose variables formed composites of: Activity, night-to-night Variability, Timing, and Duration. Sleep latency and daytime sleep variables remained separate from the composites. The same components were identified at each age, and for both children and mothers. Furthermore, the sleep composites derived from the components showed greater cross-age stability than individual actigraphy variables. Finally, child and mother sleep composites were related concurrently and longitudinally. These findings demonstrate a systematic and efficient way of summarizing child and mother sleep with actigraphy variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Externalizing problems, including aggression and conduct problems, are thought to involve impaired attentional capacities. Previous research suggests that the P3 event‐related potential (ERP) component is an index of attentional processing, and diminished P3 amplitudes to infrequent stimuli have been shown to be associated with externalizing problems and attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the vast majority of this prior work has been cross‐sectional and has not examined young children. The present study is the first investigation of whether within‐individual changes in P3 amplitude predict changes in externalizing problems, providing a stronger test of developmental process. Method: Participants included a community sample of children (N = 153) followed longitudinally at 30, 36, and 42 months of age. Children completed an oddball task while ERP data were recorded. Parents rated their children's aggression and ADHD symptoms. Results: Children's within‐individual changes in the P3 amplitude predicted concomitant within‐child changes in their aggression such that smaller P3 amplitudes (relative to a child's own mean) were associated with more aggression symptoms. However, changes in P3 amplitudes were not significantly associated with ADHD symptoms. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the P3 may play a role in development of aggression, but do not support the notion that the P3 plays a role in development of early ADHD symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sleep changes rapidly from several shorter periods over 24 hours in the first weeks of life to one nap and one long period of sleep at night by age three. This review covers typical sleep patterns from birth through age three and discusses how parents' attitudes and behaviors change during this period. In addition to parent education about child sleep, we review two behavioral interventions that have been shown to be effective for addressing parent concerns about bedtime resistance and reducing nighttime awakenings. These interventions--beginning about 6 months of age--aim to help parents reduce over-involvement prior to bedtime and in response to night awakenings, to promote their child's ability to self-soothe to sleep. Importantly, establishment of a consistent bedtime routine of 15 to 30 minutes may reduce or prevent both resistance at bedtime and frequent nighttime awakenings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Aging is a complex phenomenon, with numerous simultaneous processes that interact with each other on a moment-to-moment basis. One way to quantify the interactions of these processes is by measuring how much a process is similar to its own past states or the past states of another system through the analysis of recurrence. This paper presents an introduction to recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) and cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA), two dynamical systems analysis techniques that provide ways to characterize the self-similar nature of each process and the properties of their mutual temporal co-occurrence. Method: We present RQA and CRQA and demonstrate their effectiveness with an example of conversational movements across age groups. Results: RQA and CRQA provide methods of analyzing the repetitive processes that occur in day-to-day life, describing how different processes co-occur, synchronize, or predict each other and comparing the characteristics of those processes between groups. Discussion: With intensive longitudinal data becoming increasingly available, it is possible to examine how the processes of aging unfold. RQA and CRQA provide information about how one process may show patterns of internal repetition or echo the patterning of another process and how those characteristics may change across the process of aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Postpartum anxiety impacts 3-40% of caregivers (Glasheen et al. 2009) and caregivers report sleeping about 20% less compared to other periods (Deepika et al. 2007). Since sleep problems exacerbate anxiety symptoms, targeting sleep problems in postpartum may reduce caregiver psychopathology. We hypothesized anxiety would decline from 6- to 12-months and that better sleep would predict lower levels of anxiety especially for caregivers of preterm infants. Method: Caregivers provided data with PediaTracTM (Lajiness-O'Neill et al. 2021), an online tool, at 6-, 9-, and 12-months from a larger longitudinal study of term (n=299) and preterm (n=218) infants recruited from three academic hospitals. Caregivers were sociodemograhpically diverse (Black/African American=33%, White=56%, multiracial=6%, other=4%; census-based area deprivation ADI M=5.14, SD=3.32) with 2 children (SD=1.21) in the home. Caregivers self-reported anxiety (Brief Symptom Inventory; Derogatis, 1977) and sleep quality (average of 4 PediaTracTM items: difficulty falling asleep, night awakenings, sleep quality satisfaction, morning fatigue) with higher scores indicating better sleep quality. Results: A multilevel model, accounting for nested observations, (R^2 =.06) was significant with sleep quality predicting anxiety, beta= -.22, p<.001, 95% CI [-.28, -.17]. Neither time, term status, demographic covariates nor moderation of sleep by term status were significant predictors. Conclusion: Though anxiety did not decline over postpartum, those with better sleep reported lower anxiety symptoms suggesting sleep interventions may reduce anxiety symptoms. Surprisingly, neither psychosocial stressors nor term status predicted anxiety severity. Other factors, e.g. parenting stress, should be considered in understanding differences in postpartum anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study used event-related potentials to examine a candidate process through which sleep difficulties affect attentional processing in toddlers. Fifteen toddlers participated in an auditory Oddball task while neurophysiological data were collected. Sleep deficits were assessed using actigraphs, and attention was examined with a sustained attention task. A P3-like component was elicited from the toddlers, and longer target P3 latencies were associated with poorer sustained attention and irregular sleep. Findings suggest that irregular sleep is associated with less efficient attentional processing as reflected by the P3 component, and that longer target P3 latencies are associated with poorer sustained attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The ability to transition from wakefulness to sleep is one of the most important tasks in the development of sleep during early childhood. Although establishing regular bedtime routines for children with sleep problems can be clinically effective in reducing the number of signaled night awakenings and increasing amount of sleep, it is unclear whether a regular bedtime routine would be associated with either the frequency of signaled night awakenings or nightly sleep minutes in a nonclinical sample of children. This study examined the role of a regular bedtime routine on the development of sleep regulation and consolidation in a community sample of young children. Adherence to a bedtime routine was concurrently associated with a greater amount of nightly sleep at 36 and 42 months. In addition, adherence to a bedtime routine predicted an increase in nightly sleep minutes over a 6-month period. Finally, this study demonstrated that adherence to a bedtime routine was particularly supportive of developmental gains for children of mothers who used consistent parenting practices during the day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has found associations but not established mechanisms of developmental linkage between language ability and inattentive–hyperactive (I-H) behavior problems. The present study examined whether self-regulation mediates the effect of language ability on later I-H behavior problems among young children (N = 120) assessed at 30, 36, and 42 months of age. Cross-lagged panel models tested the direction of effect between language ability and self-regulation and longitudinal effects of language ability on later I-H problems mediated by self-regulation. Language ability was measured by children's scores on the receptive and expressive language subtests of the Differential Ability Scales. Self-regulation was measured by three behavioral tasks requiring inhibitory control. I-H problems were reported by parents and secondary caregivers. Language ability predicted later self-regulation as measured by all three tasks. There was no association, however, between self-regulation and later language ability, suggesting that the direction of effect was stronger from language ability to later self-regulation. Moreover, the effect of language ability on later I-H behavior problems was mediated by children's self-regulation in one of the tasks (for secondary caregivers' but not parents' ratings). Findings suggest that language deficits may explain later I-H behavior problems via their prediction of poorer self-regulatory skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data collected annually when children were in kindergarten through 3rdgrade (N = 478), this study investigated changes in mothers’ use of nonharsh, harsh verbal, and physical discipline; changes in interparental conflict; and associations between changes in discipline and interparental conflict. Controlling for potential confounds, physical discipline decreased over the course of middle childhood, whereas harsh verbal and nonharsh discipline remained stable. Increases in interparental conflict were associated with increases in physical discipline; decreases in interparental conflict were associated with decreases in physical discipline. Change in interparental conflict was unrelated to change in harsh verbal or nonharsh discipline, although more frequent interparental conflict was associated with more frequent use of all three types of discipline in 1stgrade. Findings extend previous research on how two major forms of communication within families—conflict between parents and parents’ attempts to influence their children through discipline—change across middle childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]