Parent–child interaction, task-oriented regulation, and cognitive development in toddlers facing developmental risks

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Parent–child interaction Emotion and behavior regulation Cognitive development Developmental risk Toddler The importance of supportive parent–child interactions and the development of regulatory abilities with regard to growth in children's cognitive abilities has been established. This study investigated the longitudinal relations among parental supportiveness, child task-oriented regulation, and cognitive development for low-income children facing developmental risks. Interlocking growth models were fit to these variables based on measurements made when the children were 14, 24, and 36 months of age. Results showed that growth rates of child cognition were related to baseline (14 months) parental supportiveness and changes in child task-oriented regulation. We additionally found that baseline levels of cognition were related to the baseline levels of child task-oriented regulation. This study suggests that both parental supportiveness during infancy and the concurrent development of child task-oriented regulation are related to cognitive development among children facing developmental risks. Children living in poverty are more likely to have disabilities and developmental delays than those from middle-income populations For example, the low-income children in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHSREP) were more likely to receive early intervention services before age 3 (Peterson et al., 2004) than those in the general U.S. population (National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center, 2007). In addition to those receiving early intervention services, even more children in the EHSREP were identified as having suspected developmental delays though they did not receive early intervention services (Peterson et al., 2004). The importance of studying these children is emphasized by the fact that they had lower school readiness skills at kindergarten entry (Jeon et al., 2011) relative to children who did not have a suspected delay. In addition, children identified with developmental delays typically receive early intervention services at later ages than those identified with other disabilities, such as sensory, physiological, motor, or neuro-logical impairments, regardless of their family's socioeconomic status (Scarborough et al., 2004). This is especially unfortunate as children with developmental delays may benefit more from early intervention services than those with other disabilities (Carlson et al., 2008; Jeon et al., 2011). A better understanding of the development of children who have developmental delays at early ages and live in poverty could, therefore, be helpful for development and implementation of effective early intervention services. The recent trend of examining longitudinal relations in child development research is underpinned …