Intervening Early With Neglected Children
Study Details
Study Description
Brief Summary
This study will assess early and middle childhood outcomes of an intervention for neglecting parents that was implemented in the children's infancy. We expect that parents who received the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up Intervention in infancy will be more nurturing and will follow children's lead more than parents who received a control intervention, and that children will show better outcomes in attachment, inhibitory control, emotion regulation, and peer relations than children of parents who received the control intervention.
| Condition or Disease | Intervention/Treatment | Phase |
|---|---|---|
|
Phase 1/Phase 2 |
Detailed Description
Children were randomly assigned to receive the ABC intervention or a control intervention (DEF) in infancy. These two groups, plus a group of low-risk children, will be studied in early and middle childhood. Of interest will be differences in parent and child outcomes that result from the intervention.
Hypothesis 1: Neglected children whose parents received the ABC intervention and low-risk comparison children will show better inhibitory control than neglected children whose parents received the DEF intervention.
Hypothesis 2: Children in the ABC intervention condition and low-risk comparison children will show better emotion regulation than children in the DEF condition.
Hypothesis 3: Children in the ABC intervention condition and comparison children will show less reactive aggression and less hostile attributional bias than children in the DEF condition.
Hypothesis 4: Children in the ABC condition and comparison children will show more normative cortisol production than children in the DEF condition.
Although we expect that sustained changes in parenting are critical for sustained changes in child behaviors, several alternative models will be tested. First, it is possible that when parents change as a result of the intervention in a child's infancy, there are positive outcomes for children regardless of whether the changes in parenting are sustained. If this is the case, early parenting will mediate the effects of the intervention when controlling for later parenting. Second, if concurrent parenting is what is critical to child functioning, current parenting will mediate intervention effects on child outcomes when controlling for early parenting. Third, longitudinal modeling of both parent and child behaviors allows for analysis of cross-lagged associations using structural equation modeling. Such modeling can examine concurrent and transactional associations between parent and child. We can also examine associations between change at behavioral and biological levels.
Longitudinal modeling will be used to examine models of change in parenting behaviors and how those influence child outcomes.
Study Design
Arms and Interventions
| Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
|---|---|
| Experimental: Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up - 10 session intervention to enhance nurturance and following the lead |
Behavioral: Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up
Enhance nurturance and following the lead among parents. In-home intervention with parents and children present.
|
| Active Comparator: Developmental Education for Families Developmental Education for Families - 10 session intervention that targets cognitive development |
Behavioral: Developmental Education for Families
Enhance children's cognitive development. In-home intervention with parents and children present.
|
| No Intervention: Low-risk Low-risk comparison group |
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcome Measures
- Inhibitory control [Child age of 36 months]
DB-DOS- children who successfully do not touch forbidden toys
- Emotion regulation [Child age of 36 months]
Children will complete emotion regulation tasks (Perfect Circle and Disappointing Gift)
- Peer relations [Child age of 10 years]
Social information processing will be assessed through children's responses to videos of peer provocations.
- Child diagnosis [Child age of 10]
Parents will complete diagnostic interview.
- Child aggression [Child age of 10]
Children will complete video game that will allow assessment of reactive and proactive aggression.
- Cortisol production [Child age of 24 months]
Salivary cortisol levels collected at wake-up and bedtime
- Cortisol production [Child age of 8]
Salivary cortisol levels collected at wake-up and bedtime
- Cortisol production [Child age of 10]
Salivary cortisol levels collected at wake-up and bedtime
- Attachment [Age 18 months]
Attachment assessed through Strange Situation
Secondary Outcome Measures
- Parental sensitivity [Child age of infancy (12-24 months child age)]
Parental sensitivity will be assessed through parent-child interactions.
- Child attachment security (narrative measure) [Child age 9]
Children's score on Attachment Script Assessment, a narrative technique
- Child inhibitory control in middle childhood [Child age 8]
Delay task (Flanker). ERP data will be collected.
- Autonomic nervous system activity [Child age 8]
Child heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia
- Child brain activity [Child age 9]
Child brain activation assessed in fMRI
- Parent Attachment Script Knowledge [Child age of 9]
Parents' score on Attachment Script Assessment, a narrative technique
- Parental sensitivity using Parent-Child Interaction Coding System [Child age 9]
Extent to which parent is responsive and attuned in support discussion (coded behaviorally)
- Autonomic nervous system activity [Child age 10]
Child Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA)
- Alpha and theta wave [Child age 9]
Alpha and theta wave activity in resting state EEG
- Round Robin Assessment of Peer Rejection [Child age 9]
Play groups of unknown peers constituted and video recorded; videos coded at microanalytic level for indices of peer rejection
- Parent neural activity assessed through event related potentials [Child age 4]
Negative 170 ms. (N170: negative deflection 170 ms. after onset of stimulus) in task discriminating infant affect
- Parent neural activity assessed through event related potentials [Child age 4]
Late positive potential - 350-600 ms after onset of stimulus (LPP) in task discriminating infant affect
- Child attachment security (self-reported on Kerns' Attachment Inventory) [Child age 9]
Self-report from child of extent to which he or she can rely on parent
- Child attachment security (self-reported on Kerns' Attachment Inventory) [Child age 10]
Self-report from child of extent to which he or she can rely on parent
- Body mass index [Age 3]
Proportion of height to weight
- Body mass index [Age 4]
Proportion of height to weight
Eligibility Criteria
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- must have been in earlier randomized clinical trial
Exclusion Criteria:
Contacts and Locations
Locations
| Site | City | State | Country | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Delaware | Newark | Delaware | United States | 19711 |
Sponsors and Collaborators
- University of Delaware
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Mary Dozier, Ph.D., University of Delaware
Study Documents (Full-Text)
More Information
Publications
None provided.- NIH R01 74374