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W. Roger Mills-Koonce

Bio: W. Roger Mills-Koonce is an academic researcher from University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The author has contributed to research in topics: Early childhood & Maternal sensitivity. The author has an hindex of 27, co-authored 56 publications receiving 2528 citations. Previous affiliations of W. Roger Mills-Koonce include University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


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TL;DR: For mothers of avoidant children, vagal withdrawal was associated with sensitivity to child distress, and no association was found betweenvagal withdrawal and sensitivity for mothers of securely attached children, suggesting that mothers ofAvoidant children may be uniquely challenged by the affective demands of their infants.
Abstract: We examined variations in maternal sensitivity at 6 months of child age as a function of child negativity and maternal physiology. We expected maternal vagal withdrawal in response to infant negative affect to facilitate the maintenance of sensitivity, but only for mothers of securely attached children. One hundred and forty-eight infant-mother dyads were observed in multiple contexts at 6 months of child age, and associations among maternal and child variables were examined with respect to 12-month attachment quality. Mothers of later securely attached children were more sensitive than mothers of avoidant children. However, sensitivity decreased for all mothers at high levels of infant negative affect. Furthermore, for mothers of avoidant children, vagal withdrawal was associated with sensitivity to child distress. No association was found between vagal withdrawal and sensitivity for mothers of securely attached children. This suggests that mothers of avoidant children may be uniquely challenged by the affective demands of their infants.

334 citations

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TL;DR: Mothers' and infants' physiological responses may be a function of mutual responsiveness and parents' physiological regulation may support infants' regulation.
Abstract: Parents’ physiological regulation may support infants’ regulation. Mothers (N= 152) and 6-month-old male and female infants were observed in normal and disrupted social interaction. Affect was coded at 1-s intervals and vagal tone measured as respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Maternal sensitivity was assessed in free play. Mothers and infants showed opposite patterns of RSA change. During disrupted interaction, mothers’ RSA increased and infants’ decreased, suggesting self-regulation of distress. During reunion, although the typical pattern was for infants to return to baseline levels, infants of sensitive mothers and sensitive mothers both showed a significant decrease in RSA from baseline. Mothers’ and infants’ physiological responses may be a function of mutual responsiveness.

226 citations

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TL;DR: During the last reunion, typically the most stressful episode for infants, mothers of secure infants showed greater vagal withdrawal than mothers of insecure-avoidant infants, suggesting greater attempts by these mothers at interactive repair.
Abstract: Vagal reactivity and salivary a-amylase (sAA) were assessed in infants (M age ¼13.55 months) and their mothers during the Strange Situation Paradigm (SSP) to investigate differences in physiological responses in a sample of insecure-avoidant and securely-attached dyads (N ¼132). Infants classified as insecure-avoidant had significantly higher vagal withdrawal during the SSP and higher sAA overall, suggesting that the avoidant attachment pattern is associated with a greater allostatic load. During separation episodes of the SSP, all mothers showed significant vagal withdrawal, suggesting greater attempts at regulation. During the last reunion, typically the most stressful episode for infants, mothers of secure infants showed greater vagal withdrawal than mothers of insecure- avoidant infants, suggesting greater attempts by these mothers at interactive repair. Results for mothers and infants supported the allostatic load theory. 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 50: 361-376, 2008.

164 citations

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TL;DR: Results suggest that mothers did not experience change in objective economic hardship over time but did experience a small decrease in economic pressure, and depression and anxiety were both found to mediate the relations between economic pressure and sensitive parenting behaviors.
Abstract: Although much of the extant research on low-income families has targeted parental depression as the predominant psychological response to economic hardship, the current study examined a range of maternal psychological symptoms that may mediate the relations between early economic pressure and later parenting behaviors. A family stress model was examined using data from 1,142 mothers living in 2 areas of high rural poverty, focusing on the infancy through toddlerhood period. Maternal questionnaires and observations of mother-child interactions were collected across 4 time points (6, 15, 24, and 36 months). Results from structural equation analyses indicated that early economic pressure was significantly related to a variety of symptoms (depression, hostility, anxiety, and somatization), but only depression and somatization were significantly related to decreased levels of sensitive, supportive parenting behaviors. In contrast, anxiety was positively associated with sensitive parenting. Depression and anxiety were both found to mediate the relations between economic pressure and sensitive parenting behaviors. Results further suggest that mothers did not experience change in objective economic hardship over time but did experience a small decrease in economic pressure. Discussion centers on the apparent indirect influence of early economic hardship on later psychological symptoms and parenting behaviors, as well as detailing the need for broader and more complex perspectives on maternal psychological responses that arise as a result of economic disadvantage.

154 citations

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TL;DR: The authors found support for interdependence of parenting by mothers and fathers as embedded within particular family systems and high perceived marital quality was associated with interDependence of sensitive parenting behaviors in mother-infant and father-infants interactions.
Abstract: This study examined the relations among parenting behaviors of 97 coresident mothers and fathers of infants during a dyadic free-play setting. The authors examined the extent to which observed sensitive and intrusive parenting behaviors in mother-child and father-child dyads were related and how perceived marital quality may be associated with the similarity between maternal and paternal parenting behaviors. The authors found support for interdependence of parenting by mothers and fathers. High perceived marital quality was associated with interdependence of sensitive parenting behaviors in mother-infant and father-infant interactions. Negative parenting behaviors by mothers and fathers were interrelated regardless of marital quality. The findings highlight the importance of studying parenting by mothers and fathers as embedded within particular family systems.

142 citations


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5,680 citations

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TL;DR: Evidence consistent with the proposition that individuals differ in plasticity is reviewed, and multiple instances in which specific genes function less like "vulnerability factors" and more like "plasticity factors," thereby rendering some individuals more malleable or susceptible than others to both negative and positive environmental influences.
Abstract: Evolutionary-biological reasoning suggests that individuals should be differentially susceptible to environmental influences, with some people being not just more vulnerable than others to the negative effects of adversity, as the prevailing diathesis-stress view of psychopathology (and of many environmental influences) maintains, but also disproportionately susceptible to the beneficial effects of supportive and enriching experiences (or just the absence of adversity). Evidence consistent with the proposition that individuals differ in plasticity is reviewed. The authors document multiple instances in which (a) phenotypic temperamental characteristics, (b) endophenotypic attributes, and (c) specific genes function less like “vulnerability factors” and more like “plasticity factors,” thereby rendering some individuals more malleable or susceptible than others to both negative and positive environmental influences. Discussion focuses upon limits of the evidence, statistical criteria for distinguishing differential susceptibility from diathesis stress, potential mechanisms of influence, and unknowns in the differentialsusceptibility equation.

2,422 citations

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TL;DR: The differential susceptibility paradigm has far-reaching implications for understanding whether and how much child and adult development responds, for better and for worse, to the gamut of species-typical environmental conditions.
Abstract: Two extant evolutionary models, biological sensitivity to context theory (BSCT) and differential susceptibility theory (DST), converge on the hypothesis that some individuals are more susceptible than others to both negative (risk-promoting) and positive (development-enhancing) environmental conditions. These models contrast with the currently dominant perspective on personal vulnerability and environmental risk: diathesis stress/dual risk. We review challenges to this perspective based on emerging theory and data from the evolutionary, developmental, and health sciences. These challenges signify the need for a

1,267 citations

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TL;DR: This review describes sAA as an emerging biomarker for stress and provides an overview of the current literature on stress-related alterations in sAA, and critically discusses how sAA might reflect changes in the autonomic nervous system.

1,157 citations