INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 05 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 02:30 pm - 03:45 pm Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120) Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry \| Addiction/Dependence \| Stress/Coping \| Emotional/Social Processes Final Abstract #95 The Role of Caregiver-Reported Attentional Orienting at 6 Months in Predicting Social Communication/Cognition at 12 Months in Full and Preterm Infants Casey Swick, Texas Children's Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States Renee Lajiness-O'Neill, Eastern Michigan University/Michigan Medicine, Ypsilanti, United States Category: Social Cognition Keyword 1: social processes Keyword 2: child development (normal) Keyword 3: prematurity Objective: Attentional orienting (AO) and social/communication/cognition (SCG) develop rapidly in infancy. Gartstein and Rothbart (2003) found that the relationship between duration of orienting and age is U-shaped, with longer duration before and after 6 months of age. Joint attention (JA) is the coordination of attention for a social purpose and is key to social/communication and cognitive development. JA is initially reflexive and becomes voluntary over the first year of life. The relationship between AO and SCG is not yet well understood, despite their known relationship to JA development. This study examined the relationship between AO at 6 months and SCG at 12 months, at the time this shift in JA development occurs. Similar to the relationship between AO and age, it was hypothesized that AO at 6 months would be related to SCG at 12 months and a quadratic trend would best describe this relationship, reflecting synchronized development of AO and SCG, necessary to support development of JA. Participants and Methods: The pooled sample included 571 caregiver/infant dyads (331 full-term and 240 preterm infants; 298 male infants) from a longitudinal, multi-site study. Maternal education included 51% with some high school/completed high school or trade school and 49% who completed college or advanced education. Social communication/cognition development was assessed using the Social/Communication/Cognition (SCG) domain of PediaTrac™ v3.0, a caregiver-report tool that measures infant/toddler development (Lajiness-O'Neill et al., 2023). IRT modeling was used to derive an index of the latent trait (theta, Θ) for the SCG domain at 12 months. Attentional orienting was assessed via the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Short Form (IBQ-RSF; Putnam et al., 2014) duration of orienting subscale score at 6 months. In the regression model, infant sex, term status, and maternal education were entered into block 1 as predictors. IBQ-RSF AO score and AO squared values were entered as predictors in block 2 to investigate AO as both a linear and quadratic predictor of SCG. Results: IBQ-RSF AO at 6 months and SCG theta at 12 months were significantly, positively correlated (r= .37, p< .001, small effect size). Block one significantly predicted SCG at 12 months (R² =.03, F(3, 421)= 3.69, p= .012), with maternal education predicting significant variance in SCG (i.e., lower maternal education predicted higher SCG). Block 2 significantly predicted SCG at 12 months (ΔR² = .15, F(2, 419)= 37.82, p< .001), with AO² predicting significant variance in SCG, suggesting a positive, quadratic relationship between AO at 6 months and SCG at 12 months. Conclusions: Consistent with the hypothesis, a significant quadratic relationship existed between AO at 6 months and SCG at 12 months, accounting for 15% of the variance in SCG. Findings support the hypothesis that AO and SCG may follow similar developmental trajectories and the notion that 6 to 12 months is a period of synchronization between these processes. The relationship may be quadratic rather than linear due to an important period of skill consolidation that supports the development of JA, relying on both AO and SCG development.

Poster

02/15/2024
02:30 pm - 03:45 pm
Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120)

Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry | Addiction/Dependence | Stress/Coping | Emotional/Social Processes

Final Abstract #95

The Role of Caregiver-Reported Attentional Orienting at 6 Months in Predicting Social Communication/Cognition at 12 Months in Full and Preterm Infants

Casey Swick, Texas Children's Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
Renee Lajiness-O'Neill, Eastern Michigan University/Michigan Medicine, Ypsilanti, United States

Category: Social Cognition

Keyword 1: social processes
Keyword 2: child development (normal)
Keyword 3: prematurity

Objective:

Attentional orienting (AO) and social/communication/cognition (SCG) develop rapidly in infancy. Gartstein and Rothbart (2003) found that the relationship between duration of orienting and age is U-shaped, with longer duration before and after 6 months of age. Joint attention (JA) is the coordination of attention for a social purpose and is key to social/communication and cognitive development. JA is initially reflexive and becomes voluntary over the first year of life. The relationship between AO and SCG is not yet well understood, despite their known relationship to JA development. This study examined the relationship between AO at 6 months and SCG at 12 months, at the time this shift in JA development occurs. Similar to the relationship between AO and age, it was hypothesized that AO at 6 months would be related to SCG at 12 months and a quadratic trend would best describe this relationship, reflecting synchronized development of AO and SCG, necessary to support development of JA.

Participants and Methods:

The pooled sample included 571 caregiver/infant dyads (331 full-term and 240 preterm infants; 298 male infants) from a longitudinal, multi-site study. Maternal education included 51% with some high school/completed high school or trade school and 49% who completed college or advanced education. Social communication/cognition development was assessed using the Social/Communication/Cognition (SCG) domain of PediaTrac™ v3.0, a caregiver-report tool that measures infant/toddler development (Lajiness-O'Neill et al., 2023). IRT modeling was used to derive an index of the latent trait (theta, Θ) for the SCG domain at 12 months. Attentional orienting was assessed via the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Short Form (IBQ-RSF; Putnam et al., 2014) duration of orienting subscale score at 6 months. In the regression model, infant sex, term status, and maternal education were entered into block 1 as predictors. IBQ-RSF AO score and AO squared values were entered as predictors in block 2 to investigate AO as both a linear and quadratic predictor of SCG.

Results:

IBQ-RSF AO at 6 months and SCG theta at 12 months were significantly, positively correlated (r= .37, p< .001, small effect size). Block one significantly predicted SCG at 12 months (R² =.03, F(3, 421)= 3.69, p= .012), with maternal education predicting significant variance in SCG (i.e., lower maternal education predicted higher SCG). Block 2 significantly predicted SCG at 12 months (ΔR² = .15, F(2, 419)= 37.82, p< .001), with AO² predicting significant variance in SCG, suggesting a positive, quadratic relationship between AO at 6 months and SCG at 12 months.

Conclusions:

Consistent with the hypothesis, a significant quadratic relationship existed between AO at 6 months and SCG at 12 months, accounting for 15% of the variance in SCG. Findings support the hypothesis that AO and SCG may follow similar developmental trajectories and the notion that 6 to 12 months is a period of synchronization between these processes. The relationship may be quadratic rather than linear due to an important period of skill consolidation that supports the development of JA, relying on both AO and SCG development.