Citation

Towe-Goodman NR, Stifter CA, Coccia MA, Cox MJ. Dev. Psychopathol. 2011; 23(2): 563-576.

Affiliation

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Cambridge University Press)

DOI

10.1017/S0954579411000216

PMID

23786696

Abstract

The current study explored longitudinal associations between interparental aggression, the development of child attention skills, and early childhood behavior problems in a diverse sample of 636 families living in predominately low-income, nonmetropolitan communities. The results of latent-variable, cross-lagged longitudinal models revealed that maternal-reported interparental aggression in infancy predicted reduced observed attention skills in toddlerhood; no association was observed, however, between attention in infancy and interparental aggression during the toddler years. Further, reduced toddler attention and high interparental aggression were both associated with increased risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and conduct problems at 3 years of age. Processes largely operated in similar ways regardless of child gender or low-income status, although a few differences were observed. Overall, the results suggest that interparental aggression undermines attention development, putting children's early behavioral adjustment at risk.

Language: en