Associations between Infant Behavior during the Face-to-Face Still Face Paradigm and Oppositional Defiant and Callous-Unemotional Behaviors in Early Childhood

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Wagner, Nicholas
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience

Abstract

Extant research with child and adolescent samples investigating the behavioral correlates of oppositional defiant (ODD) and callous-unemotional (CU) traits have identified deficits in social orienting during dyadic interactions and hyporeactivity to fearful and stressful stimuli. The goal of the current study was to investigate infants' mother-directed gaze and affective behavior during the face-to-face and still-face episodes of the face-to-face still face paradigm performed at 6 months in the prediction of oppositional defiant and callous-unemotional behaviors in early childhood. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that infants' expressed negative affect and mother-directed gaze predicted fewer ODD behaviors in early childhood. Similarly, infants' expressed negative affect during the still face episode predicted fewer ODD and CU behaviors in early childhood. Further, mother-directed gaze during the free play episode attenuated the negative relationship between negative affect during the still face episode and ODD and, at least marginally, CU behaviors in early childhood.

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