C D M H

Michigan Family Study of Infant Self-Regulation

PI: Susan McDonough, Ph.D.
Co-Investigators: Arnold Sameroff, Ph.D.
Sheila Gahagan, M.D.
Betsy Lozoff, M.D.

Mental health during early childhood is closely associated with the quality of social and family contexts. Infants with pediatric physiological regulation problems in areas of sleep, crying, and feeding frequently have mental health problems during early childhood. In this study we are assessing environmental risk factors and parent-child relationship problems to determine if they mediate the connection between infant regulation problems and later emotional, social, and behavioral problems.

260 infants have been evaluated for pediatric problems, environmental risk, and parent-child relationships and reexamined at 7 and 15 months of age for mental health status. An environmental multirisk score is calculated from factors associated with parenting behavior, parental childrearing values, parent mental health and education, marital satisfaction and structure, social support, stressful life events, neighborhood conditions, and family ethnic and economic status. Parent-child interactions are assessed in a university laboratory. Currently, mental health outcomes are being assessed at 33 months to be related to early infant physiologic and psychological regulatory behavior.