Predicting cognitive-language and social growth curves from early maternal behaviors in children at varying degrees of biological risk

Growth modeling was used to examine the relation of early parenting behaviors (averaged across 6 and 12 months) with rates of change in children's cognitive-language and social response and initiating skills assessed at 6, 12, 24, and 40 months. Groups of full-term (n = 112) and very low birth weight children, divided into medically low (n = 114) and high risk (HR; n = 73), were included to evaluate whether children who vary in their ate of development are influenced indifferent ways by early parenting styles. Parenting behaviors that were sensitive to children's focus of interest and did not highly control or restrict heir behaviors predicted greater increases and faster ates of cognitive-language nd social development, with relations tronger for the HR versus the other two groups. These maternal behaviors may provide the support all infants need to establish an optimal early foundation for later development and the specific support HR children need to learn in spite of early attentional nd organizational problems. Across the past several decades, studies have examined as-pects of early parenting that promote children's competencies, such as cooperation, self-assertion, i itiative, and independence in problem solving (e.g., Belsky, Goode, & Most, 1980; Bomsteln & Tamis-LeMonda, 1989; Kopp, 1982; Kuczynski, 1984). An optimal style of parenting for promoting social and cognitive competence is described as one that fosters reciprocal interactions between parent and child so that the child has some degree of control in the interaction (e.g., Baumrind, 1966