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Punishment Insensitivity in Early Childhood: A Developmental, Dimensional Approach.

ABSTRACT: Impairment in learning from punishment ("punishment insensitivity") is an established feature of severe antisocial behavior in adults and youth but it has not been well studied as a developmental phenomenon. In early childhood, differentiating a normal: abnormal spectrum of punishment insensitivity is key for distinguishing normative misbehavior from atypical manifestations. This study employed a novel measure, the Multidimensional Assessment Profile of Disruptive Behavior (MAP-DB), to examine the distribution, dimensionality, and external validity of punishment insensitivity in a large, demographically diverse community sample of preschoolers (3-5 years) recruited from pediatric clinics (N?=?1,855). Caregivers completed surveys from which a seven-item Punishment Insensitivity scale was derived. Findings indicated that Punishment Insensitivity behaviors are relatively common in young children, with at least 50 % of preschoolers exhibiting them sometimes. Item response theory analyses revealed a Punishment Insensitivity spectrum. Items varied along a severity continuum: most items needed to occur "Often" in order to be severe and behaviors that were qualitatively atypical or intense were more severe. Although there were item-level differences across sociodemographic groups, these were small. Construct, convergent, and divergent validity were demonstrated via association to low concern for others and noncompliance, motivational regulation, and a disruptive family context. Incremental clinical utility was demonstrated in relation to impairment. Early childhood punishment insensitivity varies along a severity continuum and is atypical when it predominates. Implications for understanding the phenomenology of emergent disruptive behavior are discussed.

SUBMITTER: Nichols SR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4446258 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Punishment Insensitivity in Early Childhood: A Developmental, Dimensional Approach.

Nichols Sara R SR Briggs-Gowan Margaret J MJ Estabrook Ryne R Burns James L JL Kestler Jacqueline J Berman Grace G Henry David B DB Wakschlag Lauren S LS

Journal of abnormal child psychology 20150801 6

Impairment in learning from punishment ("punishment insensitivity") is an established feature of severe antisocial behavior in adults and youth but it has not been well studied as a developmental phenomenon. In early childhood, differentiating a normal: abnormal spectrum of punishment insensitivity is key for distinguishing normative misbehavior from atypical manifestations. This study employed a novel measure, the Multidimensional Assessment Profile of Disruptive Behavior (MAP-DB), to examine t ...[more]

PMID: 25425187

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Project description:ObjectivesChildhood disturbances in social, emotional, language, motor and cognitive functioning, and schizotypy have each been implicated as precursors of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. We investigated whether relationships between early childhood developmental vulnerabilities and childhood schizotypy are mediated by educational underachievement in middle childhood.MethodsParticipants were members of a large Australian (n = 19,216) population cohort followed longitudinally. Path analyses were used to model relationships between developmental vulnerabilities at age ~5 years, educational underachievement from ages ~8 to 10 years and three distinct profiles of schizotypy at age ~11 years (true, introverted and affective schizotypy).ResultsEarly childhood developmental vulnerabilities on five broad domains (related to physical, emotional, social, cognitive and communication development) were associated with schizotypy profiles in middle childhood. Educational underachievement in middle childhood was associated with all schizotypy profiles, but most strongly with the true schizotypy profile (OR = 3.92, 95% CI = 3.12, 4.91). The relationships between schizotypy profiles and early childhood developmental vulnerabilities in 'language and cognitive skills (school-based)' and 'communication skills and general knowledge' domains were fully mediated by educational underachievement in middle childhood, and the relationships with early childhood 'physical health and well-being' and 'emotional maturity' domains were partially mediated.ConclusionDevelopmental continuity from early childhood developmental vulnerabilities to schizotypy in middle childhood is mediated by educational underachievement in middle childhood. While some domains of early developmental functioning showed differential relationships with distinct schizotypy profiles, these findings support a developmental pathway to schizotypy in which cognitive vulnerability operates from early childhood through to middle childhood.

Project description:IntroductionDuring early childhood, typical human motor behavior reveals a gradual transition from automatic motor patterns to acquired motor skills, by the continuous interplay between nature and nurture. During the wiring and shaping of the underlying motor networks, insight into the neurological phenotype of developmental motor patterns is incomplete. In healthy, typically developing children (0-3 years of age), we therefore aimed to investigate the neurological phenotype of developmental motor patterns.MethodsIn 32 healthy, typically developing children (0-3 years), we video-recorded spontaneous motor behavior, general movements (GMs), and standardized motor tasks. We classified the motor patterns by: (a) the traditional neurodevelopmental approach, by Gestalt perception and (b) the classical neurological approach, by the clinical phenotypic determination of movement disorder features. We associated outcomes by Cramer's V.ResultsDevelopmental motor patterns revealed (a) choreatic-like features (?3 months; associated with fidgety GMs (r = 0.732) and startles (r = 0.687)), (b) myoclonic-like features (?3 months; associated with fidgety GMs (r = 0.878) and startles (r = 0.808)), (c) dystonic-like features (0-3 years; associated with asymmetrical tonic neck reflex (r = 0.641) and voluntary movements (r = 0.517)), and (d) ataxic-like features (>3 months; associated with voluntary movements (r = 0.928)).ConclusionsIn healthy infants and toddlers (0-3 years), typical developmental motor patterns reveal choreatic-, myoclonic-, dystonic- and ataxic-like features. The transient character of these neurological phenotypes is placed in perspective of the physiological shaping of the underlying motor centers. Neurological phenotypic insight into developmental motor patterns can contribute to adequate discrimination between ontogenetic and initiating pathological movement features and to adequate interpretation of therapeutic interactions.

Dataset Information

Punishment Insensitivity in Early Childhood: A Developmental, Dimensional Approach.

Publications

Punishment Insensitivity in Early Childhood: A Developmental, Dimensional Approach.

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