Early infant behavioral correlates of deficits in social skills in adolescents

Shoaff, J., Nugent, J.K., Brazelton, T.B; Korrick, S.A. (2020). Early Infant Correlates of Social Skills in Adolescents. Journal of Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology. 2020; 00:1-10.

This study, published in the Journal of Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, examines hypothesized associations between infant behavior and adolescent behaviors associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). Longitudinal data on 370 participants from the New Bedford Cohort, a prospective birth cohort, were used to examine the associations between behaviors when the children were neonates, measured by the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), and subsequent development of maladaptive behaviors associated with ASDs as adolescents. Poorer neonatal performance on certain individual items and cluster scales of the NBAS was associated with an increase in maladaptive behaviors associated with ASDs in adolescents. Associations tended to be stronger in males and were strongest for neonatal measures of self-regulation, measures reflecting the response to auditory input, and measures of autonomic nervous system regulation.

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