Date of Award

Spring 6-12-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D. in Psychology

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology

First Advisor

Jenalee R. Doom

Second Advisor

Angela J. Narayan

Third Advisor

Elysia P. Davis

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

Child development, Maternal predictability, Mental health, Maternal sensory input, Child biobehavioral outcomes

Abstract

Early caregiving experiences play a foundational role in child development. Emerging research focuses on how patterns of caregiver signals, including maternal sensory input, shape child outcomes. Specifically, evidence shows that unpredictable patterns of maternal sensory signals (i.e., transitions between auditory, visual, and tactile cues) are associated with poorer cognitive, emotional, and physiological outcomes in children. The current dissertation builds upon this literature by replicating and extending previous findings related to child biobehavioral outcomes that may affect later mental health.

Study 1 examined whether predictability of maternal sensory signals is associated with infant cortisol responses to challenging behavioral tasks at 6 months of age. In a sample of 149 mother-infant dyads, maternal behaviors were coded from video recordings of free-play episodes and used to calculate an entropy rate indexing the degree of unpredictability in sensory signal transitions. Infant salivary cortisol was collected at multiple timepoints during a laboratory visit with multiple behavioral tasks and used to model reactivity and recovery trajectories. Using multilevel modeling, results showed that exposure to more unpredictable maternal sensory signals was associated with blunted infant cortisol stress responses.

Study 2 examined whether predictability of maternal sensory signals during infancy (1) is associated with child behavioral outcomes at 4.5 to 6.5 years of age, and (2) interacts with other contextual factors (maternal mental health, family socioeconomic status) to predict these outcomes. In a sample of 166 mother-child dyads, predictability of maternal sensory signals was assessed from video recordings of free-play episodes (as in Study 1) and mothers reported on their depressive symptoms, household income-to-needs ratio (INR), and child behavioral outcomes. Linear regression models showed that exposure to more unpredictable maternal sensory signals during infancy was associated with lower child effortful control, particularly in males. Furthermore, there was an interaction with household INR such that higher INR was associated with higher child effortful control, only for children exposed to less unpredictable (i.e., more predictable) maternal sensory signals.

Together, these studies provide valuable insight into how patterns of maternal sensory input shape child development and pave the way for future research on linkages to future mental health.

Copyright Date

6-2026

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Deborah Han

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

187 pgs

File Size

1.6 MB

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Available for download on Sunday, July 09, 2028



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