Conflict resolution dynamics with stable caregivers confer resilience for youth exposed to early caregiving-related adversity.

Contingent responses in which caregiver and child build on each other's positive behavior may attenuate the deleterious effects of early adversity on youth mental health and neuroendocrine functioning. 159 caregiver-child dyads (child age: 6-16 years; 50.9% male; 44.6% adversity-exposed in stable arrangements with adoptive caregivers) participated in a 6-min conflict resolution task, which was coded for second-by-second changes in caregivers' and children's behavior (κ's >0.78). Caregivers reported on their child's mental health problems; youth hair cortisol concentration was obtained. Caregiver contingent responses to their children (i.e., responding to their partner's positive social communication with active efforts to facilitate emotion regulation and/or problem-solving) attenuated the effects of adversity on child anxiety and conduct disorder symptoms. Stronger positive child contingent responses to their caregivers attenuated the effects of adversity on child depressive, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, and oppositional defiant symptoms. Positive contingent transactions are health-promotive interaction sequences that could be targeted in transdiagnostic intervention programs.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Development and Psychopathology

• Publication date

  2025-11-25

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1017/S0954579425100941PMID 41288002PMCID PMC12754812
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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