Dante Cicchetti, PhD

Maternal insensitivity to children’s emotional distress (e.g., expressions of sadness or fearfulness) is one mechanism through which maternal alcohol dependence may increase children’s risk for psychopathology. Although emotion dysregulation is consistently associated with psychopathology, it remains unclear how or why alcohol dependence’s effects on caregiving responses to children’s distress may impact children’s emotion regulation over time, particularly in ways that may engender risks for psychopathology. This study examined longitudinal associations between lifetime maternal alcohol dependence symptoms, mothers’ insensitivity to children’s emotional distress cues, and children’s emotional reactivity among 201 mother-child dyads (Mchild age = 2.14 years; 56% Black; 11% Latino). Structural equation modeling analyses revealed a significant mediational pathway such that maternal alcohol …

Temperamental sensitivity (TS), which is a correlated suite of traits reflecting a lower threshold of environmental stimulation and heightened responsivity to a range of environmental contexts, is an empirically documented susceptibility factor that increases children’s plasticity to supportive and harsh family environments. To expand the limited options for assessing TS, this article tested the psychometric properties of a new Q-set measure (ie, TS Q-scale) derived from the California Child Q-Set (CCQ-Set) and completed by experimenters. Participants in Study 1 consisted of 243 mothers, their partners, and their preschool children (M age= 4.60 years; 56% girls; 54% Black or multiracial; 16% Latinx). For Study 2, participants included 201 mothers and their young children (M age= 2.25 years; 44% girls; 63% Black or multiracial; 11% Latinx). Both longitudinal studies utilized multimethod, multiinformant measurement …

Childhood maltreatment is a toxic stressor that occurs in the family context and is related to adverse outcomes including elevations in internalizing symptomology and externalizing symptomology. In the present study, we tested the role of threat and deprivation dimensions of child maltreatment in the etiology of comorbid psychopathology in emerging adulthood. Additionally, we investigated emotion regulation and emotion lability/negativity as mechanisms underlying the relationship between child maltreatment dimensions and emerging adult psychopathology. To address these aims, we used a longitudinal sample of emerging adults (N = 413, Mage = 19.67, 78.0% Black, 51.1% female) who had previously participated in research assessments at age 10–12. Using a person-centered approach with latent profile analysis, we identified three classes of emerging adulthood psychopathology characterized by …

Despite findings that developmental timing of maltreatment is a critical factor in predicting subsequent outcomes, children's developmental stage is understudied in maltreatment research. Moreover, childhood maltreatment is associated with the development of maladaptive peer relationships and psychopathology, with social cognition identified as a process underlying this risk. The current study uses structural equation modeling to examine the impact of developmental timing of maltreatment (ie, infancy through preschool versus elementary and middle-school years) on psychopathology via negative perceptions of peer relationships. Multi-informant methods were used to assess 680 socioeconomically disadvantaged children. Results did not support differential effects of early versus later maltreatment on children's internalizing symptomatology or disruptive behavior, but indicated that chronic maltreatment, relative …

The present study illustrates the utility of latent class analysis, a person‐centered data analytic approach, as an innovative method for identifying naturally occurring patterns of polygenic risk, specifically within the dopaminergic system. Moreover, this study tests whether latent classes of polygenic variation moderate the effect of child maltreatment exposure on internalizing symptoms among African ancestry youth. African ancestry youth were selected for this study because youth of color are overrepresented in the child welfare system and because African ancestry individuals are significantly underrepresented in genomics research. Results identified three latent classes of dopaminergic gene variation. Class 1 was marked predominately by homozygous minor alleles, Class 2 was characterized by homozygous major and heterozygous presentations, and Class 3 was marked by heterozygous alleles on the DAT‐1 …

Child maltreatment constitutes a significant environmental risk for children, with carryover effects into future generations. There is a need to characterize protective factors that may buffer against the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment. The current study addresses this gap through two primary aims: 1) the development and validation of a novel measure assessing resolution of maternal childhood maltreatment trauma using narrative coding methods and 2) the evaluation of maternal maltreatment trauma resolution as a buffering factor that may moderate associations between maternal neglect histories and sensitive parenting of offspring. Results of reliability analyses from this sample of 210 diverse, low-income mothers suggest the novel childhood maltreatment trauma resolution measure is highly reliable. Furthermore, results highlight the generalizability, criterion validity, and concurrent and predictive …

The original version of this article contained some mistakes. The names of two of my co-authors, Elizabeth D. Handley and Dante Cicchetti, are mispelled as Elizabeth D.“Ha” and Dante “Cicchett” respectively.

Mind-mindedness is associated with positive developmental outcomes. However, much of the literature uses mostly White, middle to high socioeconomic status (SES) samples despite evidence that the benefits of mind-mindedness may vary based on degree of social risk. Additionally, few studies have examined relations between mind-mindedness and language development. The current study investigates whether mind-mindedness predicts children’s language development and behavioral functioning and if family history of childhood maltreatment moderates the relation of mind-mindedness to these outcomes. Participants were 98 mothers (49.0% Black, 24.5% White, 13.3% Latina, 7.2% multiracial; 81.6% low SES per Hollingshead classifications) and their children (49 boys, 49 girls) from the Rochester, New York area recruited at Time 1 (M age= 13.34 months) and followed up twice (M ages= 27.51 [Time 2] and …