The Strength of Maternal Emotion Talk In An Early Intervention for Toddlers With Elevated Behavior Problems

Child behavioral and emotional issues benefit from early intervention, particularly during the first few years of life. Though significant research has been conducted to understand the efficacy of common early interventions, there remains a gap in analyzing strength-based factors, as compared to risk, that may aid in intervention outcomes, especially within high-risk samples of families from marginalized communities. To contribute to the understanding of strength-based predictors of treatment, this secondary data analysis examined the moderating effect of maternal emotion talk on toddler behavior outcomes after the completion of a home-based adaptation of Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) coined the Infant Behavior Program (IBP). Participants included 58 mother-toddler dyads (54% male, an average age of 13.52 months old, and 95% Hispanic or Latine) who were randomly assigned to either receive IBP or treatment as usual via standard pediatric care. Maternal emotion talk was found to moderate the effects of the intervention on toddler externalizing and dysregulation behaviors, such that mothers who used more emotion talk at baseline had toddlers with lower externalizing and dysregulation scores for those in the intervention group compared to those in the control group. Results provide support for maternal emotion talk as a strength-based treatment response predictor. These findings may be due to an association between increased maternal emotion talk and stronger maternal engagement with the intervention, or the potential for IBP to build upon maternal strengths present at baseline and can be used to inform future prevention and intervention efforts.