Clues from dyadic interactions in early childhood predict psychotic-like experiences at the transition to adolescence in a sample enriched for psychopathology risk.

Abstract

Early childhood is a critical period for socioemotional development with long-term implications for the emergence of psychopathology. However, alterations in social interactions during early childhood have not been examined as vulnerability markers for psychosis. Raters naïve to clinical outcomes coded behaviors during socially engaged and socially disengaged contexts of the disruptive behavior diagnostic observation schedule video-recorded in early childhood (ages 3-5 years old; M = 4.23) for a subset of child-caregiver dyads from the multidimensional assessment of preschoolers study (n = 93), a sample enriched for psychopathology risk by oversampling for irritability and exposure to violence. Linear regression models examined the predictive value of mutual responsive behavior (e.g., appropriate responses to the dyadic partner's bids for engagement), positive emotion, negative emotion, and eye gaze for psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) at the "tween" wave (ages 10-13). Parallel models with internalizing/externalizing symptoms measured at preadolescence (n = 87; ages 8-11) examined specificity. Lower responsive behavior, greater negative emotion, and lower eye gaze among child-caregiver dyads in only the socially engaged task predicted greater PLEs, all p < .042 and multiple R² > .045. A combined model performed better than the individual models, p = .010, multiple R² = .139, indicating these predictors contributed unique variance. For internalizing and externalizing symptoms, only eye gaze in the socially disengaged task was a significant predictor for externalizing symptoms. The specificity of results suggests the observed dyadic behaviors may index mechanisms of neurodevelopmental vulnerability to psychosis, which has significant implications for early detection and prevention. Studies with dense observations beginning in infancy, paired to neurophysiology, and linked to PLEs will be key to understanding neurodevelopmental mechanisms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).