Although greater mother-child interaction flexibility has been linked with overall better adjustment within early childhood and adolescence, whether this link persists across the two developmental periods remains unknown. This longitudinal study examined mother-toddler flexibility in affective and behavioral exchanges as predictors of adolescents’ externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Sample included 128 families with their 33-month-old toddlers (52% female), of whom 67 returned in adolescence (M age = 13.25 years, SD = 0.59). Greater affective flexibility during play and behavioral flexibility during snack predicted fewer parent-reported externalizing (but not internalizing) symptoms ten years later, controlling for the positivity-negativity of mother-toddler interactions, early-childhood adjustment, and mother-adolescent flexibility. The findings highlight the unique, prospective role of early-life caregiving flexibility in mitigating adolescents’ behavioral problems.

尽管更大的母子互动灵活性与幼儿期和青春期的整体更好的调整有关，但这种联系是否在两个发育时期持续存在仍然未知。这项纵向研究考察了母婴在情感和行为交流方面的灵活性，作为青少年外化和内化症状的预测因素。样本包括 128 个有 33 个月大幼儿的家庭（52% 是女性），其中 67 个家庭在青春期返回（ M年龄 = 13.25 岁， SD = 0.59）。玩耍时的情感灵活性和零食时的行为灵活性越大，十年后父母报告的外化（但不是内化）症状就会减少，从而控制了母婴互动的正负性、幼儿期调整和母婴灵活性。研究结果强调了早期生活护理灵活性在减轻青少年行为问题方面的独特、前瞻性作用。