This multi-method study sought to investigate the relations between parental wellbeing, parenting behaviour and children’s self-regulation in the first two years of life. First-time expectant parents in the East of England, New York State and the Netherlands completed an online questionnaire and in-person interview during the final month of their pregnancy (estimated as 1-month before the due date). The families were then contacted to participate in a 4-month follow-up questionnaire and home visit. The home visit consisted of observations of parent-child interactions, parental interviews and a task designed to measure infant attention. Ten months later the families participated in a 14-month questionnaire and home visit. The home visit consisted of a set of parent-child observations, parental interviews and cognitive tests, and a battery of tasks to measure the target child’s executive function. Finally, 20 months later the families participated in a 24-month questionnaire and home visit. This final home visit consisted of a set of parent-child observations, parental interviews and a battery of tasks designed to measure the target child’s executive function. Early childhood conduct problems are very common and predict multiple adverse life-course outcomes, such that understanding their origins is an urgent challenge. This proposal extends the applicants' previous work on family influences on children's abilities to regulate their thoughts and behaviours in several ways: by focusing on the first two years of life; by examining effects of paternal as well as maternal influences; by integrating this cognitive perspective with the co-investigators' expertise in assessing individual differences at biological and social levels; and finally by adopting a multi-site design that provides a stringent test of the generalisability of study findings. A sample of 400 expectant mothers and their partners (200 in the UK and 100 in the USA and the Netherlands) will be recruited using an enriched sampling design to maximize the participation of expectant parents showing low levels of well-being. Self-regulatory skills will be assessed using validated experimental methods. We hope to examine the complex interplay between a range of social factors (e.g., quality of family relationships), cognitive factors (in both parents and infants) and biological factors (maternal and infant levels of the stress hormone cortisol) as predictors of infant adjustment and well-being. A key strength of the study is its inclusion of fathers, as many basic questions regarding parental influences remain unanswered: For example are the relations between parental predictors and infant outcomes similar in nature and magnitude for fathers and mothers? Building on the rapid growth of studies that highlight variation in children's susceptibility to environmental influences, the proposed study will explore contrasts in the nature and magnitude of family predictors of infant adjustment that relate to characteristics of the infant (e.g., stress reactivity), the parent (e.g., parenting style) and the culture (e.g., level of societal support for individuals making the transition to parenthood).

To be eligible participants had to: (1) be first-time parents, (2) expecting delivery of a healthy singleton baby, (3) planning to speak English (or Dutch) as a primary language with their child, and (4) have no history of severe mental illness (e.g., psychosis) or substance misuse. 484 expectant couples attending antenatal clinics, ultrasound scans, and parenting fairs in the East of England, New York State and the Netherlands were initially recruited. Ten families were not eligible for follow-up when the infants were 4 months old due to birth complications or having left the country. Of the remaining 474 families, 23 families withdrew and 445 (93.8%) agreed to a home visit when their infants (224 boys, 221 girls) were 4 months old, MAge = 4.26 months, SD = 0.46 months, range: 2.97 – 6.23 months. At the next time point, 13 of the 451 remaining families became ineligible for follow-up due to having left the country. Six families withdrew from the study and 6 families who missed appointments at 4-months took part. Thus, 422 out of 438 eligible families (96.3%) took part when their infants (214 boys, 208 girls) were 14 months old, MAge = 14.42 months, SD = 0.57 months, range: 9.47 – 18.40 months. At the final time point, 12 of the remaining 438 families became ineligible for follow-up due to having left the country. Sixteen families declined to take part in the home visit and 10 families returned to the study having missed their previous appointment. Thus, 404 out of 426 eligible families (94.8%) took part when their children (209 boys, 195 girls) were 24 months old, MAge = 24.47 months, SD = 0.78 months, range: 19.43 – 26.97 months. At the birth of their child mothers were, on average 32.24 years old, SD = 3.92, range: 21.16 – 43.76 years, and fathers were 34.07 years old, SD = 4.73, range: 23.10 – 55.95 years. Both mothers and fathers had high levels of educational attainment: 84.3% of mothers and 76.3% of fathers had an undergraduate degree or higher.