What mothers can do about their toddlers’ stranger anxiety

Abstract To examine how maternal behaviors may foretell change in toddlers’ stranger anxiety, 168 Hong Kong Chinese middle‐class mother‐toddler dyads were assessed when the toddlers were 12‐month‐olds (M = 11.9 months, SD = .48, 83 or 49% boys); 160 dyads were assessed again 6 months later. Maternal and toddler behaviors were video‐recorded to assess: maternal encouragement and intrusiveness during stranger‐toddler interaction; toddlers’ fearfulness and avoidance of the stranger. Toddlers experiencing more maternal intrusiveness at 12 months increased more in fearfulness and avoidance of strangers 6 months later, whereas maternal encouragement had the opposite, albeit weaker, effect. Reciprocal effects between maternal intrusiveness and toddler temperamental shyness in predicting change in toddler stranger fearfulness were found. Maternal intrusiveness when toddlers interact with a stranger directly predicted developmental changes in stranger anxiety during the second year of life, and this association was mediated by changes in child temperamental shyness.