Does early responsive parenting have a special importance for children's development or is consistency across early childhood necessary?

The role of early versus ongoing maternal responsiveness in predicting cogn itive and social development was examined in home visits for mothers, full- term children (n = 103), and medically low-risk (n = 102) and high-risk (n = 77) preterm children at 5 ages. There were 4 maternal clusters based on w arm and contingent responsiveness behaviors observed early (at 6, 12, and 2 4 months) and late (at 3 and 4 years): high early, high late; high early, l ow late; low early, moderate late; and, low early, low late. Children, espe cially preterm children, showed faster cognitive growth when mothers were c onsistently responsive. Social growth was similar in the consistently respo nsive (high-high) and the early-responsive inconsistent (high-low) clusters , but greater deceleration at 4 years among children with mothers in the in consistent cluster refuted the notion of a unique role for early responsive ness. The importance of consistent responsiveness, defined by an affective- emotional construct, was evident even when a broader constellation of paren ting behaviors was considered.