Disrupted Prenatal Maternal Representations, Atypical Parenting Behavior, and Toddler Social-Emotional Functioning

• In Event: 3-190 - Correlates, Mediators, and Consequences of Disrupted Parenting Behavior within Atypical Populations

Integrative Statement

Pregnancy is an important time for the well-being of both mothers and their developing children. In fact, pregnancy is the major impetus for the development of maternal representations of the child, which are largely unconscious, internalized templates that guide a mother’s interpretation of her child’s behavior as well as her own thoughts, feelings, and behavior as a parent. Maternal representations of the child have been associated with maladaptive child social-emotional outcomes (e.g., Crawford & Benoit, 2009; Korja et al., 2010). Less well known are the specific mechanisms through which the most problematic maternal representations of the child in utero (i.e., those that are disrupted/disorganized) impact later child social-emotional functioning. One viable mechanism is atypical maternal behavior, which refers to anomalous behaviors and communications during mother-child interactions, including maternal role-reversal, disorientation, apprehension and/or withdrawal from the child, and hostility. Atypical maternal behaviors confer risk for poor social-emotional development in infancy, childhood, and adolescence (Lyons-Ruth et al., 1999; Madigan et al., 2007). The present study, examined atypical maternal behavior as a mediator of the association between disrupted prenatal maternal representations of the child and social-emotional functioning in toddlerhood.
Data were drawn from a sample of 120 women from a larger longitudinal study. Participants were predominantly economically disadvantaged and diverse in terms of race, education, and marital status. Disrupted maternal representations of the child were assessed during pregnancy using the Working Model of the Child Interview–Disrupted coding scheme (Crawford & Benoit, 2009). Atypical maternal behavior was coded from mother-infant free play interactions at 12-months using the Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument for Assessment and Classification (AMBIANCE; Bronfman, Madigan, & Lyons-Ruth, 1999-2009). Child social-emotional functioning was assessed at 12- and 24-months through maternal reports on the Brief Infant-Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (Briggs-Gowan & Carter, 2006) and observer-rated attachment security using the Attachment Q-Set (Waters & Deane, 1985). Social-emotional functioning variables at age 12-months were used as covariates in mediation models.
Significant associations were revealed between disrupted prenatal maternal representations of the child, atypical maternal behavior at age 12 months, and infant and toddler mother-reported and observer-rated social-emotional functioning at both 12- and 24-months (Table 1). Two mediation models were tested and supported using the PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2017; see Figure 1). In the first model, atypical maternal behavior mediated the relationship between disrupted prenatal maternal representations and mother-reported social-emotional problems. Atypical maternal behavior accounted for 40% of the effect of disrupted prenatal maternal representations on toddler social-emotional problems. In the second model, atypical maternal behavior accounted for 42% of the effect of disrupted prenatal maternal representations on mother-toddler attachment security.
In sum, this study is the first to explain pathways of transmission from disrupted maternal representations of the child during pregnancy to mother- and observer-rated toddler social-emotional difficulties at 24-months, demonstrating that nearly half the impact is explained by atypical maternal behavior observed at 12-months. The development of social-emotional problems in toddlerhood may be reduced by providing clinical support to women with disrupted representations of the child during pregnancy and throughout the postpartum period.

Authors

• Katherine L. Guyon-Harris, Tulane University School of Medicine
  Presenting Author

• Sarah Ahlfs-Dunn, Eastern Michigan University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alissa C Huth-Bocks, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sheri Madigan, University of Calgary and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Calgary
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elisa Bronfman, Boston Children’s Hospital
  Non-Presenting Author