Poster #97 - Parenting as a Proximal Mediator for Early Environmental Harshness and Children’s Effortful Control

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

From an evolutionary perspective, cues from the early environment shape developmental trajectories towards strategies that increase survival and successful reproduction in a given context (Belsky et al., 1991). While adverse early experiences are seen as impairing self-regulatory strategies such as effortful control (EC; Lengua, 2012), these experiences may shape trajectories adaptively towards impulsive strategies that better allow for the securing of scarce resources in harsh environments (Del Giudice, 2015; Wenner et al., 2013). Further investigation linking both proximal and distal early environmental cues to the development of EC could facilitate a more nuanced understanding of early environmental effects on development, particularly for children in resource-scarce environments. This study investigates early environmental mechanisms involving cues from parenting and neighborhood that shape EC development in a sample of low-income families. It is hypothesized that more distal cues from neighborhood harshness will negatively predict EC and be mediated by more proximal cues from mother’s and father’s observed harsh parenting.

Data are drawn from the Building Strong Families project, a study of unmarried, low-income couples transitioning to parenthood. Current analyses include families (n = 1,745) with direct assessment data. Surveys were collected at baseline (T0), 15 months (T1), and 36 months (T2). Direct assessments of parenting and child development were recorded at T2. Neighborhood Harshness is a latent construct using 8 interviewer-rated items at T2 (e.g., general condition of the face-block). Harsh parenting for mothers and fathers is a latent construct using 2 observed items during a semi-structured play task at T2 (i.e., negative regard and intrusiveness). Children’s EC is a latent construct using 4 interviewer-rated items at T2 (i.e., task persistence, attention span, body movement - reversed, and attention to directions).

Missing data were treated with multiple imputation using a chained equation method (Enders, 2010). Measurement model confirmatory factor analyses for each of the four latent variables (i.e., neighborhood harshness, mothers’ harsh parenting, fathers’ harsh parenting, and EC) were conducted first (Table 1). To test the current hypothesis, path analyses were estimated using structural equation modeling with a maximum likelihood parameter estimator (Figure 1).

Statistically significant path estimates from neighborhood harshness to mother’s harsh parenting to EC indicate that mother’s harsh parenting was a statistically significant mediator. In other words, the negative relationship between neighborhood harshness and EC was partially mediated through mothers’ harsh parenting. Conversely, the path between neighborhood harshness and fathers’ harsh parenting was not statistically significant.

These results suggest that the negative relationship between neighborhood harshness and EC in early childhood is partially explained by mothers’, but not fathers’, harsh parenting. This finding highlights how contextual risks may influence children’s development via differential effects on mothers’ and fathers’ parenting behaviors. From an evolutionary perspective, parenting strategies may be more than simply undermined within harsh environments, they may be directed by these aspects (Nettel, 2010) to shape offspring development to maximize outcomes in harsh environments. The discussion will highlight how evolutionary perspectives framing development as specific adaptations to one’s environment have important implications for research and intervention.

Authors

• Shannon Warren, University of Arizona
  Presenting Author

• Melissa A. Barnett, University of Arizona
  Non-Presenting Author