3-190 - Correlates, Mediators, and Consequences of Disrupted Parenting Behavior within Atypical Populations

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Extreme deviations from normative parenting, such as disoriented, apprehensive, threatening, or withdrawing behaviors, place children at risk of becoming physiologically dysregulated (e.g., Bernard et al., 2010), developing disorganized attachment (Madigan, Moran, & Pederson, 2006), and developing deficits in social-emotional functioning throughout childhood and adolescence (e.g., Madigan et al., 2007; Lyons-Ruth et al., 2013). Very little research in this field has examined disrupted behaviors in atypical populations. In order to bridge the continued science to practice gap in mental health research, it is important to use ecologically valid settings and populations. Further, identifying valid screening tools for use in clinical settings is critical for early identification and implementation of intervention and prevention programs.
This symposium presents recent evidence from four separate studies from Canada, Israel, and the US, investigating risk factors, mediators, and consequences of disrupted parenting using The Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument for Assessment and Classification (AMBIANCE; Lyons-Ruth, Bronfman, & Parsons, 1999), in samples with known risks. First, disrupted parenting was identified as a mediator between prenatal disrupted representations of children and social-emotional problems in toddlerhood within a high-risk sample of mothers. The second paper found that disrupted parenting predicted attachment disorganization in a sample of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The third paper identified parental withdrawal as the mediator between intervention group and the proportion of children identified as having a disorganized attachment. The fourth paper highlights the convergent and predictive validity of a screening measure of disrupted parenting that can be used in clinical and community practice.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Psychopathology

Chair

• Heather A. Yarger, University of Maryland

Individual Presentations

• Disrupted Prenatal Maternal Representations, Atypical Parenting Behavior, and Toddler Social-Emotional Functioning - Presenting Author: Katherine L. Guyon-Harris, Tulane University School of Medicine; Non-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

• The Relationship between Disrupted Maternal Behavior and Attachment Disorganization in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder - Presenting Author: David Oppenheim, University of Haifa; Non-Presenting Author: Gabriela Levy, University of Haifa; Non-Presenting Author: Smadar Dolev, School of Social Work University of Haifa; Non-Presenting Author: Nina Koren-Karie, University of Haifa, School of Social Work; Non-Presenting Author: Nurit Yirmiya, Department of Psychology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

• Investigating Longitudinal Pathways to Dysregulation: The Role of Disrupted Parenting Behavior - Presenting Author: Heather A. Yarger, University of Maryland; Non-Presenting Author: Mary Dozier, University of Delaware

• Validation of the AMBIANCE-brief for Applied Practice with High-Risk Families - Presenting Author: Jessica Cooke, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Calgary and Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute; Non-Presenting Author: Rachel Eirich, University of Calgary; Non-Presenting Author: Nicole Racine, University of Calgary; Non-Presenting Author: Andre Plamondon, Université Laval; Non-Presenting Author: Karlen Lyons-Ruth, Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School; Non-Presenting Author: Sheri Madigan, University of Calgary and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Calgary