Examining Interactions of Parental Psychopathology and Parental Resources on Infant Affect with Mothers and Fathers

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

Parents play a significant role in infant affect regulation (Taipale, 2016). Various sources of stress might influence how parents interact with their infants as well as infant regulation. Parental psychopathology (depression, anxiety) has been associated with decreases in infant affect regulation (Forbes et al., 2004; Reck et al., 2018). Parental resources, an additional source of stress, is also associated with parenting during parent-infant interactions and subsequent infant socioemotional outcomes (Barker et al., 2012; Lickenbrock & Braungart-Rieker, 2015; Lin & Seo, 2016). Research examining parental psychopathology and parental resources as sources of stress in the parent-infant relationship with mothers and fathers and subsequent infant affect regulation is limited. The association between father psychopathology and infant affect regulation has not been extensively examined (Braungart-Rieker et al., 1998; Graham et al., 2018). The current study will address this gap in the literature by examining whether parental psychopathology and parental resources are associated with infant affect regulation with mothers and fathers.
Participants included mothers, fathers, and infants at 4- and 8- months of age from a larger, longitudinal study examining infant social and emotional development. Parents completed an interview assessing their age, education level, occupation, and family income (parental resources). Parents also completed the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms to measure general depression and anxiety (social/non-social) symptoms (Watson et al., 2007). Parents and infants participated in a face-to-face play task at each time-point (Still-Face Paradigm, SFP; Tronick et al., 1978) with parent order counterbalanced. Infant affect was rated by trained, reliable coders for the three episodes of the SFP (play, still-face, reunion) using an established coding scheme (Braungart-Rieker et al., 2014). Infant affect proportion scores were created within each SFP episode.
Preliminary regression models using a portion of the current sample (mother-infant dyads: n=64; father-infant dyads: n=61) assessed whether parent psychopathology and family income at 4-months was associated with infant affect regulation at 8-months. For mother-infant dyads, family income X maternal non-social anxiety significantly predicted infant positive affect during reunion (B= -.011, SE= .004, p< .01; See Figure 1), such that mothers with low family income whose nonsocial anxiety increases, infant positive affect also increases (B= .020, SE= .010, t= 2.52, p= .02). Significant findings were not revealed for father-infant dyads. Further analyses will examine these associations with additional dyads and will include a parental resources composite variable (parent age, education, occupation status, and family income). Overall, results suggest various sources of parenting stress play a role in infant affect regulation.

Authors

• Alexis Marie Hernandez, University of Southern California
  Presenting Author

• Diane M Lickenbrock, Western Kentucky University
  Non-Presenting Author