Prenatal Perceived Stress and Financial Strain on Infants’ Cognition: the Role of Maternal Attention-Recruiting Behaviors

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Attention, Learning, Memory

Abstract

Elevated maternal prenatal stress has been found to be negatively associated with early indicators of child executive functions (EF; van den Heuvel, 2015). Early caregiving behaviors are also associated with infant development, such that aspects of early caregiving have been shown to both mediate (e.g. be an indicator of long-term stress) and moderate (e.g. exacerbate or buffer) the effects of maternal prenatal stress on child development (Grant et al., 2010). In this study, we will test whether maternal attention-recruiting behaviors mediate or moderate the effects of maternal prenatal perceived stress and financial strain on infant EFs.
During mid-pregnancy, mothers (N=76) completed the Perceived Stress Scale and the Economic Strain Questionnaire. At six months postpartum, mother-infant dyads were visited at home, during which they participated in video-recorded book-reading and Puppet tasks (Marcovitch, et al., 2016); mothers additionally completed questionnaires. Infant EFs are ascertained by the Puppet task (an index of attention) and the effortful control scale from the Infant Behavior Questionnaire. During the puppet task, a research assistant (RA) drums a hand-puppet on a table to attain the infant’s attention, then holds the puppet in front of the infant. After the infant looks away from the puppet for three seconds, the RA drums the puppet to regain attention, beginning the next trial. Our index of attention is the median length of time that the infant maintains eye contact on the puppet out of four trials. The book-reading task is being coded by two RAs for maternal attention-recruiting behaviors, including vocalizations and pointing (Ninio & Bruner, 1978; Senechel et al., 1995). Mothers will be given a score representing the number of times that they employed an attention-recruiting behavior during the task.
We will use multiple linear regressions to examine the effects of maternal prenatal perceived stress and financial strain on infant EFs while controlling for relevant covariates. To test the mediation model, we will add maternal attention-recruiting behaviors to the model and examine changes to the magnitude of the effects of perceived stress and financial strain on infant EFs. We will employ the Sobel test to make inferences about the mediation model. To test the moderation model, we will create two interaction terms: perceived stress x attention-recruiting behaviors and financial strain x attention-recruiting behaviors. We will employ multiple linear regressions to examine the effects of perceived stress, financial strain, and the interaction terms on indices of infant EFs while controlling for relevant covariates. Interaction terms that are significant (p<0.05) will be probed.
In line with Grant and colleagues (2010), we hypothesize that maternal attention-recruiting behaviors will moderate the associations between maternal prenatal stressors and infant EFs, such that higher prenatal stress will be associated with poorer infant EFs when mothers also employ fewer attention-recruiting behaviors. That is, we expect that this caregiving behavior will buffer against the effects of prenatal stress on infant EFs. The results of this study will help to evaluate the extent to which prenatal stressors and maternal attention-recruiting behaviors in infancy uniquely and/or jointly predict infant cognitive development.

Authors

• Lindsay Anne Loubier, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Presenting Author

• Sarah J Short, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amanda Wylie, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cathi Propper, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author