Physiological Reactivity, Emotional Reactivity, and Parenting Skills in Families Experiencing Homelessness

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

Parenting has been consistently related to positive adaptation in children experiencing adversity (Masten & Palmer, 2019). Emerging evidence suggests that emotional reactivity and regulation play a critical role in promoting adaptive parenting (Leerkes & Augustine, 2019). Emotional reactivity has been measured in multiple ways (e.g., parent self-rating, observed, physiological), but these are rarely evaluated together, particularly among disadvantaged families. Herbers and colleagues (2017) found low agreement between self-report and observed measures of parenting among families experiencing homelessness, suggesting that understanding various modalities of measurement in this population is important. The present study examined how self-report, observed, and physiological measures of parent emotional reactivity relate to (1) each other and (2) parenting behaviors among families experiencing homelessness.

Participants included 50 four- to seven-year-old children (M = 5.4 years, SD = 0.7) and their caregivers staying in an emergency shelter. Caregivers were primarily mothers (n = 42), and Black (n = 33). Parents wore a heart rate monitor (FirstBeat: Body Guard2) throughout tasks. To capture resting heart rate, parents spent 5 minutes quietly watching a video of nature photos and then participated in a 5-minute talking baseline task with their child, describing pictures in a book. Next, the dyad engaged in a video-recorded 25-minute set of standardized parent-child interaction tasks, including two problem-solving discussions and three teaching-oriented games (Family Interaction Tasks; DeGarmo et al., 2004). Two independent coders subsequently rated parenting behaviors and emotional reactivity (ICC: .87 - .94; DeGarmo et al., 2004; Palmer, 2018). Parents self-reported emotional experience after each task. Physiological reactivity was calculated as the difference between average RSA during talking baseline and the relevant interaction task. To account for missing data, multiple imputation was conducted in R (20 data sets) using fully conditional specifications.

Observed and self-reported emotional experiences were largely uncorrelated, with the exception of observed and self-reported positive emotions during problem-solving tasks (r = 0.46, p < .01). Parents reported more positive emotion during teaching tasks than talking baseline (t = -2.93(32.85), p < .01) or problem-solving tasks (t = -3.12 [38.88], p < .01). Parents also expressed more positive emotions during teaching tasks compared to problem-solving (t = -2.72 [32.86], p < .01). Parents reported more negative emotions during problem-solving tasks than the talking baseline task (t = -2.46 (40.84), p <.05). Multiple linear regressions evaluated how different indicators of emotional reactivity during the problem-solving tasks (Table 1) and the teaching tasks (Table 2) related to observed parenting behaviors. Fewer subjective and observed negative emotions, as well as increased observed positive emotions, during the problem-solving task independently predicted more adaptive parenting behaviors. Only higher observed positive emotions predicted parenting behaviors during the teaching tasks. Physiological reactivity was unrelated to parenting behaviors. Study results suggest that different valence and measurements of emotional expression may be more or less salient dependent on the context of the task. Findings also suggest that positive emotional expression supports adaptive parenting behaviors in an emergency shelter setting.

Authors

• Alyssa R Palmer, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Presenting Author

• Rachel Foster, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rebecca Distefano, Roger Williams University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ann S. Masten, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author