Maternal Parenting Profiles and Mother-Child Coregulation of Affect and Behavior

• In Event: Parent Contributions to the Coordination of Emotions, Behaviors, and Physiology Among Parent-Child Dyads

Abstract

Parent-child coregulation reflects the moment-to-moment coordination of expressed affect and goal-oriented behaviors between parents and children during the course of interaction (Calkins, 2011; Lunkenheimer et al., 2017). Two affective and behavioral coregulation patterns – dyadic variability and positive dyadic synchrony – are particularly important for children’s regulatory development (Coburn et al., 2015; Hollenstein et al., 2004; Kochanska et al., 2008; Lunkenheimer et al., 2020). However, few studies have examined how parenting behaviors contribute to these interpersonal dynamics. The present study employed a person-centered approach to identify subgroups of mothers based on observed parenting during a challenging parent-child task. We expected to find at least three profiles in line with prior research (Paschall et al., 2015): parents who were 1) sensitive, reflected by higher responsiveness, lower control, and more positive affect, 2) harsh, reflected by lower responsiveness, higher control, and less positive affect, and 3) detached, reflected by lower responsiveness, lower control, and less positive affect.

Participants were 100 children (54 percent female; Mage = 41 months; 86% White) and their mothers. Mother and child expressed emotions and goal-oriented behavior were coded in continuous time during a challenging dyadic puzzle task (PCCT; Lunkenheimer et al., 2017). The time series of emotion and goal-oriented behavior codes for parent and child were plotted using State Space Grids (Lewis et al., 1999). Dyadic affective and behavioral variability were operationalized as the rates of transitions per minute made across emotional and behavioral dyadic states, respectively. Positive dyadic affective and behavioral synchrony were operationalized as the duration each dyad spent in mutual states of positive emotion or adaptive behavioral states, respectively. Observed parenting behaviors (i.e., proactive structure, teaching statements, positive reinforcement, directives, negative behaviors, and positive affect) were used in our latent profile analyses (LPA).

LPA analyses were conducted including 1-5 profile solutions; a four-profile solution fit the data well and was supported both by theory (Maccoby & Martin, 1983) and prior literature (Hooper et al., 2015). Parameter estimates can be found in Table 1. The four profiles included mothers who were: Detached (23.7%), characterized by lower teaching, directives, and negative behaviors; Sensitive (26.8%), characterized by higher positive reinforcement, directives, and positive affect; Overcontrolling (29.9%), characterized by higher teaching, directives, and negative behaviors; and Negative/Harsh (19.6%), characterized by above average negative behaviors and lower teaching, directives, and positive affect. The effects of maternal profile membership on dyadic outcomes are shown in Table 2. The two profiles using less teaching statements and directives (Detached and Negative/Harsh mothers) showed lower dyadic affective and behavioral variability and lower positive behavioral synchrony. Conversely, Sensitive mothers engaged in higher dyadic affective and behavioral variability and higher positive behavioral synchrony.

These findings suggest there is important variability in how observed parenting behaviors cluster in a community sample and that these distinctions are meaningful for the prediction and interpretation of coregulatory processes during parent-child interactions. Findings highlight that mothers who effectively utilize both direct guidance and responsiveness during challenging interactions demonstrate more adaptive coregulatory processes, which are theorized to support their children’s regulatory development.

Authors

• Frances M. Lobo, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Erika S. Lunkenheimer, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author