Negative Parenting Moderates the Association Between Maternal BPD Symptoms and Mother-Child Salivary Cortisol Levels

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Maternal borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a risk factor for negative child mental health outcomes, with negative parenting behaviors such as higher levels of hostility and insensitive parenting (Eyden et al., 2016), shown to be a key mechanism explaining this association. Individuals with BPD also exhibit disrupted stress physiology (i.e. cortisol patterns), theorized as an additional pathway through which maternal psychopathology is associated with negative child outcomes (Laurent et al., 2013). The present study is the first to examine whether negative parenting in the context of maternal BPD predicts child cortisol levels.
Mothers endorsing a range of BPD symptoms on the Personality Assessment Inventory- Borderline Features Scale were included, along with their preschool-aged children (Mage=48 months, SD=7.6). Dyads (N=68) participated in a 7-minute interaction task where mothers were instructed to help their child build a complex Lego figure using only verbal commands. Negative parenting was coded as the frequency and intensity of maternal displays of negativity, frustration, or annoyance. At the end of the assessment, mothers were instructed on home salivary cortisol collection for themselves and their child across three days in both the morning and evening; slope was calculated as the difference between morning and evening cortisol levels.
Linear regressions were conducted to test negative parenting as a moderator on the relationship between maternal BPD symptoms and child cortisol levels. When controlling for income, the direct effect of maternal BPD symptoms was not associated with child cortisol levels. When negative parenting was included, negative parenting significantly predicted higher levels of child evening cortisol levels (B=.343, t(36)=3.765, p=.001) and blunted child cortisol slope (B=-.288, t(32)=-2.610, p=.014). The interaction between negative parenting and maternal BPD symptoms also significantly predicted child evening cortisol levels (B=-.011, t(36)=-2.009, p=.052), such that the positive association between BPD symptoms and child evening cortisol levels was more pronounced for mothers exhibiting higher levels of negative parenting (see Figure 1).
Next, negative parenting was tested as a moderator on the relationship between maternal and child cortisol levels. Maternal evening cortisol levels (B=.563, t(31)=3.253, p=.003) and negative parenting (B=.302, t(31)=3.370, p=.002) both significantly predicted higher levels of child evening cortisol levels. The interaction between negative parenting and maternal cortisol levels also significantly predicted child evening cortisol levels (B=-.362, t(31)=-2.429, p=.021), such that the positive association between maternal and child evening cortisol levels was more pronounced for mothers who exhibited both the lowest and highest levels of negative parenting (see Figure 2). No main effects or interactions predicting child morning cortisol or slope were found.
Results suggest that negative parenting behaviors significantly moderate the positive association between maternal BPD symptoms and cortisol levels on child evening cortisol levels. Importantly, elevated evening cortisol is associated with higher levels of child behavior problems and may be an early risk factor for child psychopathology (Laurent et al., 2013). Given that parenting behaviors are highly responsive to intervention, reducing negative parenting behaviors may be a modifiable target for disrupting the intergenerational transmission of risk in the context of maternal BPD.

Authors

• Jacqueline O'Brien, University of Oregon
  Presenting Author

• Grace Binion, University of Oregon
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maureen Zalewski, University of Oregon
  Non-Presenting Author