Secure Base Script Knowledge and Vagal Regulation as Predictors of Maternal Sensitivity to Distress

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Adopting a diathesis-stress model, researchers have suggested that attachment-related behavioral biases might be most evident under conditions of increased stress (Roisman et al., 2007). Moreover, attachment-related differences in physiological reactivity have been observed specifically in distress contexts, rather than non-distress contexts (Groh & Roisman, 2009). It is possible that the need for attachment-related resources (prompted by high infant distress) and poor physiological regulation may be particularly problematic for mothers with lower secure base script knowledge, who are more likely than their secure counterparts to rely on their underlying behavioral tendencies (e.g., distancing themselves; Mills-Koonce et al., 2011), thus making them more vulnerable to the negative spillover of stress into caregiving behaviors. Therefore, the present study examined how mothers’ attachment representations (secure base script knowledge [SBSK]), vagal regulation (i.e., vagal withdrawal/augmentation, as indexed by change in respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) and infant level of distress interacted to predict maternal global sensitivity and dimensions of sensitivity (i.e., response to distress, response to non-distress, intrusiveness, and positive regard) within an infant distress context (i.e., post arm restraint).

Participants included 209 low-income, racially/ethnically diverse mothers of 6-month-olds. Vagal regulation was measured during a baseline task and while interacting with their 6-month-old infants after a distress-eliciting task. Infant negative affect and maternal sensitivity were assessed during these interactions. Components of maternal sensitivity (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1999) were reliably coded from videotaped interactions during a Still-Face (distress) task.

Moderation analyses using PROCESS showed a significant three-way interaction between mothers’ SBSK, RSA change and infant distress in predicting (1) global sensitivity and (2) intrusiveness (see Table 1). Mothers’ SBSK and RSA change interacted to predict caregiving primarily when infants displayed high level of distress and not when infants displayed low distress. Among mothers whose infants showed high distress, greater vagal withdrawal (mobilization of resources for parenting) related to greater global sensitivity and lower intrusiveness, only for mothers who displayed higher SBSK (see Figure 1).

These results suggest that high (rather than low) level of infant distress might serve as a strong attachment-relevant stimulus that underlies the patterns by which mothers’ physiological responses relate to sensitive behavior. Additionally, mothers’ vagal withdrawal, typically a sign of marshalling physiological resources to respond to stressor, may not always be an adaptive response for sensitive caregiving unless guided by an underlying secure base script. It is possible that in the absence of an internalized script (where attachment-relevant problems are met with competent help and end in effective resolution), mothers may not have an internal model for what a good response might look like. As such, mothers who show vagal withdrawal (or a mobilizing response geared towards initiating a parenting behavior) may respond in ways that are consistent with their low SBSK, and so engage in insensitive or intrusive behaviors. Additionally. when mothers show vagal augmentation (focus on defensive regulation of their own negative emotions), they do not benefit from their underlying secure base scripts.

Authors

• Meenal Jog, Lehigh University
  Presenting Author

• Susan Soledad Woodhouse, Lehigh University
  Non-Presenting Author