Poster #55 - Parenting Stress, Child Behavior Problems, and Home Disorganization: Examining Parenting in Early Head Start Families

• In Event: Poster Session 20

Abstract

Introduction: Parenting is a primary mechanism through which children develop emotionally, socially, and cognitively. Parental sensitivity, in particular, is linked to language and cognitive development and fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviors (Bornstein & Manian, 2013). Multiple parent, child, environmental, and sociodemographic risk factors intersect to influence parenting, and the more risk factors across domains, the greater the likelihood parenting may be impacted (Belsky, 1984; Sameroff, 2009). Three domains related to sensitivity are parenting stress, child behavior problems, and household chaos. Increases in parenting stress have been associated with reduced sensitivity, and bidirectional effects between domains may exist (Neece et al., 2012). This study examined how the combination of parenting stress, chaos, and behavior problems at age 2 may be associated with maternal sensitivity at age 3 in a diverse Early Head Start (EHS) sample. It was hypothesized that each would contribute independently, and parenting stress would also exacerbate the impact of behavior problems and chaos on sensitivity.

Methods: Data were drawn from a nationally representative longitudinal study of mother-child dyads (N=517) in EHS (Vogel & Boller, 2014) across ages 2 and 3. Parenting stress, child behavior problems, household chaos, and relevant sociodemographics were measured at age 2 by maternal report (Abidin, 1995; Briggs-Gowan & Carter, 2006; Matheny et al., 1995). Maternal sensitivity was measured observationally at age 3 (Mathematica Policy Research, 2010). Analyses were conducted using linear regression, with child gender, single motherhood, and income-to-needs ratio as covariates, and longitudinal weighting to adjust for attrition and representation. Parenting stress was examined as a moderator and interactions were probed for simple slopes (Preacher et al, 2006).

Results: There was a significant interaction between parenting stress and behavior problems on levels of maternal sensitivity (ß(SE)=.003(.001), p=.001). Simple slopes indicated as behavior problems increased, sensitivity decreased, but the relation was stronger for families with less parenting stress (Figure 1). Additionally, parenting stress significantly moderated the impact of chaos on maternal sensitivity (ß(SE)=-.002(.001), p=.001). At low stress conditions, chaos was associated with increased sensitivity, but under high stress conditions, greater chaos was associated with decreased sensitivity (Figure 2). Direct effects indicated more parenting stress (p=.001) and behavior problems (p=.001) were associated with less sensitivity, while chaos was not significantly associated (p=.935).

Discussion: Contrary to hypotheses, the combination of higher behavior problems and less parenting stress was associated with less sensitive mothering. EHS is an intervention; therefore, mothers experiencing high levels of both parenting stress and child behavior problems may have actively received parenting support, impacting findings. In contrast, chaos and higher parenting stress were associated with less sensitivity, more consistent with theories of cumulative risk. These findings may speak to cultural variations in normative chaos, such that chaos is only problematic in combination with high parenting stress. As sensitivity is commonly targeted in child and family focused treatments, understanding its antecedents may be particularly critical. Parenting stress may have nuanced associations with sensitivity in combination with other child and family factors and could be an important target in parenting interventions.

Authors

• Jessilyn Froelich, University of Missouri-St. Louis
  Presenting Author

• Haley Ringenary, University of Missouri - St. Louis

• Emily D. Gerstein, University of Missouri-St. Louis