Fathers and mothers differ in the relation between depression and parenting stress, paternal sensitivity, cognitive stimulation and children´s executive functions.

• In Event: Sensitivity and parental mental health

Abstract

Research has examined diverse factor that may impact the quality of parenting and consequently child development. Parental mental health has been associated with problems for children in myriad aspect of development such as language, socioemotional, and cognitive development (Kingston et al., 2012; Quevedo et al., 2012 ; Liu et al., 2017; Mensah & Kiernan, 2010). One mechanism through which mental health affects children development is parenting. For example, studies show that parents who experience depressive symptoms are more likely to display negative parental behaviors (e.g., intrusiveness and psychological control; Cummings et al., 2004) lower quality of cognitive stimulation (Chapin & Altenhofen, 2010) and quality of language input (Malin et al., 2012; Jacob & Johnson 2001). On the other hand, parental stress (stress associated with the demands of parenting) has been linked to negative parental behaviors and practices (Zajicek-Farber et al., 2012). Parents who report higher levels of stress also report using more strict discipline and less positive parenting (Anthony et al., 2005).
Most of these studies have been carried out in WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) countries, offering little information on how parenting unfolds in more diverse contexts. In fact, the association between mental health and parenting quality has not always been replicated in Latin American samples (Alvarenga et al., 2013; Muzard et al., 2021, Santos et al., 2020).
Our study aims to amplify our understanding on how mental health relate to parenting quality and practices (sensitivity and cognitive stimulation) in a sample of low-income Chilean families.

Our sample consisted of 115 families (115 fathers and 115 mothers) with a child between 30 and 42 months of age. To assess depressive symptoms mothers and fathers answered the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D 10), and for parental stress, parents answered the Parental Stress Scale (PSS; Berry & Jones,1995). We also asked parents to report on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 6 (more than once a day) points, the frequency in which they sing songs, read books, and tell stories to their children. We assessed sensibility during a 10 minute mother-child and father-child free play interactions using the Parent-Child Interaction System (PARCHISY; Deater-Deckard et al., 1997). We created a composite for positive parenting averaging positive control, responsiveness and positive affect.
Children’s executive functions were measured using the Minnesota Executive Function Scale (MEFS; Carlson & Schaefer, 2012). The scale provides a standardized score (60-140 points) that considers accuracy and response time and is adjusted by participant’s age. Descriptive statistics are shown in table 1.

Results from bivariate correlation show that neither for mothers nor for fathers depression was related to positive parenting. Parental stress was negatively related to cognitive stimulation for fathers and mothers (table 2). Multiple regression analysis to predict children´s EF showed that, after controlling for maternal education, and child´s age, only maternal cognitive stimulation was a significant predictor (table 3).

Our findings highlights the importance of examining parenting and child development as a situated phenomenon.

Authors

• Daniela Aldoney, Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD)
  Presenting Author

• Fernanda Prieto, Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD)