Poster #86 - Maternal emotion regulation affects infant temperament through maternal child maltreatment and pregnancy stress

• In Event: Poster Session 20

Abstract

Child maltreatment is linked to a variety of adverse effects, which can be transmitted across generations. For example, maternal child maltreatment is linked to difficult infant temperament. Child maltreatment also is associated with adult emotion dysregulation, which can affect the child. If mothers cannot properly regulate their emotions and provide adequate co-regulation for their infants, then infants may be dysregulated and perceived as having a difficult temperament. Pregnancy stressors may also affect mother’s perception of a child’s temperament. These can include significant relationship life events such as intimate partner violence (IPV) or stressful events such as death, loss of a job, etc. However, traumatic stressors such as IPV are more likely to impact the mother-child relationship compared to non-interpersonal stressors. Research finds that women who experienced IPV during pregnancy have more negative representations of their infants compared to women who had no experience of IPV.
Hypotheses: (1) maternal history of child maltreatment would be associated with increased difficult temperament for infants through mother emotion dysregulation, (2) pregnancy IPV would affect difficult temperament both directly and through maternal emotion regulation, and (3) pregnancy life events would not affect difficult temperament either directly or indirectly. We controlled for post-birth IPV and other stressful life events in the two models. Participants were 235 mother-infant dyads. Women’s incomes were below Medicaid (M=$2,994, SD=$2,497), and most infants in the sample were Black/African American (37.9%) and white (36.2%). Experiences of IPV and other life events were measured throughout pregnancy. At 6 months postpartum (M=6.2, SD=1.1), mothers reported on their emotion regulation, IPV and other stressors, and child temperament.
The first path model examined pregnancy IPV and controlled for post-birth IPV. It showed a direct relationship between maternal child maltreatment history and difficult infant temperament [CI=.017-.499]. Maternal emotion regulation did not mediate this relationship. Pregnancy IPV had a direct effect on difficult infant temperament [CI= .043-.649]. The second path model examined the total number of life stressors endorsed during pregnancy and controlled life stressors experienced post-birth. This model also found a relationship between maternal child maltreatment history and difficult temperament during infancy; however, maternal emotion regulation fully mediated this relationship [CI=.006-.140]. Life stressors were not related to either mother emotion regulation or difficult infant temperament.
Maternal child maltreatment history and maternal emotion dysregulation did increase difficult temperament during infancy. Mother-experienced IPV during pregnancy affected difficult infant temperament but life stressors did not. Experiences of IPV, but not other life stressors, during pregnancy seems to have altered how mothers thought about their children’s temperament. Research shows that women who experience IPV during pregnancy may have increased difficulty bonding with and forming secure attachments with their children. Future studies should examine other stressors during pregnancy that may impact infant emotional development, such as food insecurity or health-related concerns. Implications from this research could aid in the treatment of emotion dysregulation and IPV experienced during pregnancy in mothers who have a history of child maltreatment to limit the transmissible effects on mothers and their children.

Authors

• Jewelian N. Fairchild, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• G. Anne Bogat, Michigan State University

• Amy K. Nuttall, Michigan State University

• Alytia Akiko Levendosky, Michigan State University

• Joseph S. Lonstein, Michigan State University

• Maria Muzik, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor