Poster #31 - Parental Infertility Distress and Child Externalizing Problems: Overreactive Parenting as a Mediator

• In Event: Poster Session 19

Abstract

The influence of overreactive parenting on child behavioral outcomes has been thoroughly investigated. However, less work has included parents’ pre-parenthood experiences as a developmental context of parenting. One such important context is the experience of infertility. Although infertility is typically recognized as a physical health problem, it is also associated with psychological outcomes, such as diminished maternal confidence, lower parenting competency and self-efficacy, and increased overconcern in parenting (Bernstein, 1990; Burns, 1990; Colpin et al., 1999; Egan, 2019; Wang et al., 2021). These parenting outcomes may, in turn, contribute to child behavioral problems. The current work examines how infertility distress may precede and predict overreactive parenting in childhood and subsequent child problem behavior in early adolescence.
Method
Participants. The current investigation uses five waves of data (child ages 9 months, 27 months, 6 years, 7 years, and 11 years) collected from families who participated in the Early Growth and Development Study (EGDS; Leve et al., 2019). This study focused on families with parents who had a history of infertility and were in heterosexual relationships. Thus, same-sex couples (n = 41), single parents (n = 10), and parents who reported no fertility problems or were missing all infertility-related questions (n = 49) were excluded, which led to a final sample size of 461 adoptive mother-father dyads and their adopted children.
Measures. Infertility distress was measured at child age 9 months, where parents reported how emotionally challenging infertility was for their personal well-being and their relationship with their partner (1 = not at all challenging; 5 = very challenging). Overreactive parenting was measured when children were 27 months, 6 years, and 7 years old, where parents responded to the overreactivity subscale of the Parenting Scale (Arnold et al., 1993). Child externalizing behaviors were assessed at child age 11 years using the externalizing problems subscale from the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001), which aggregated maternal and paternal reports. Maternal and paternal depressive symptoms were included as a covariate and measured using the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck & Steer, 1993).
Results and Discussion
Table 1 illustrates the means, standard deviations, and correlation matrix of study variables for adoptive mothers and fathers. Path analysis using structural equation modeling was conducted to test the mediation model linking parental infertility distress and child externalizing outcomes through overreactive parenting (Figure 1). For both mothers and fathers, infertility distress levels were associated with their heightened self-reported overreactive parenting during childhood (β = .24, p < .001 for mothers, β = .15, p = .01 for fathers), which in turn predicted more child externalizing problems at age 11 (β = .32, p < .001 for mothers, β = .30, p < .001 for fathers). The overall indirect paths from infertility distress to overreactive parenting to child outcomes were significant for both mothers (β = .07, p = .002) and fathers (β = .04, p = .03). Results highlighted the importance of considering pre-parenthood experiences, such as infertility, in studying relations between parenting and child problem behavior.

Authors

• Jing Wang, Huazhong Normal University
  Presenting Author

• Misaki N. Natsuaki, University of California - Riverside

• Jenae M Neiderhiser, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

• Jody M. Ganiban, George Washington University

• Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh

• David Reiss, Yale University

• Leslie D. Leve, University of Oregon