Poster #30 - Maternal Childhood Adversity and the Postpartum Coparenting Relationship: Associations With Infant Temperament and Behavior Problems

• In Event: Poster Session 19

Abstract

Childhood trauma exerts intergenerational effects within families. These effects may become particularly challenging during the postpartum transition as the newborn infant is integrated into the lives of parents and the coparenting relationship must adjust to new roles and expectations. A highly reactive and difficult infant temperament may exacerbate these processes, yet little research has empirically tested these hypotheses, particularly within families where the coparenting partners may not be married or cohabiting. The current study examined associations of maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), maternal satisfaction with the coparenting relationship, and infant temperament and behavior problems in a diverse sample of families living in poverty.

295 mothers and their infants participated in this longitudinal study that included assessments in the prenatal period and at 6 and 12 months postpartum. Mothers were 18 to 44 years of age and were racially and ethnically diverse (40% Hispanic; 42% White, 19% Black, 7% biracial/multiracial, 32% other races). 60% of mothers had less than or equal to a high school degree, 65% were unemployed, and all received public assistance. 53% of infants were female. 57% of mothers were married or cohabiting with their coparent at 6 months postpartum.

Mothers reported on their ACEs during a prenatal research assessment and their satisfaction with the coparenting relationship at 6 and 12 months postpartum. At 6 months postpartum, infants were observed during a 4-minute challenge task designed to elicit infant frustration (gentle arm restraint). Videos of the challenge task were coded by trained reliable coders for infant temperamental reactivity on a 9-point scale. Mothers reported on their infant’s behavior problems at 12-months postpartum.

Maternal ACEs were negatively associated with maternal satisfaction with the coparenting relationship at 6 months postpartum (B = -.18, p < .01), coparenting satisfaction at 6 months was negatively associated with infant behavior problems at 12 months (B = -.18, p = .01), and there was an indirect effect of maternal ACEs on infant behavior problems through coparenting (p = .05). In contrast, infant temperament at 6 months moderated the association of maternal ACEs and satisfaction with the coparenting relationship at 12 months (B = -.19, p < .05). As illustrated in Figure 1, maternal ACEs were negatively associated with coparenting satisfaction only in the context of a more highly reactive infant temperament (B = -.30, p < .001).

Taken together, these results suggest that the coparenting relationship may serve as a mechanism in the intergenerational transmission of maternal ACEs, and that infant temperament may exacerbate these effects. Interventions to support the coparenting relationship may buffer young children from the impact of maternal ACEs. Our sample is unique in that it included mothers who were, and were not, living with their coparent. Additional applied implications and directions for future research will be discussed.

Authors

• Priya Adora Goncalves Baptista, Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital
  Presenting Author

• Nancy Thepmanivong, Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital

• Doris Gonzalez, Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital

• Lindsay Huffhines, Brown University Medical School

• Ronald Seifer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Stephanie H Parade, Brown University