Poster #64 - The Effects of Early Intrusive Caregiving and its Emotional Context on Children’s Later Perceptions of Maternal Warmth

• In Event: Poster Session 02

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of intrusive caregiving on children’s later perceptions of maternal warmth. Intrusiveness was examined within the emotional context the child experienced it in—with either warmth or hostility. The primary aims of the present work are first, to determine if the emotional climate in which intrusiveness occurs moderates the consequences of behavior constituting intrusive parenting, and second, to understand if ethnic and gender differences exist in the relationship between maternal intrusiveness and children’s perceptions of their mother. African American (n = 159) and Hispanic (n = 220) mothers and their children (53% male) were selected from a larger longitudinal study that followed low-income families to study children’s development of self-regulation. Mother-child dyads participated in 15-minute semi-structured play interactions when children were 2 ½, 3 ½, and 4 ½ years of age. These mother-child interactions collected over three time periods allowed for caregiving qualities to be coded and scored with global ratings (1 = not characteristic; 5 = highly characteristic) for a host of parenting characteristics, of which intrusiveness, positive regard (warmth) and negative regard (hostility) (ICC = .79-.85) were used for the present study to capture intrusive caregiving and the emotional context in which it was expressed to the child. Children’s perceptions were then collected in 4th grade using the Parenting Behaviors Inventory (CRPBI). Hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed that experiencing intrusiveness within hostility was harmful to Hispanic girls’ perceptions of maternal warmth. Additionally, high intrusiveness ratings significantly predicted lower perceptions of maternal warmth from African American boys. This study is unique in that it examines the effects of intrusive caregiving from the eyes of the children who experienced it, with implications for understanding the complexities of intrusiveness within ethnic and gender contexts.
First Objective: To an analyze the association between early longitudinal experiences of intrusive caregiving and children’s later perceptions of maternal warmth.
Second Objective: To determine if the emotional climate in which intrusiveness is expressed—either with warmth or hostility—moderates the relationship between early intrusive caregiving and children’s later perceptions of maternal warmth.
Third Objective: To investigate the use of the Parenting Behaviors Inventory (CRPBI) to capture children’s perceptions of caregivers in comparison to actual observed caregiving.

Authors

• Samantha Leigh Redig, University of Texas at Dallas
  Presenting Author

• Margaret Tresch Owen, University of Texas at Dallas