The Conflicts and Balances of Parents’ Reactivity to Caregiving Demands and Parenting: A Developmental Lens

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Parenthood is associated with considerable emotional demands, starting prenatally with the anticipation of caregiving responsibilities, and continuing postnatally with various challenges in parent-child interaction. How parents process and react to caregiving-related demands has important implications not only for their own emotional well-being but also for their ability to support children’s development. This symposium brings a much-needed developmental perspective into this research, addressing how parents’ cognitive, affective, and physiological responses toward caregiving demands unique to different developmental stages may support or interfere with parenting competence. The first talk focuses on pregnant women, who may start to form an emotional bond with the child prior to birth but face feelings of uncertainty about the expectant caregiving experience. Findings reveal how pregnant women’s cognitive and affective responses to infant cues are differentially associated with their mentalization of the future infant – an antecedent of sensitive parenting – and prenatal anxiety. The second talk investigates mothers’ dynamic physiological responses when soothing their distressed infant – a common parenting challenge during infancy – in association with their positive engagement behaviors during distressing and non-distressing interactions. The third talk focuses on child welfare-involved parents of preschool-age children, illustrating how their physiological-behavioral self-regulation difficulties suppress age-appropriate positive parenting skills and predict less ideal response to a parenting intervention. The discussant, an expert in the context, mechanism, and prevention of negative developmental outcomes, will discuss the implications of these studies for understanding and improving parents’ regulatory capacity through a developmentally informed approach, thus promoting healthier prenatal and postnatal environments for children’s development.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Elizabeth A. Skowron, University of Oregon

Discussant

• Lisa M. Gatzke-Kopp, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Individual Presentations

• Of Two Minds: Prenatal Cognitive and Affective Responding to Infant Cues and Antecedents of Caregiving - Presenting Author: Tal Yatziv, Yale University; Emily A. Vancor, Yale University; Eloise Sutton, Yale University; karen milligan, Ryerson University; Helena JV Rutherford, Yale University

• Maternal Engagement and Newborn Characteristics in Association with Mothers’ Physiological Dynamics While Soothing an Infant - Presenting Author: Mengyu (Miranda) Gao, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, China; Sheila E Crowell, University of Utah; Liz Conradt, Duke University

• Dynamic Self-Regulation Processes in Child-Welfare Parents and Responses to Parent-Child Interaction Therapy - Presenting Author: Xutong Zhang, East China Normal University; Lisa M. Gatzke-Kopp, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Elizabeth A. Skowron, University of Oregon