Poster #210 - Maternal Perceived Stress Does Not Influence Maternal Report of Infant Temperament, but Maternal Childhood Trauma Does

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

The reliability and validity of self-reports is debated, especially regarding mothers’ ratings of their infants (Kagan, 1998; Rothbart & Bates, 1998). In normative samples, maternal reports are considered valid measures of infant temperament (Bates, 1980; Bates & Bayles, 1984; Parade & Leerkes, 2008). However, in high-risk samples, maternal characteristics are believed to bias maternal reports. Concordance between maternal and observed reports is higher when parents report low depression symptoms (Forman et al 2003; Parade & Leerkes, 2008), and when parental emotional needs were met in childhood (Leerkes & Crockenberg, 2003). Parents with elevated negative affect rate their infants as higher on fear compared to observed fear (Gartstein & Marmion, 2008). Few studies have examined the associations between maternal childhood trauma and maternal ratings of infant temperament (Bosquet Enlow et al., 2011; 2017; Lang et al., 2010). No studies have examined if maternal perceived stress is associated with maternal ratings of infant temperament — though data indicate stress alters perception (Webster-Stratton, 1990).
This study examines if maternal childhood trauma or maternal perceived stress is associated with maternal ratings of infant temperament, observer ratings, and the association between both temperament scores. A subset (N = 73) of healthy, primarily Latina (60%) women (M = 30.7 years, SD = 6.7) and their 4-month-old infants (+/- 2 weeks) enrolled in a larger longitudinal study (N = 183) completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) (Bernstein et al., 1994) during the first trimester and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (Cohen, Kamarck & Mermelstein, 1983) at 4-months postpartum. Infant temperament at 4-months was assessed using maternal report on the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) (Gartstein & Rothbart, 2003). Observational data was obtained using the Harvard Infant Behavioral Reactivity Protocol, a laboratory-based protocol measuring infant reactivity to novelty (i.e. high reactive is predictive of an inhibited/fearful temperament) (Kagan & Snidman, 1991). The fear subscale on the IBQ-R quantified maternal ratings of infants’ reactivity to novelty. Two coders independently scored the frequency and intensity of the 4-month-olds’ limb movements and crying to novel stimuli, classifying infants into one of four groups: high motor/high cry (High Reactive), low motor/low cry (Low Reactive), or low motor/high cry and high motor/low cry (Intermediate groups). Inter-rater reliability (Cohen’s Kappa Coefficient) was .94.
Logistic regressions showed an association between the fear subscale of the IBQ-R and the Harvard Protocol (exp(B) = 9.29, p = .02). Maternal PSS scores were unrelated to maternal-rated (r = .11, p = .41) or objectively-rated (exp(B) = .998, p = .97) assessments of infant temperament. Maternal CTQ scores were positively associated with maternal-rated (r = .37, p < .01), but not observed, infant temperament (exp(B) = 1.86, p = .51).
These findings suggest that a history of childhood trauma may influence mothers’ views of their infants’ temperament, while maternal perceptions of stress may not. Future studies should consider the potential biases of maternal self-reports, in particular for populations with trauma histories. Understanding the factors that shape maternal perceptions of their infants may inform parenting interventions, such as for mothers with trauma.

Authors

• Sinclaire OGrady, Columbia University
  Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Werner, Columbia University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Catherine Monk, Columbia University
  Non-Presenting Author