Patterns of Adolescent Mothers' Parenting Stress Across Early Childhood: Relations With Children's Behavioral Functioning

• In Event: 2-080 - Trajectories of Parenting Stress and Self-Efficacy Across Early Childhood: Links to Parent and Child Behavior

Integrative Statement

Parenting stress is a normative experience among parents. However, chronically high and persistent parenting stress may negatively impact children’s socio-emotional and behavioral development by altering the quality of parent-child interactions (Bernier, Carlson, Deschênes, & Matte-Gagné, 2012; Mills-Koonce et al., 2009). An individual’s experience of parenting stress results from transactions between external and internal factors over time (Deater-Deckard & Panneton, 2017; Lazaraus & Folkman, 1984). Understanding both longitudinal and individual variation in parenting stress is important to supporting parents and promoting optimal development. Compared to adult mothers, adolescent mothers display greater rates of parenting stress; further, their children are at greater risk for psychosocial and behavioral problems (Manlove, Terry-Humen, Miniceli, & Moore, 2008; Mollborn & Dennis, 2012). Research exploring parenting stress among adolescent mothers generally fails to acknowledge differences in parenting stress between and within individuals. Several studies demonstrate considerable variability in adolescent mothers’ life trajectories (Chang & Fine, 2007; Easterbrooks, Chaudhuri, Bartlett, & Copeman, 2011), suggesting the importance of examining patterns of parenting stress. Understanding the individual and temporal variation in adolescent mothers’ experiences of parenting stress may help to address how to support their own, and their children’s, behavioral functioning.

Our study explores the variability of trajectories of parenting stress from infancy to early childhood among adolescent mothers and the relation of these trajectories to children’s behavioral functioning at school age. We further explored whether involvement in a parenting support home-visiting intervention program was related to parenting stress trajectories. The sample was 401 mothers enrolled in an evaluation of a home-visiting program for young parents (< 21 years). Data were collected in 6 waves from prenatal to early childhood. Table 1 portrays key demographics of the analytic sample. The present study used data from waves 2 (postnatal) to 6. Parenting stress was assessed using the Parental Distress Subscale of the Parenting Stress Index Short Form (PSI-SF; Abidin, 1995) (waves 2 through 5). Children’s behavioral functioning was measured using the internalizing and externalizing problems subscales of Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 1997) (wave 6).

Using Growth Mixture Modeling, we identified 3 trajectories of parenting stress across time: (1) high and decreasing, (2) high and increasing, and (3) low and stable. Figure 1 graphically depicts these trajectories. To address how the trajectories related to children’s behavioral functioning, we explored differences among trajectories on children’s internalizing and externalizing problem scores. We found no significant differences between children in the high and decreasing or high and increasing groups (Groups 1 vs. 2); however, children in the low and stable group (Group 3) displayed lower internalizing and externalizing problems compared to the other groups. Program status was not a significant predictor of parenting stress trajectories.

We discuss our findings in light of the holistic perspective they provide on the associations between adolescent mothers’ parenting stress and their children’s later psychosocial and behavioral problems. We will conclude with a discussion of the implications of our work for home-visiting and other family support programming aiming to promote optimal functioning among mothers and children.

Authors

• Meera Menon, Tufts University
  Presenting Author

• Ann Easterbrooks, Tufts University
  Non-Presenting Author