Intervening to Improve Reflective Functioning and Emotional Experience Among Latino/a Parents

• In Event: 1-083 - A Basic and Applied Understanding of the Bidirectional Links Between Parents’ Emotions and Child Well-being

Integrative Statement

Reflective functioning (RF) is the ability to perceive the thoughts and feelings of oneself and others (Fonagy et al., 1991). The construct is central to parental sensitivity (Slade, 2008) and affective communication (Kelly et al., 2005), as well as positive academic and social child outcomes (Champagne, 2010). For these reasons, interventions that can promote RF have considerable promise. Among the studies that do target parental RF to improve child outcomes. Whereas, some interventions have successfully achieved this (e.g. Mothering from the Inside Out; Suchman et al., 2017, Minding the Baby; Slade et al., 2005), relatively little attention is pair to cultural values and the general approach to targeting RF can be perceived by Latino/a parents as patronizing and insensitive to cultural beliefs (Calzada et al., 2012). One important cultural belief, especially among Latino/as, is familism, the tendency to emphasize the importance of family.

Relational savoring (RS) is a parenting intervention targeting RF and aims to promote quality relationships through guiding individuals to focus and appreciate positivity within a relationship (Borelli et al., 2014). In contrast to previous parenting interventions, RS is relatively short, inexpensive, easy to disseminate, and emphasizes values consistent with familism.
The current study examined the effects of ethnicity and attachment on parents’ response to RS or a control condition. We hypothesized Latino/a parents would benefit the most from this intervention as the values of RS align with those of familism. Moreover, we hypothesized that this will be particularly true among participants who value familism but have difficulty engaging in positive emotion (those with anxious attachment) or savoring relationships (those with avoidant attachment).

We recruited 308 parents (mothers and fathers; 40 Latino/a) who had a child three years or younger to participate in an online survey. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions (RS or PS) and underwent an online savoring task. RF was measured through self-report before and after the intervention, and affect was assessed, using self-report, after the intervention.

We conducted multiple regression analyses to examine three-way interactions of intervention condition (RS or PS), attachment (avoidance or anxiety), and ethnicity (Latino/a or not Latino/a) that predicted RF and affect. The results indicated that Latino/a participants, in the RS condition, with high attachment avoidance reported higher levels of RF (b=0.75, 95%CI(0.201.30) t(296)=2.67, p=0.01) and positive affect (b=10.52, 95%CI(1.91,19.12, t(299)=2.40, p=0.02) than participants in PS. Participants with high attachment anxiety, in the intervention condition, and who identified as Latino/a, reported lower levels of negative affect (b=-5.91, 95%CI(-10.49,-1.33), t(299)=2.54, p = 0.01) and higher levels of positive affect (b=4.33, 95%CI(0.75,7.90), t(299)=2.38, p=0.02) than those in PS.

The results of this study not only provide evidence for the efficacy of RS in promoting RF and positive affect, but also highlight the importance of cultural awareness in designing and implementing parenting interventions. We accomplished this using a brief, easily disseminated, and culturally sensitive intervention to benefit a population not typically targeted in intervention research, but may be most in need of such an intervention.

Authors

• Alison Goldstein, University of California, Irvine
  Presenting Author

• Margaret Lee Kerr, University of Wisconsin, Madison
  Non-Presenting Author

• Frances Li, University of California, Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Belinda Campos, University of California, Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author

• David Sbarra, University of Arizona
  Non-Presenting Author

• Patricia A Smiley, Pomona Colege
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jessica Borelli, University of California, Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author