Spillover and Crossover Linkages Between Mothers’ and Fathers’ Parental Stress and Sensitivity

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Introduction: Although raising children is often described as rewarding, parenthood can be overwhelming and stressful at times. Parental stress can be defined as a negative emotional or physiological reaction to the demands of parenthood (Crnic & Coburn, 2019). Higher levels of parental stress most likely interfere with parents’ ability to parent sensitively, which is defined as parents’ ability to perceive and interpret children’s signals accurately, and subsequently respond in an appropriate and prompt manner (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). Aims and hypotheses: The fourfold aim of the current study is to improve the understanding of associations between mothers’ and fathers’ parental stress and observed parental sensitivity. First, using multi-actor data of fathers and mothers within the same family, we are able to assess whether and to what extent parental stress of fathers and mothers not only spills over to more detrimental levels of their own sensitivity, but also to that of their partner (crossover). Second, based on the fathering vulnerability hypothesis, we are able to test whether such spillover and crossover associations are stronger for fathers than mothers. Third, having equal subsamples of high and low SES families, we can test the hypothesis that associations between parental stress and sensitivity are stronger for low SES families, given that they have less resources to buffer the impact of parental stress. Fourth, given that children’s difficult temperament may affect both parental stress as well as parents’ sensitivity, we control for children’s negative emotionality in our attempt to obtain more accurate associations between parental stress and sensitivity. Method: We will use data from an interdisciplinary research project investigating the role of fathers and mothers in young children’s development. In total, data were collected from 104 three-year old children (51 boys) and their parents (104 mothers and 104 fathers). The sample consisted of 53 families with a relatively high, and 51 families from a relatively low socio-economic background. Power analyses revealed that 64 families would already suffice considering a (two-sided) critical value of α=.05, a power of 80% (β=.2), and under the assumptions that the model explained 15% of the variance in sensitivity, as well as that the correlation between parental scores is high (r = .60). We plan to use a cross-sectional actor-partner interdependency model (APIM; Kenny & Ledermann, 2010) to examine spillover and crossover associations between fathers’ and mothers’ level of parental stress and sensitivity, and to assess differences in association strength between fathers and mothers. For our third hypothesis, we will include step-by-step interaction effects of parental stress and families’ educational attainment on all spillover and crossover associations between parental stress and sensitivity. Authors will start the analyses October 2020 and aim to finish the paper December 2020. Implications: By examining associations between parental stress and sensitivity for fathers and mothers within the same family, and for families with relatively low versus higher socio-economic background, the current study will increase knowledge about the conditions under which, and for whom, these associations might be stronger, yielding important insights for parenting interventions.

Authors

• Lisa Van Der Storm, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Presenting Author

• Katrien Helmerhorst, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (UG/RUG)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nicole Lucassen, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Non-Presenting Author

• Renske Keizer, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Non-Presenting Author