Mothers’ and Fathers’ Parenting Stress, Education, Financial Strain and Parent-Child Play Interactions

• In Event: Maternal and parental playfulness with their young children. Data from the U.S., Netherlands, and Chile

Abstract

Introduction: Given the importance of high-quality parent-child play in early child development, it is imperative that the factors which influence parents’ playfulness be understood. Relative to the large literature on play conducted with peers, there is much less scholarship on the quality of play between parents and their children, especially in low-income families who are at higher risk for poor outcomes. There are gaps in our knowledge about the types of play that promote child wellbeing, as well as the factors that are associated with high quality parent-child play interactions. The few studies to date have shown that parents’ levels of education, resources, and parental stress (Crnic, Gaze, & Hoffman, 2005) are robustly related to the quality of parent-child interactions. It is less clear whether these factors are also associated with the quality of parent-child play. Here we explore the quality of mothers’ and fathers’ play with their 9-month old infants and how parents’ education, parenting stress, and financial strain may influence the quality of play in a low-income sample.
Aims: Guided by sociocultural and family stress models, we explore these issues in a low-income sample. Specifically, we ask, 1) what is the quality of parents’ playfulness with their infants? and 2) are education, financial strain, and parenting stress associated with the quality of play between mothers and fathers and their children?
Methods: Observational and survey data were collected from parents (anticipated N = 420) and their 9-month-old infants (Table 1). Parent playfulness was coded from videotaped parent-child play interactions using a global rating of a parent’s use of creativity and imagination during play (Atzaba-Poria, Cabrera, & Menashe, 2014). Self-report measures were used for education, parenting stress (PSS; Berry & Jones, 1995), and financial strain (Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Study, 2014).
Results: Preliminary results indicate that parents’ play is between “low playfulness” and “primarily conventional play.” This suggests that parents are primarily using labeling and concrete play with their 9-month-old infants; on average, parents are engaging in little imaginary play and little to no creative play (Table 2). Future analyses will explore the associations between education, financial strain, parenting stress, and parent playfulness.
Conclusions: Given the importance of play for the development of children’s foundational skills, it is notable that parents are using primarily concrete play with their children in this sample. Additionally, we anticipate that our final results will suggest that we also need to pay attention to how parental stress and financial strain might be associated with lower quality of play between mothers, fathers, and their children, not just with negative parenting, as other studies have shown. Results of this study highlight opportunities for intervention in order to promote high-quality parent playfulness.

Authors

• S. Alexa McDorman, University of Maryland - College Park
  Presenting Author

• Rachel Alina Ghosh, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kelsey McKee, University of Maryland, College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Natasha J Cabrera, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Azea Sharp, University of Maryland, College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephanie M Reich, University of California - Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author