Impact of Prenatal Representations on Preschool Externalizing in Contexts of Intimate Partner Violence

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

The caregiving system is a highly organized behavioral system in parents that is undergirded by internal working models, or representations, of self and child (Soloman & George, 1996). Balanced representations are characterized by flexibility, coherence and an understanding of the caregiver’s impact on the child whereas non-balanced representations are distinguished by emotional withdrawal, unmodulated emotion, anxious preoccupation or self-involvement (Zeanah et al., 1994). Prenatal maternal representations are associated with later parenting behaviors, including sensitive parenting, which is the ability to accurately read children’s signals and respond appropriately (e.g., Foley & Hughs, 2018, Ainsworth et al., 1978). Parenting sensitivity is also a predictor of key developmental outcomes including child externalizing behavior (e.g., Nuttall et al., 2012). Despite the association between maternal representations and critical developmental determinants including parenting, there is a paucity of longitudinal research investigating the influence of representations on child outcomes. The present study aimed to address this gap by examining maternal sensitivity as a mechanism by which prenatal representations impact preschool externalizing symptoms in a prospective, longitudinal sample of mothers and children (N=206). We hypothesized that non-balanced representations would be associated with less sensitive parenting which, in turn, would be associated with greater externalizing symptoms.

Participants were enrolled in a larger longitudinal study of mothers and their children. Prenatal representations were coded from the Working Model of the Child Interview (Zeanah et al., 1994), when women were in their third trimester of pregnancy. Parenting sensitivity was coded from free-play interactions when infants were a year old using a coding scheme adapted from Ainsworth et al. (1971) and externalizing behavior was assessed via maternal report on the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991) when children were four years old. Path analyses were conducted in Mplus (Mplus version 8; Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2017). Mediation was tested using the nonparametric, bias-corrected bootstrap method recommended by Fritz and MacKinnon (2007). Because participants in the larger study were over-sampled for experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV), IPV during pregnancy and throughout the child’s lifetime were included as covariates. The hypothesis was supported; the indirect effect of working models on child externalizing via maternal sensitivity was estimated to lie between 0.05 and 2.5 with 95% confidence indicating a significant indirect effect at the p<.05 level. Unstandardized path coefficients are reported in Figure 1. This study extends previous research on the relationship between maternal representations and parenting to map a developmental trajectory from prenatal maternal representations to child externalizing through maternal sensitivity. Results highlight the importance of investigating cognitive models that underlie parenting to better understand how they exert direct or indirect influences on child outcomes.

Authors

• Alexandra Lauren Ballinger, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• Amy K. Nuttall, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alytia Akiko Levendosky, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• G. Anne Bogat, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author