Exploring How Responsive Parenting Varies by Maternal Education: A Qualitative Analysis

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

This study examines maternal responsiveness as it varies by maternal education levels, either high or low.

Research validating the strong correlation between maternal responsiveness and the development of socio-emotional, language, and cognitive skills in children has increased over the last three decades (Bornstein & Tamis-LeMonda, 1989; Landry, 2006). A strand of this research focuses on the role poverty plays in mediating parental skills and suggests that household income is inversely associated with maternal responsiveness (Bradley & Corwin, 2003; Grant et al. 2003). The implications of this research are twofold: 1) the effects of poverty impact the environment that contributes to decreased maternal sensitivity, and 2) decreased maternal responsiveness negatively impacts a child’s development trajectory starting when they are an infant (Landry 2008; Landry 2001; Evans et al., 2008). To date, most child health research has utilized maternal education level as a proxy for resources and this single variable predicts a variety of parenting practices and child outcomes within and across cultures (Anderson et al., 2003). A high level of maternal education, however, does not necessarily translate to implementing healthy parenting practices, nor does low level of education mean that mothers are not able to provide responsive parenting. The present study aims to examine maternal responsiveness as it varies with maternal education in a sample of mothers of preschool aged children and will shed light on whether the critical role of parental responsiveness for children’s development is contingent on parent education.

Participants include 53 mothers from the Social Confounders for Health Outcomes Linked to Education (SCHOOL) study, a follow-up study to Social Media and Risk Reduction Training for Infant Care Practices (SMART) study, when their children were approximately 3-4 year's old. Mothers were interviewed in a semi-structured manner and included questions about home routines, education, diet, health practices, and the mother’s history.

A team of twelve interdisciplinary members developed codes for the transcripts through an iterative process. Three trained members of the team then blindly coded all transcripts on a web-based coding system, Dedoose. Specifically, for the current study, researchers looked at education levels in accordance to the mother’s responsive parenting, which “emphasizes an affective-emotional style with positive affection and high levels of warmth and nurturance, responses that are contingently linked to children’s signals, and acceptance of children as unique individual's” (Landry et al., 2008, p. 1).

Preliminary results are as follows: responsive parenting occurs in the form of behavior change based on observation. Parents of all education levels seem to engage in responsive parenting practices by observing what types of behaviors provoke a positive response in their children, then adjusting their own behaviors based on that response. There are a few different types of responsive parenting that occur, though there is no variation in the use of these types between the different education levels. Further exploration of the excerpts will be conducted to illustrate the particular ways and themes in which maternal responsive may or may not vary in relation to maternal education.

Authors

• Frances L. Coolman, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Presenting Author

• Etomgi Okezie, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sofia Hirt, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Khara Lynn Pence Turnbull, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer Locasale-Crouch, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Non-Presenting Author