Poster #56 - Pathways by Which Remembered Positive Parenting in Childhood Predicts Maternal Sensitivity to Distress

• In Event: Poster Session 12

Abstract

Positive and negative childhood experiences have lasting effects on later parenting (Burrous et al., 2009; Leerkes et al., 2020; Savage et al., 2019). This is believed, in part, to occur by early childhood experiences shaping how individuals emotionally and cognitively respond to stimuli (Bowlby, 1973; Lemerise & Arsenio, 2000). The goal of this study was to test (a) the independent effects of mothers’ remembered positive parenting in childhood and adverse childhood experiences (ACES) on maternal sensitivity to infant distress via mothers’ emotional and cognitive responses to infant crying, and (b) the extent to which positive parenting buffered mothers’ parenting emotions, cognitions, and behaviors from the negative effects of ACES.
Participants were 299 mothers (47.5% Non-White) and their 2-month-old infants (51.2% male). During their third trimester, women completed questionnaires assessing demographics, remembered positive parenting during childhood (Parker et al., 1979), ACES (Felitti et al., 1998), and beliefs about infant crying (Haltigan et al., 2012). Additionally, women visited campus, viewed four video clips of crying infants, and responded to questionnaires about their own emotional reactions while watching the clips and causal attributions about why each infant was crying. Negative emotions to infant crying reflected anxiety and frustration towards the infant. Negative cognitions about infant crying included emotion minimizing attributions, negative attributions, minimizing beliefs about crying, and spoiling beliefs about crying. When infants were 2 months old, maternal behaviors (sensitivity to infant distress and non-distress cues, intrusiveness, and detachment) were rated during the re-engagement phase of the Still Face procedure using the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (ECCRN, 1999; Mills-Koonce et al., 2011) 7-point sensitivity scale from 1 (very low) to 7 (very high). Total maternal sensitivity in a distressing context reflected high sensitivity to distress and non-distress cues, and low intrusiveness and detachment (α = .84).
A structural equation model (Figure 1) was tested using Mplus and demonstrated acceptable model fit (χ2 (65) = 167.53, p =.000; RMSEA = .07; CFI = .86; SRMR = .07; Kline, 2010); missing data were handled using full information maximum likelihood. Maternal education and observed infant distress during the still face re-engagement phase were included as covariates. Remembered positive parenting in childhood was associated with lower negative emotions in response to infant crying and fewer negative cognitions about infant crying. In turn, negative cognitions about infant crying was significantly associated with lower maternal sensitivity to distress, but negative emotional reactions to infant crying was not. Bootstrapped confidence intervals indicated the indirect effect from remembered positive parenting in childhood to higher maternal sensitivity via lower negative cognitions about infant crying was significant (b = .18, SE = .07, 99% CI [.03, .43]). Neither the main effect of ACES nor the interactive effects of remembered positive parenting in childhood and ACES predicted women’s emotional and cognitive responses to crying or maternal sensitivity.
Results demonstrate remembered positive parenting in childhood, but not ACES, has implications for subsequent parenting via its impact on parenting cognitions. Implications for future research and practice will be discussed.

Authors

• Savannah A. Girod, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Presenting Author

• Esther M. Leerkes, UNC Greensboro

• Cheryl Buehler, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Lenka Shriver, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Laurie Wideman, UNC Greensboro