Consistency of maternal cognitions and principles across the first five months following preterm and term deliveries

The aims of this study were to examine and compare the development of parenting cognitions and principles in mothers following preterm and term deliveries. Parenting cognitions about child development, including thinking that is restricted to single causes and single outcomes (categorical thinking) and thinking that takes into account multiple perspectives (perspectivist thinking), have been shown to relate to child outcomes. Parenting principles about using routines (structure) or infant cues (attunement) to guide daily caregiving have been shown to relate to caregiving practices. We investigated the continuity and stability of parenting cognitions and principles in the days following birth to 5 months postpartum for mothers of infants born term and preterm. All parenting cognitions were stable across time. Categorical thinking increased at a group level across time in mothers of preterm, but not term, infants. Perspectivist thinking increased at a group level for first-time mothers (regardless of birth status) and tended to be lower in mothers of preterm infants. Structure at birth did not predict later structure (and so was unstable) in mothers of preterm, but not term, infants and neither group changed in mean level across time. Attunement was consistent across time in both groups of mothers. These results indicate that prematurity has multiple, diverse effects on parenting beliefs, which may in turn influence maternal behavior and child outcomes.     

Beyond Deficits: Intimate Partner Violence,Maternal Parenting,and Child Behavior Over Time

Exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) has negative consequences for children’s well-being and behavior. Much of the research on parenting in the context of IPV has focused on whether and how IPV victimization may negatively shape maternal parenting, and how parenting may in turn negatively influence child behavior, resulting in a deficit model of mothering in the context of IPV. However, extant research has yet to untangle the interrelationships among the constructs and test whether the negative effects of IPV on child behavior are indeed attributable to IPV affecting mothers’ parenting. The current study employed path analysis to examine the relationships among IPV, mothers’ parenting practices, and their children’s externalizing behaviors over three waves of data collection among a sample of 160 women with physically abusive partners. Findings indicate that women who reported higher levels of IPV also reported higher levels of behavior problems in their children at the next time point. When parenting practices were examined individually as mediators of the relationship between IPV and child behavior over time, one type of parenting was significant relationship, such that IPV lead to higher authoritative parenting and lower child behavior problems. On the other hand, there was no evidence that higher levels of IPV contributed to more child behavior problems due to maternal parenting. Instead, IPV had a significant cumulative indirect effect on child behavior via the stability of both IPV and behavior over time. Implications for promoting women’s and children’s well-being in the context of IPV are discussed.     

The Application of Community Psychology Practice Competencies to Reduce Health Disparities

This article demonstrates the application of community psychology practice competencies to health disparities reduction. It begins with a discussion of changes and evolution of the maternal child health field over nearly three decades, then describes implications for community psychology practice and the application of practice competencies.     

Emerging effortful control in infancy and toddlerhood and maternal support: A child driven or parent driven model?

This study examined the association between children's temperamental characteristics of rudimentary effortful control (EC) and mothers’ supportive reactions to their children's negative emotions in infancy and toddler period. One hundred and fifty eight (78 girls) Taiwanese children's EC was assessed at 12 and 24 months with mothers’ report on the very short-form scales of Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) and Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ) respectively. The mothers also completed questionnaires to assess their comforting behaviors at 12 months and both comforting and cognitive assistance to their children's expression of negative emotions when the child was 24 months old. A structural model was used to examine within- and across-time relations between children's EC and the maternal support. The results showed continuity of EC related temperament from infancy to toddlerhood and the 12-month rudimentary EC positively predicted mothers’ comforting and cognitive assistance at 24 months, suggesting that mothers modulate their use of support in accordance with their prior knowledge of their children's regulatory capacities. The results indicated an influence of infants’ temperament on adult behaviors, supporting potential evocative child effects on mothers’ emotion coaching behaviors.     

Differences in practices of body stimulation during the first 3 months: Ethnotheories and behaviors of Italian mothers and West African immigrant mothers

This study investigated cultural differences, continuity and change of practices concerning body stimulation in a context of immigration. Parenting behaviors during the interaction with infants at 4, 8 and 12 weeks, and parenting ethnotheories at 12 weeks of first-generation West African immigrant mothers in Italy and autochthonous Italian mothers were compared. A qualitative inspection of ethnotheories using a thematic approach was included. As expected, results showed that immigrant mothers placed more emphasis on motor stimulation and showed longer durations of rhythmic motor and rhythmic tactile behaviors than Italian mothers; the latter placed more emphasis on tactile stimulation than immigrant mothers. The practice of motor stimulation in immigrant mothers was also adapted to values of the new context of life, becoming a positive interaction game with a mutual exchange of positive emotions. Findings express the complexity of a multidimensional process of acculturation.     

Early interactive behaviours in preterm infants and their mothers: Influences of maternal depressive symptomatology and neonatal birth weight

The study evaluated the quality of preterm infant–mother interactions, considering severity of birth weight (ELBW and VLBW) and maternal depression, compared to full term babies. 69 preterm infants (29 ELBW and 40 VLBW) and 80 full-term (FT) infants and their mothers were recruited. At 3 months of corrected age, the quality of mother–infant interaction was evaluated through Global Rating Scales; moreover, infant level of development and maternal depression were assessed through Griffith Development Mental Scales and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Results showed adequate sensitivity in preterm infants’ mothers and higher involvement with their infants, compared to full term mothers, but ELBW ones exhibited an intrusive interactive pattern and a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms. The study underlined the relevance of paying special attention to both ELBW infants and their mothers, in order to support the parenting role and the co-construction of early interactions.     

Family structure,maternal employment,and change in children's externalizing problem behaviour: Differences by age and self-regulation

This study used a latent difference score growth model to investigate how changes in family structure (biological father and stepfather residence) and maternal employment are associated with American children's externalizing problem behaviours (EPB) from ages 4–10 and whether these associations vary by children's level of self-regulation. For all 4-year-old children, living with a biological father at age 4 was associated with reductions in EPB at ages 4–6 and later years, with no variation by child self-regulation. Living with a stepfather at age 4 was associated with higher levels of EPB at age 4; however, for less-regulated children, stepfather residence at ages 4 and 8 was associated with reductions in EPB between ages 4–6 and 8–10, respectively. Greater employment hours were associated with increased EPB in the next 2 years for less-regulated children of all ages; however, except for the age 4–6 transition, there was a lagged association that reduced behaviour problems after 2 years and outweighed short-term increases.     

Associations between Positive Parenting Practices and Child Externalizing Behavior in Underserved Latino Immigrant Families

This study examined whether five specific parenting practices (i.e., monitoring, discipline, skill encouragement, problem solving, and positive involvement) were associated with reduced child externalizing behaviors among a sample of Latino immigrant families. It utilized baseline data from 83 Latino couples with children participating in a larger randomized controlled trial of a culturally adapted parenting intervention. Results reveal that monitoring, discipline, skill encouragement, and problem solving each made independent contributions to the prediction of child externalizing behavior, although not all in the expected direction. Further analyses examining mothers and fathers separately suggest that mother‐reported monitoring and father‐reported discipline practices uniquely contributed to these findings. These results may have important implications for prevention and clinical intervention efforts with Latino immigrant families, including the cultural adaptation and implementation of parenting interventions with this underserved population.     

Changes in Stepparents' Coparenting and Parenting Following Participation in a Community‐Based Relationship Education Program

Studies of coparents typically center on the relationship between parents who share a biological child; limited attention in research on community‐based programs is given to the coparenting relationship within a stepfamily, even though clinicians note the challenges inherent in this relationship. We examined changes in coparenting agreement, parenting efficacy, and parental involvement for 96 stepparents following participation in a coparenting‐focused community education program. A significant main effect of time was found for improvement in coparenting agreement, yet a significant time × gender interaction effect suggests that this is driven by improvements for stepmothers only. Parenting efficacy improved, regardless of gender, race, residence, or curriculum. A significant time × race interaction effect on change in parental involvement indicates increases in parental involvement for European American participants only. Finally, increases in coparenting agreement were associated with increases in parenting efficacy, and increases in parenting efficacy were associated with increases in parental involvement.     

The associations between parenting styles and proactive and reactive aggression in Hong Kong children and adolescents

Previous research suggests that reactive and proactive aggression may be differentially related to family contextual (e.g. parenting practices) factors. However, the existing research has focused largely on children and adolescents from Western countries, and no study has examined the parenting–aggression association using a parenting style measure sensitive to Asian culture. In this study parenting styles (i.e. warmth, control and guan/training) and proactive and reactive aggression were assessed in a large sample of school children in Hong Kong, China (N = 4,175, mean age = 11.75). We found that: (a) both low warmth (in boys only) and guan (i.e. high expectation and close supervision, in both boys and girls) were associated with elevated parent‐reported proactive aggression, (b) high restrictive control (i.e. dominating and rejecting) was associated with high reactive aggression (in both boys and girls) based on parent‐ or child‐report data, and with high proactive aggression (in boys only) based on parent‐report data, and (c) guan was also positively associated with parent‐reported reactive aggression. Findings provide more information about the Parenting Inventory using a large Asian sample, and extend existing research on familial correlates of different types of aggression.