Attention bias to threat in mothers with emotional disorders predicts increased offspring anxiety symptoms: a joint cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis

There is convincing evidence of the transmission of anxiety and depression from parents to children; however, mechanisms by which this vulnerability is passed on are unclear. Cognitive models and a small body of cross-sectional research suggest that parental attention biases (ABs) may be one mechanism involved in transmission. Longitudinal associations of maternal and offspring ABs with offspring symptoms have been scarcely studied. Forty-three mothers–child dyads were included. All children (7–12 years old) were diagnosis-free while 24 mothers had a lifetime emotional disorder (anxiety or depression) (high risk, HR) and 19 mothers had no psychiatric diagnoses (low risk, LR). This study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of maternal and child AB and child anxiety symptomology at initial and 12-month assessments. ABs were assessed using a visual-probe task with emotional faces. There was a significant cross-sectional but not longitudinal association of increased child anxiety symptoms with increased maternal threat AB for HR but not LR dyads. At the cross-sectional level, increases in HR but not LR offspring anxiety symptomology were associated with maternal threat AB. Larger longitudinal studies are required that examine the interplay between parent–child variables and include multiple time-points of assessment and measures of AB.     

Health and well-being among teenage mothers in a rural South African community

This study sought to identify patterns of general health symptoms and coping abilities among school-going teenage mothers in the central region of Limpopo province, South Africa. The participants were 56 teenage mothers and 56 typically developing girls or non-mother peers (age range 16 to 19 years). They attended school ranging from grades 8 to 12. The participants completed the General Health Questionnaire and Coping Strategy Scale. Data were analysed utilising between group t-test comparison statistics. The findings suggest teenage mothers experience fewer somatic symptoms than typical peers. In addition, there was no significant difference between teenage mothers and peers on anxiety, social dysfunction, depression and coping strategies scores. Generally, teenage mothers experienced fewer general health symptoms than non-mother peers.     

Lived experiences of school-going early mothers in Swaziland

This study explored the lived family and community experiences of Swazi school-going early mothers (N = 15; age range 13–22 years). Participants responded to family and community relationship experiences focus group discussions. The data were content thematically analysed. The findings suggest that early mothers experience strained relationships with their fathers, and receive emotional and material support from their mothers. The young mothers perceived themselves to be discriminated against by teachers in educational support. Early motherhood appeared to cause feelings of happiness, regret and anxiety in many, and a personal sense of satisfaction and accomplishment in some.     

‘I still have difficulties feeling like a mother’: The transition to motherhood of preterm infants mothers

Objective: The premature birth of their infant can constitute a sudden interruption of the transition to motherhood that requires a reorganisation of the process. The present study aimed to analyse the experience of the transition to motherhood of preterm infants’ mothers, framing it within Stern’s transition to motherhood theory.

Method: A semi-structured interview was administered to 30 mothers during the recovery of the infant in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The interview explored the experience of mothers related to pregnancy, the infant’s birth and recovery.

Results: Thematic Analyses evidenced four interrelated themes: disconnection from the child, perception of maternal inadequacy, loss of parental role and temporal suspension. The themes showed that the mothers’ experience of preterm birth not only concerns the traumatic delivery, but is also embedded in the entire process of becoming a mother within an institutional context.

Conclusions: Results were connected to Stern’s theory. Findings revealed difficulties for preterm mothers that could affect the development of the maternal constellation and thus their transition to motherhood. These difficulties may influence the construction of maternal identity, mother’s representation of their child and the bond with their child.     

Children of mothers being released from incarceration: characteristics and potential targets for intervention

Incarcerated mothers and their children may face a multitude of problems. To identify possible targets for intervention, more clarity is needed about characteristics of these children and their mothers. This study examined children’s life events, behaviour problems and social cognitions and mothers’ parenting behaviours as potential targets for intervention with mothers being released from incarceration, in the Netherlands with a culturally diverse sample. Participants were 121 children of mothers being released from incarceration and 63 children of comparison mothers from disadvantaged areas, without a history of incarceration. Children of mothers being released from incarceration were more disadvantaged in life events, had more behaviour problems, and their mothers’ parenting behaviours were characterized by lower involvement and poorer monitoring compared with children of comparison mothers. Suboptimal parenting behaviours of mothers being released from incarceration were statistically associated with children’s behaviour problems. Hence, these children face more difficulties that may contribute to problematic development than children from another at-risk population.     

Parent–child relationships and offspring’s positive mental wellbeing from adolescence to early older age

We examined parent-child relationship quality and positive mental well-being using Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development data. Well-being was measured at ages 13–15 (teacher-rated happiness), 36 (life satisfaction), 43 (satisfaction with home and family life) and 60–64 years (Diener Satisfaction With Life scale and Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being scale). The Parental Bonding Instrument captured perceived care and control from the father and mother to age 16, recalled by study members at age 43. Greater well-being was seen for offspring with higher combined parental care and lower combined parental psychological control (p < 0.05 at all ages). Controlling for maternal care and paternal and maternal behavioural and psychological control, childhood social class, parental separation, mother’s neuroticism and study member’s personality, higher well-being was consistently related to paternal care. This suggests that both mother–child and father–child relationships may have short and long-term consequences for positive mental well-being.     

Parental play styles and sibling interaction during a problem‐solving task

Associations between parental play styles and sibling interaction were investigated in 30 same‐sex preschool‐ and school‐aged sibling dyads (first‐borns were 4–9 years, M=6.6 years; second‐borns were 2–7 years, M=4.2 years), divided into older and younger sibling groups. Participants completed puzzles under three conditions: (a) siblings alone, (b) together with mother, and (c) together with father. Prosocial and agonistic sibling‐directed behaviors and positive and negative parent–child behaviors were coded. Siblings engaged in both more prosocial and agonistic interactions when alone than with either parent; there were no differences in sibling interactions in the mother versus father episodes. Paternal negative behavior was associated with sibling agonistic behavior when the children were alone, indicating second‐order effects, however, mother–child and sibling interactions were not significantly associated. Nevertheless, reciprocity in positive and negative behaviors directed by children to parents and vice versa was evident, demonstrating synchrony in patterns of exchanges. The findings underscore the necessity of studying both parents in order to understand more fully the dynamics involved in family relationships. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

African American Single Mothers and Children in Context: A Review of Studies on Risk and Resilience

This paper presents a comprehensive review of research linking single-parent family structure to parenting processes, maternal well-being, and child developmental outcomes among African Americans. The approaches used to study these families, related methodological and conceptual concerns, and the factors linked to maternal well-being, effective parenting processes, family functioning, and child outcomes are addressed. Much work remains to be done on conceptualizing and assessing parenting processes among African Americans in general and single African American mothers in particular. Researchers must examine more carefully the circumstances that foster or impede successful parenting among these mothers. Studies also are needed to disentangle the interactions between economic stress and parenting behavior and to determine the extent to which the findings can be applied to middle-income single African American parents.     

Early tactile experience of low birth weight children: links to later mental health and social adaptation

The purpose of this study was twofold: to determine (1) the degree to which specific qualities of maternal touch may contribute to the low birth weight infant's emotional and behavioural problems as well as social adaptation, and (2) the relationship between maternal touch and a mother's other caregiving behaviour. The sample included 114 socioculturally diverse infants and their mothers who were videotaped during an infant feeding when the baby was 3 months old. This videotape was analysed to assess dimensions of mother–infant interaction, including maternal touch. Data on perinatal risk and the mother's acceptance versus rejection of the infant were also acquired. Social adaptation and emotional/behavioural problems were measured when the child was 2 years of age. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that maternal touch accounted for 15% of the variance in the likelihood of a child having emotional/behavioural problems at age 2. Children who received more nurturing touch had significantly fewer internalizing problems (such as depression) while children receiving both more frequent touch and harsh touch had more externalizing problems (such as aggressive behaviour). Infants who were less responsive to their caregivers were especially at risk of developing aggressive/destructive behaviour as a result of frequent touch. But less responsive infants also appeared to benefit most from greater use of diverse types of maternal touch, accounting for 6% of the variance in superior adaptive behaviour at age 2. Nurturing touch was the only quality that showed even a modest relationship to other caregiving behaviour, suggesting that touch may play a distinct role in the infant's psychosocial development. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.