DOES FATHERS' PRENATAL MENTAL HEALTH BEAR A RELATIONSHIP TO PARENTING STRESS AT 6 MONTHS?

This study aimed to explore fathers’ mental health and retrospectively reported adverse childhood experiences during pregnancy, as well as various pathways predicting self‐reported stress at 6 months’ postpartum as assessed by the Parenting Stress Index (PSI; R.R. Abidin, 1990 ). A total of 835 fathers contributed data to the study. Data collection comprised five time points during pregnancy and one at 6 months’ postpartum. The main analyses were performed using linear regression and path analyses. First, linear regression analyses showed that paternal anxiety symptoms during pregnancy predicted stress scores in the PSI child domain at 6 months (coefficient = 0.36). Second, path analyses showed that depressive symptoms during pregnancy predicted parenting stress in the child domain, mediated by spousal disharmony at 6 months’ postpartum (coefficient = 0.77). Third, adverse childhood experiences scores predicted parenting stress in the child domain by two different pathways: one mediated by anxiety symptoms in pregnancy (coefficient = 0.29) and the other by depressive symptoms in pregnancy and experienced spousal disharmony at 6 months’ postpartum (coefficient = 0.77). The findings suggest that fathers’ symptoms of anxiety and depression during pregnancy as well as adverse childhood experiences predict paternal stress and a negative perception of their children's behavior at 6 months’ postpartum.     

The associations between insecure attachment,rooming‐in,and postpartum depression: A 2 months’ longitudinal study

Postpartum depression (PPD) is the most common complication of childbearing, and recent studies have attempted to examine risk factors associated with it. The main study hypothesis was that a protective situational factor at a sensitive time period (full rooming‐in postpartum) would moderate the associations between insecure attachment dimensions and PPD. Three hundred twelve women, in either full or partial rooming‐in, participated in a longitudinal study at the maternity ward of a tertiary healthcare center. A Demographic questionnaire and the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale were administered at 1–4 days postpartum, and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression scale at 2 months postpartum. PPD was significantly associated with both anxious and avoidant attachment dimensions, but not with rooming‐in conditions. In addition, women in partial rooming‐in showed a positive correlation between insecure attachment dimensions and PPD, whereas no such correlation was found for full rooming‐in women. A situational factor such as full rooming‐in, which occurs at a critical time point for the mother–infant relationship, can moderate the association between maternal avoidant or anxious attachment dimensions and the mother's PPD levels. Postpartum practices, such as rooming‐in, can be personalized and thus beneficial in moderating personal risk factors for PPD.     

DEVELOPMENT OF THE PARENT‐CHILD PLAY SCALE FOR USE IN CHILDREN WITH FEEDING DISORDERS

The Parent‐Child Play Scale was developed as a scale that complements the Parent‐Child Feeding Scale, created by I. Chatoor et al. (1997), to evaluate mother–infant/toddler interactions in two different caregiving contexts of a young child's everyday life, specifically play and feeding. This Play Scale can be used with infants and toddlers ranging in age from 1 month to 3 years and provides reliable global ratings of mother–child interactions during 10 min of videotaped free‐play in a laboratory setting. The scale consists of 32 mother and infant/toddler interactive behaviors which are rated by trained observers from videotaped observations. Four subscales are derived: Dyadic Reciprocity, Maternal Unresponsiveness to Infant's/Toddler's Cues, Dyadic Conflict, and Maternal Intrusiveness. Construct validity and interrater and test‐retest reliability of the Play Scale have been demonstrated. This Play Scale discriminates between children with and without feeding disorders as well as between children with different subtypes of feeding disorders as defined by the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood, Revised (DC:0–3R) (Feeding Disorder of State Regulation, Feeding Disorder of Caregiver‐Infant Reciprocity, and Infantile Anorexia). It can be used for research or clinical practice in the diagnosis and treatment of early feeding problems, to assess the pervasiveness of mother–infant/toddler difficulties and to monitor changes following therapy.     

DEPLOYMENT STATUS: A DIRECT OR INDIRECT EFFECT ON MOTHER–CHILD ATTACHMENT WITHIN A CANADIAN MILITARY CONTEXT?

Research has suggested that military spouses experience increased depressive symptoms and parenting stress during a military member's deployment. A relationship between maternal depressive symptoms, parenting stress, and child attachment security has been found in the general population, as has an indication that social support may provide a buffering effect. While there appears to be an association between the emotional well‐being of military spouses and child emotional well‐being during deployment, data are limited regarding the association between maternal emotional well‐being and child attachment security. The current study explores the association between deployment status and child attachment to the nonmilitary parent (i.e., the mother in this study) in a sample of 68 Canadian military families. Results revealed a significant impact of deployment status on maternal depressive symptoms and on quality of child attachment. The impact of deployment status on attachment was not mediated through the maternal variables, and despite a main effect of social support on the maternal variables, there was no moderating effect. Thus, our results suggest that deployment may affect child attachment independently of maternal well‐being.     

Psychology and social control

The history of social control applications of psychology and the likelihood of a future increase in their importance are assessed. The effects of military funding of psychological research and the social consequences of very widespread unemployment are specifically considered. It is argued that psychology and related areas of cognitive science and neuroscience may well become increasingly relevant in the development of the technical components of such techniques rather than in providing ideological justifications for their use.     

Effects of imaginal exposure to feared disasters in obsessive-compulsive checkers

The combined effects of imaginal exposure to feared catastrophes and in vivo exposure to external stimuli were compared with the effects of in vivo exposure alone in 15 obsessive-compulsives with checking rituals. The first group received 90 min of uninterrupted exposure in imagination, which concentrated mainly on disastrous consequences, followed by 30 min of exposure in vivo to stimuli-situations which triggered rituals. The second group was given 2 hr of exposure in vivo only. Both groups were prevented from performing rituals. Treatment consisted of 10 daily sessions within a 2 week period.Assessments were conducted before and after treatment and at follow-up ranging from 3 months to 2.5 yr with a mean of 11 months. At post-treatment both groups improved considerably and did not differ. But at follow-up those who received imaginal and in vivo exposure maintained their gains, whereas the group who were treated by exposure in vivo alone evidenced partial relapse on four of the six dependent measures. The results tend to indicate that a closer match between a patient's internal fear model and the content of exposure enhances long term treatment efficacy.     

Habituation of subjective anxiety during flooding in imagery

Patterns of habituation of subjective anxiety during flooding in fantasy are delineated for eleven obsessive-compulsive and six agoraphobic patients. The majority showed a curvilinear pattern of subjective anxiety response, while three patients showed a linear decelerating pattern. Habituation was found both within and across sessions. The results are compared with habituation patterns in physiological responses during flooding in fantasy and in vivo.     

Parents' and preschool children's choices of disciplinary childrearing methods

Forty preschoolers individually were shown a videotape containing six 30-second scenes depicting common parent/child conflicts. The children were asked to tell the experimenter what they would do if they were the parent on the tape, and what their own parents would do if this happened at home. In addition, 15 mothers of these children were selected randomly to view the same scenes and to indicate their choice of conflict resolution methods. Taped responses of parents and children were then coded as verbal/physical coercion or no coercion. Results indicated that preschoolers tended to choose disciplinary actions in accordance with their perceptions of their parents' manner of dealing with the same situation, and also revealed a high congruence between parent and child on consequences for discipline. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the development of childrearing methods at an early age and the intergenerational transmission of family violence.