Maternal and Infant Temperament Characteristics as Contributors to Parenting Stress in the First Year Postpartum

Although prominent models emphasize that maternal, child, and situational variables are associated with parenting stress, previous research has often neglected to examine associations between maternal and infant temperament characteristics and stress experienced in the parenting role. Additionally, while predictors of global parenting stress have been examined, predictors of stress related to specific aspects of the parenting role have been largely unexplored. The present study examined maternal and infant temperament characteristics as predictors of parenting stress, both globally and specifically. Mothers (n = 159) completed measures of depressive and anxiety symptoms and a measure of adult temperament when their infants were 4 months old. At 6 months postpartum, caregivers completed a measure of infant temperament, and at 8 months postpartum, a measure of parenting stress. Results indicated that maternal effortful control and infant negative emotionality predicted global maternal parenting stress. Additionally, all maternal and infant temperament variables, with the exception of maternal negative affectivity and infant surgency/extraversion, were uniquely predictive of at least one specific aspect of parenting‐related stress. Findings emphasize the importance of considering maternal and infant temperament characteristics as contributors to parenting stress in the first year postpartum. Implications of these findings for future research and intervention are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attention and Attachment Related Behavior Toward Professional Caregivers in Child Care Centers: A New Measure for Toddlers

The authors attempted to develop and validate the Toddler Attention Questionnaire (TAQ) by examining the relationship between attention and attachment to a professional caregiver. The psychometric reliability and validity of the TAQ was tested with 72 children ranging from 20 to 36 months old. Attentive processes were also measured by the Italian Questionnaire on Temperament, while attachment behaviors to professional caregivers were measured by the Attachment Q-Sort. Factor analysis supported four identifiable factors reflecting different concepts, theoretically discussed, related to attentive processes: attentive flexibility, attentive lability, attentive detachment, and attentive disorientation. Attachment security to professional caregivers is predicted through attentive flexibility and negative emotionality. Secure attachment behaviors were found to be related to flexibility of attention. The implications of the findings for future theoretical and empirical development of research in this field are also discussed.     

Infant temperament and maternal sensitivity behavior in the first year of life

Maternal sensitivity behavior (MSB) and infant temperament were investigated among 56 Finnish low-risk mothers and their full-term and healthy infants. The mothers were from families with good economic status, the infant's parents lived together, and the mothers were well educated. Mothers and infants were video-recorded in free-play situations at home, and evaluated using the Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment Scale (PCERA). The infants were also assessed using the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire (R-ITQ) and the Toddler Temperament Questionnaire (TTQ). Most of the temperament characteristics showed moderate stability during the first year. MSB was related to infant temperament characteristics at 3, 6 and 12 months of age. Gender differences in temperament were evident already at 6 and 12 months of age. Few prior studies have reported gender differences in infancy.     

Parent Reports and Laboratory Assessments of Child Temperament: A Comparison of Their Associations With Risk for Depression and Externalizing Disorders

Parent reports and laboratory assessments of child temperament traits were compared in terms of their associations with 2 indices of risk for future maladjustment: maternal history of depression and disruptive school behavior. A community sample of 99 pre-school-aged children completed a standardized battery of laboratory tasks designed to tap positive emotionality (PE) and anger. Parent reports of child temperament were collected, and maternal history of depression was assessed using structured clinical interviews. An average of 18.5 months after the initial laboratory assessment, teacher reports of disruptive school behavior were collected. Structural equation models were used to test the association between the 2 assessment approaches of child temperament and maternal history of depression and disruptive school behavior. Laboratory measures and parent reports of anger were equally good at predicting disruptive school behavior, while laboratory measures of PE showed stronger associations with maternal history of depression than parent report.     

Childhood Temperament and Family Environment as Predictors of Internalizing and Externalizing Trajectories From Ages 5 to 17

Childhood temperament and family environment have been shown to predict internalizing and externalizing behavior; however, less is known about how temperament and family environment interact to predict changes in problem behavior. We conducted latent growth curve modeling on a sample assessed at ages 5, 7, 10, 14, and 17 (N = 337). Externalizing behavior decreased over time for both sexes, and internalizing behavior increased over time for girls only. Two childhood variables (fear/shyness and maternal depression) predicted boys' and girls' age-17 internalizing behavior, harsh discipline uniquely predicted boys' age-17 internalizing behavior, and maternal depression and lower family income uniquely predicted increases in girls' internalizing behavior. For externalizing behavior, an array of temperament, family environment, and Temperament × Family Environment variables predicted age-17 behavior for both sexes. Sex differences were present in the prediction of externalizing slopes, with maternal depression predicting increases in boys' externalizing behavior only when impulsivity was low, and harsh discipline predicting increases in girls' externalizing behavior only when impulsivity was high or when fear/shyness was low.     

Applying a bifactor model to the functions of relational aggression: Associations with hostile attribution biases and difficulties with emotion regulation

Previous research suggests that reactive and proactive aggression likely have distinct underlying mechanisms that uniquely contribute to the perpetration of each as a result of faulty cognitive and emotional processes. Still, very little work has examined the association of the functions of relational aggression with emotion dysregulation and hostile attribution biases. In addition, it is important to examine relational aggression in its pure and co-occurring functions given that past work finds reactive and proactive aggression to occur both jointly and distinctly. Thus, the current study employed a bifactor model to distinguish between pure reactive, pure proactive, and co-occurring relational aggression in emerging adulthood (N = 647, M_age = 19.92, SD = 2.83), a developmental time period for which relational aggression is particularly prominent. To further address gaps in the relational aggression literature, indirect pathway models revealed that relational hostile attribution biases emerged as a concurrent indirect path in the relationship between emotion dysregulation and pure reactive relational aggression. Furthermore, emotion dysregulation was directly positively associated with both pure functions as well as co-occurring relational aggression, and hostile attribution biases for relational provocations were directly associated with both pure functions of relational aggression, though the association was negative for pure proactive and positive for pure reactive relational aggression. Findings highlight the potential influence of emotion dysregulation and attributing hostile intent to social situations on engaging in the different functions of relational aggression.     

Inhibitory deficits and symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: How are they related to effortful control?

Separate studies with clinical and community-based samples have identified an association between symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and inhibitory control deficits and ADHD and weak effortful control. We tested whether differences in effortful control explained the associations between ADHD symptoms and inhibitory control deficits, controlling for conduct problems. In a community sample, parents rated ADHD symptoms, conduct problems, effortful control, surgency and negative affect in 77 4-7-year-olds (47 girls), who performed an inhibitory control task. ADHD symptoms, deficient inhibitory control and low effortful control were correlated. Controlling for conduct problems, path analysis showed the ADHD symptoms – inhibitory control link was mediated statistically by effortful control. This focuses attention on cognitive-energetic factors associated with ADHD-related executive deficits.     

Effects of extended father-infant contact during the newborn period

Studies within the past decade have suggested that extended contact between mothers and newborns may have positive effects on later parent-infant interaction and may impact favorably upon the establishment of the mother-to-infant attachment bond. The present study was designed to determine whether similar extended contact effects occur for fathers. The results indicated that a group of fathers who attended their infants' births and received extended postpartum hospital contact with their infants engaged in greater amounts of en face behavior and vocalization with their infants and were more involved in infant caretaking responsibilities at 6 weeks postpartum and had higher self-esteem scores following the births compared to another group of fathers who attended their infants' births but received traditional amounts of hospital contact. Although there were more behavioral similarities than differences between the two groups of fathers, positive effects were found on behavioral measures, standardized psychometric measures, and on self-report questionnaires. The results indicated that extended contact effects are at least as salient with fathers as with mothers.     

家长对子女人格特点的自由描述──中国儿童样本对“大五”人格结构的验证

运用与荷兰、美国等国的跨文化研究组相同的访谈和编码方法,对我国北京和福州两个城市共４１０位的３至１２岁儿童的家长进行了访谈,目的是从自然语言途径,探讨我国儿童的人格特点,并将结果与国外同样研究进行跨文化比较。结果表明：本样本儿童的人格特点可以运用成人“五因素模型”进行解释。并且,中国家长提供的自由描述完全可以纳入美国和荷兰研究组设计的“１４概念”编码系统。与其他国家的结果相比．中国家长对于“谨慎性”概念的重视程度远高于美国、荷兰和比利时儿童的家长,表现出显著的文化差异。此外,中国家长对于孩子“智力”问题的注意多于西方国家的家长,但对孩子在“宜人性”概念上的描述则最少。     

Toward a Transactional Conceptualization of Oppositional Defiant Disorder: Implications for Assessment and Treatment

The conceptualization and treatment of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) has been characterized by surprising homogeneity. In this paper evidence is presented to underscore the heterogeneity within ODD, including research demonstrating (a) the distinction between reactive and proactive forms of aggression; (b) the importance of affective modulation and self-regulation, and associated cognitive skills, in the development of the skill of compliance; and (c) high levels of comorbidity between ODD and other disorders. The disparate pathways that give rise to oppositional behavior suggest that different children with ODD may require different forms of intervention. The necessity of a transactional conceptualization, of achieving a comprehensive understanding of the factors underlying the difficulties of individual children with ODD, and of matching intervention ingredients to the specific needs of different children and families is discussed.Ross W. Greene