Pathways to Maternal and Child Well-Being: Stability and Transaction across Toddlerhood

A dynamic perspective on depressive symptoms during the first year postpartum

The current study used novel methodology to characterize intraindividual variability in the experience of dynamic, within-person changes in postpartum depressive (PPD) symptoms across the first year postpartum and evaluated maternal and infant characteristics as predictors of between-person differences in intraindividual variability in PPD symptoms over time. With a sample of 322 low-income Mexican-origin mothers (Mage = 27.79; SD = 6.48), PPD symptoms were assessed at 11 time points from 3 weeks to 1 year postpartum (Edinburgh Perinatal Depression Scale; Cox & Holden, 2003). A prenatal cumulative risk index was calculated from individual psychosocial risk factors. Infant temperamental negativity was assessed via a maternal report at the infant age of 6 weeks (Infant Behavior Questionnaire; Putnam et al., 2014). Multilevel location scale analyses in a dynamic structural equation modeling (Asparouhov et al., 2018) framework were conducted. Covariates included prenatal depressive symptoms. On average, within-mother change in depressive symptoms at one time point was found to carry over to the next time point. Nonnull within-mother volatility in PPD symptoms reflected substantial ebbs and flows in PPD symptoms over the first year postpartum. Results of the between-level model demonstrated that mothers differed in their equilibriums, carryover, and volatility of their PPD symptoms. Mothers with more negative infants and those with higher prenatal cumulative risk exhibited higher equilibriums of PPD symptoms and more volatility in symptoms but did not differ in their carryover of PPD symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Meta-Analyses of the Relationships between Family Systems Practices, Parents' Psychological Health, and Parenting Quality

(1) Background: Family systems theories include assertations that both personal and environmental factors are determinants of parents' psychological health, well-being, and parenting quality. Applied family systems theories focus on determinants that can be operationalized as intervention practices. The analyses described in this paper focused on the direct and indirect effects of four family systems practices (family needs, resources, supports, and strengths), parents' psychological health (depression, well-being, etc.), and parenting quality (parenting beliefs, involvement, and practices) in families of children with identified disabilities, medical conditions, or at-risk conditions for poor outcomes; (2) Methods: Data from previously completed meta-analyses of the relationships between family systems practices and parents' psychological health outcomes and parenting quality outcomes were reanalyzed. Next, a meta-analysis of the relationships between parents' psychological health and parenting quality was completed to identify which predictors were related to which parenting quality outcomes. Both main effects and mediated effects were examined; (3) Results: The four family systems practices were each related to six different psychological health measures and three parenting quality measures. The six different parental psychological health measures were also related to the three parenting quality measures. The relationships between family systems practices and parenting quality were partially mediated by parents' psychological health; (4) Conclusions: The effects of family systems practices and parents' psychological health on parenting quality were primarily direct and independent. The relationships between family systems practices and parenting quality were partially mediated by parents' psychological health. Future research should focus on the identification of other mediator variables found to be important for explaining the indirect effects of family systems practices measures on parenting beliefs, behavior, and practices.

Within-dyad bidirectional relations among maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems from infancy through preschool

Although dyadic theory focuses on the impact of a mother's mental health on her own child and the impact of a child's mental health on their own mother, commonly used statistical approaches are incapable of distinguishing the desired within-dyad processes from between-dyad effects. Using autoregressive latent trajectory modeling with structured residuals, the current study evaluated within-dyad, bidirectional associations between maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems from child age 1-4.5 years among a sample of low-income, Mexican American women (N = 322, Mage = 27.8) and their children. Women reported on maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems during laboratory visits at child age 1, 1.5, 2, 3, and 4.5 years. Results provide novel evidence of child-driven bidirectional association between maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems at the within-dyad level as early as child age 1 year and within-person stability in child behavior problems emerging early in life.

Is the Predisposition to Have More Children Beneficial among Parents with Only One Child? Evidence from Spanish Parents

The fertility deficit in many European countries is related to a low rate of second births. Understanding the factors associated with the predisposition of one-child parents to have more children could contribute to the search for solutions to this social problem. Although previous evidence highlights the role of employment and social factors, psychological factors have been poorly investigated. This study examines the relationship between different psychosocial factors (rumination, personality, life satisfaction, perfectionism, social support, parental stress, guilt linked to work–family conflict, age and child temperament) and parents’ predisposition to have more children. The sample consisted of 96 one-child Spanish parents whose child was in early childhood education (59.3% women; M_age = 37.41). The results show that one-child parents with the predisposition to have more children, compared to those without a predisposition to have more children, showed higher levels of life satisfaction, extroversion and adaptive perfectionism but lower levels of rumination and parental stress. The social implications of these findings and how they may affect parenting today are discussed.

Maternal self-efficacy and emotional well-being in Chilean adolescent mothers: the relationship with their children's social-emotional development

Background

Low maternal self-efficacy and high levels of anxiety, depression, and stress can be triggered in adolescent mothers due to an incomplete development process that makes them physically or psychologically unprepared for the responsibilities of motherhood and parenting. These factors may be linked to difficulties with their children's social-emotional development. The present study aims to: (a) analyze the relationship between maternal self-efficacy and stress, depression, and anxiety levels in low-income adolescent mothers; (b) examine the relationship between maternal self-efficacy and well-being with children's social-emotional development; and (c) describe the effects of maternal self-efficacy on children's social-emotional development, mediated by maternal well-being.

Methods

A sample of 79 dyads comprising low-income Chilean adolescent mothers aged from 15 to 21 years old (M = 19.1, SD = 1.66) and their children aged 10 to 24 months (M = 15.5, SD = 4.2) participated in this research. A set of psychometric scales was used to measure maternal self-efficacy (Parental Evaluation Scale, EEP), the mothers' anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS), maternal stress (Parental Stress Scale, PSS), and the children's social-emotional development (Ages and Stages Questionnaire Socio-emotional, ASQ-SE). Bivariate analyses and mediation models were employed to estimate and test the relevant relationships.

Results

A bivariate analysis showed that maternal self-efficacy was negatively related to the mother's anxiety, depression, and stress. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between maternal self-efficacy and maternal stress, and children's self-regulation and social-emotional development. Maternal self-efficacy, mediated by maternal anxiety, depression, and stress scores, had a significant effect on the development of children's self-regulation.

Conclusions

The results confirm the importance of adolescent mothers' emotional well-being and maternal self- efficacy with respect to their children's social-emotional development. This makes it necessary to have detailed information about how emotional and self-perception status influences a mother's role in the development of her children.

Second-by-second infant and mother emotion regulation and coregulation processes

Context-appropriate infant physiological functioning may support emotion regulation and mother-infant emotion coregulation. Among a sample of 210 low-income Mexican-origin mothers and their 24-week-old infants, dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM) was used to examine whether within-infant vagal functioning accounted for between-dyad differences in within-dyad second-by-second emotion regulation and coregulation during free play. Vagal functioning was captured by within-infant mean and variability (standard deviation) of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) during free play. Infant emotion regulation was quantified as emotional equilibria (within-person mean), volatility (within-person deviation from equilibrium), carryover (how quickly equilibrium is restored following a disturbance), and feedback loops (the extent to which prior affect dampens or amplifies subsequent affect) in positive and negative affect during free play; coregulation was quantified as the influence of one partner's affect on the other's subsequent affect. Among infants with lower RSA variability, positive affect fluctuated around a higher equilibrium, and negative affect fluctuated around a lower equilibrium; these infants exhibited feedback loops where their positive affect dampened their subsequent negative affect. As expected, infants with higher mean RSA exhibited more volatility in positive affect, feedback loops between their positive and negative affect, and stronger mother-driven emotion coregulation. The results highlight differences in simultaneously occurring biological and emotion regulation.