Maternal psychological absence and toddlers' social-emotional development: interpretations from the perspective of boundary ambiguity theory

The Relationship of Parent Support and Child Emotional Regulation to School Readiness

Using data from the longitudinal Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project that were obtained when children were 14 through 60 months old, this study aims to explore the transactional effects between parent supportiveness and child emotion regulations skills. An autoregressive model with cross-lagged paths was utilized to examine the developmental trajectories of parent supportiveness and child emotion regulation, the directions of transactional relationships between them, and the transactional effects on the prediction of child cognitive school readiness. Significant autoregressive effects were found in both parent supportiveness and child emotion regulation trajectories. Significant concurrent and longitudinal transactional effects between these two processes were documented. The effects of child emotion regulation, parent supportiveness, and their transactional effects significantly predicted cognitive school readiness. This study exemplifies the use of archival longitudinal data to move beyond current unidirectional empirical understandings of child early psychosocial development toward more integrated perspectives. Equally important, the results provide critical insights for the timing of interventions as well as the involvement of parents in early intervention programs that early childhood educators and family services providers can benefit from.

Parental Postnatal Depression in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review of Its Effects on the Parent-Child Relationship and the Child's Developmental Outcomes

The international literature has shown that maternal and paternal postnatal depression (PND) is one of the most common mental illnesses in the perinatal period, with significant consequences for parent-infant relationships and infant development. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the rates of prevalence of PND, exacerbating the mental health risk for new families. This systematic review aims to examine the effect of maternal and paternal PND on parent-infant relationships and children's development in the first 36 months after childbirth during the COVID-19 outbreak. Eligible studies were identified using the following databases: Medline, CINAHL, SCOPUS, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science. Of the 1252 studies considered, 10 studies met the inclusion criteria. Results showed that maternal PND significantly affected the quality of the early mother-infant relationship and the infant's motor, self-regulation, and socio-emotional development. In addition, the detrimental impact of maternal PND on the quality of early mother-infant relationships seems to become stronger as COVID-19 concerns increase. No studies included fathers. These findings strengthened the importance of planning targeted prevention and treatment strategies to prevent PND and its short- and long-term consequences, especially in the case of stressful and traumatic events. They also suggested the urgent need for further exploration of fathers.

Maternal Self-Efficacy Buffers the Effects of COVID-19-Related Experiences on Postpartum Parenting Stress

OBJECTIVE

To examine the associations of maternal self-efficacy (MSE) and perceived social support with parenting stress during the postpartum period during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether these two psychosocial factors account for variance in parenting stress in addition to the effects of COVID-19-related experiences and sociodemographic factors.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey.

SETTING

Online survey, the Perinatal Experiences and COVID-19 Effects (PEACE) study, launched in May 2020.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants included 310 women who gave birth in the past 24 weeks.

METHODS

The survey included self-report quantitative measures of MSE, social support, COVID-19-related experiences, parenting stress, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and a range of sociodemographic factors.

RESULTS

Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that MSE and social support were negatively associated with postpartum parenting stress in addition to the effects of COVID-19-related experiences, maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety, and a range of demographic factors. Furthermore, MSE interacted with COVID-19-related experiences such that higher levels of MSE mitigated the effects of COVID-19-related experiences on parenting stress.

CONCLUSION

Our findings underscore the importance of protective factors at the individual and interpersonal levels and provide insights for prevention and intervention programs aimed at mitigating postpartum parenting stress during a wide-scale disaster such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parsing alcohol-dependent mothers' insensitivity to child distress: Longitudinal links with children's affective and anxiety problems

Prior work suggests that substance-dependent mothers insensitively respond to their child's emotional needs, which can increase children's risk for psychopathology. However, the mechanisms and processes underlying these associations remain unclarified. Mothers' insensitivity to children's distress is an especially unique predictor of child maladjustment, yet no study has examined whether or how different types of insensitivity to child distress uniquely affect the development of internalizing problems in children of alcohol-dependent mothers. To bridge these gaps, this study examined longitudinal mediational pathways between maternal alcohol dependence symptoms, 2 types of maternal insensitivity to child distress (disengagement and intrusiveness), and 2 types of child internalizing symptoms (affective and anxiety problems) in a majority Black and Latinx sample of young children (Mage = 2.14 years) and their mothers. Results revealed that maternal disengagement mediated associations between maternal alcohol dependence symptoms and child internalizing problems such that alcohol dependence predicted increased disengagement to children's distress, which subsequently predicted increases in children's affective problems. Maternal alcohol dependence symptoms were not associated with intrusiveness to child distress; however, increased intrusiveness predicted later increases in child anxiety problems. Findings support a differentiated approach to studying maternal insensitivity to child distress, specifically indicating that mothers with alcohol dependence symptoms may be more or less likely to display certain types of insensitivity to child distress which may differentially influence children's risk for internalizing problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

DYSFUNCTIONS IN THE SOCIO EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTS AND ITS RELATED FACTORS: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW

ABSTRACT Objective: to synthesize factors related to dysfunctions in the socioemotional development of infants. Method: integrative review carried out between April and August 2016 with defined criteria for inclusion and exclusion of studies, search strategies, extraction and synthesis of data. The exposure factors underwent categorical thematic analysis and systematization according to the levels of the context (Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem and Macrosystem) of the Bioecological Model of Human Development. Results: in the context of the Microsystem and Mesosystem, the factors found were: limitations in care; adversities in family relationships and in the social support and illness situation of the caregivers that influence the proximal processes. In the Exosystem and the Macrosystem, they were: social vulnerabilities of caregivers and fragilities of public policies that determine the material and social conditions of the family. Conclusion: the synthesis of evidence on exposure factors favors the construction of measurement scales of the contextual elements related to the social emotional development of young children. Beyond the milestones, present or not, in the evaluation of a child, these technologies can be predictive, with great potential of anticipation of the factors of exposure and prevention of developmental dysfunctions.

Toddlers with Early Behavioral Problems at Higher Family Demographic Risk Benefit the Most from Maternal Emotion Talk

OBJECTIVE

To test the hypothesis that toddlers at highest risk for behavioral problems from the most economically vulnerable families will benefit most from maternal talk about emotions.

METHODS

This study included 89 toddlers and mothers from low-income families. Behavioral problems were rated at 2 time points by masters-level trained Early Head Start home visiting specialists. Maternal emotion talk was coded from a wordless book-sharing task. Coding focused on mothers' emotion bridging, which included labeling emotions, explaining the context of emotions, noting the behavioral cues of emotions, and linking emotions to toddlers' own experiences. Maternal demographic risk reflected a composite score of 5 risk factors.

RESULTS

A significant 3-way interaction between Time 1 toddler behavior problems, maternal emotion talk, and maternal demographic risk (p = .001) and examination of slope difference tests revealed that when maternal demographic risk was greater, more maternal emotion talk buffered associations between earlier and later behavior problems. Greater demographic risk and lower maternal emotion talk intensified Time 1 behavior problems as a predictor of Time 2 behavior problems. The model explained 54% of the variance in toddlers' Time 2 behavior problems. Analyses controlled for maternal warmth to better examine the unique contributions of emotion bridging to toddlers' behaviors.

CONCLUSION

Toddlers at highest risk, those with more early behavioral problems from higher demographic-risk families, benefit the most from mothers' emotion talk. Informing parents about the use of emotion talk may be a cost-effective, simple strategy to support at-risk toddlers' social-emotional development and reduce behavioral problems.

Maternal Depression Trajectories and Children's Behavior at Age 5 Years

OBJECTIVE

To assess the relationship between trajectories of maternal depression from pregnancy to the child's age of 5 years and children's emotional and behavioral difficulties at age 5 years.

STUDY DESIGN

Mother-child pairs (n = 1183) from the EDEN mother-child birth cohort study based in France were followed from 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy to the child's fifth birthday. Children's behavior at age 5 years was assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Maternal depression was assessed repeatedly with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression questionnaire (pregnancy, 3, and 5 years of age) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (4, 8, and 12 months postpartum). Homogeneous latent trajectory groups of maternal depression were identified within the study population and correlated with Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scores by the use of multivariate linear regression analyzes.

RESULTS

Five trajectories of maternal symptoms of depression were identified: no symptoms (62.0%); persistent intermediate-level depressive symptoms (25.3%); persistent high depressive symptoms (4.6%); high symptoms in pregnancy only (3.6%); and high symptoms in the child's preschool period only (4.6%). Children whose mothers had persistent depressive symptoms--either intermediate or high--had the greatest levels of emotional and behavioral difficulties at age 5 years. In addition, compared with children whose mothers were never depressed, those whose mothers had high symptoms in the preschool period also had increased levels of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and peer problems.

CONCLUSIONS

Maternal depression symptoms are related to children's emotional and behavioral problems, particularly if they are persistent (29.9%) or occur during early childhood (4.6%).