Emotional Availability Scale Among Three U.S. Race/Ethnic Groups

Neural activation to infant cry among Latina and non-Latina White mothers

Cultural neuroscience is an emerging framework positing that culture (for example, values, beliefs, practices, and modes of emotional expression) critically informs socialization goals and desired behaviors, which are perhaps accompanied by differential patterns of brain activation. Using fMRI, the current study examines brain activation to infant cry stimuli and matched white noise among 50 first-time biological mothers identifying as Latina or White in the United States. Results showed that brain activation to infant cries in the right posterior insula, left cerebellum, and left auditory were higher for White mothers compared to Latina mothers, p's < .05. White mothers showed greater activation to cry sounds compared to white noise in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left somatosensory, right and left premotor cortices, p's < .05, whereas Latina mothers did not. These brain regions are involved in motor planning, movement, sensory processing, and social information processing. It is important to note that mothers in the two groups did not show differences in stress and behavioral parenting measures. Therefore, Latina and White mothers differentially recruiting brain regions related to infant parenting behaviors indicates the potential role of cultural context in shaping patterns of neural activation. Our exploratory analysis suggests that this difference might be due to greater pre-parenting exposure among Latina mothers to children compared to White mothers. Taken together, although our data did not completely explain the differences in brain activation between groups, findings suggest potential culture-related influences in brain activation occurring in the postpartum period.

The Dutch Infant Caregiving Assessment Scales: Psychometric properties in mothers with and without a severe psychiatric disorder

OBJECTIVES

This study examines the psychometric properties of the Dutch adaptation of the Infant Caregiving Assessment Scales (INCAS). This standardized observation procedure is the first to assess both emotional and instrumental caregiving skills of mothers with a severe psychiatric disorder, during the postpartum period.

METHODS

Mothers with and without a severe psychiatric disorder (N = 123) were observed at home at the infant age of 6 weeks during daily caregiving; changing a diaper, bathing, dressing, and feeding. Recordings of observations were coded independently by trained coders, blind for group membership. Subsequently, the component structure, internal consistency, interrater reliability, and concurrent validity of the INCAS were examined.

RESULTS

Principal component analysis largely confirmed the two a priori defined caregiving domains. The internal consistencies of the emotional and instrumental domains were deemed excellent and good, respectively. The interrater reliability was substantial for the emotional domain and moderate for the instrumental domain. Furthermore, evidence for good concurrent validity of the emotional domain was found. Lastly, significant correlations were found between specific instrumental caregiving skills and maternal neuropsychological functioning.

CONCLUSION

Psychometric findings support the INCAS as a comprehensive and reliable instrument for standardized assessment of caregiving by mothers with a severe psychiatric disorder.

Fostering Emotional Availability in Mother-Child-Dyads With an Immigrant Background: A Randomized-Controlled-Trial on the Effects of the Early Prevention Program First Steps

Background

In many Western countries like Germany, the social integration of children with an immigrant background has become an urgent social tasks. The probability of them living in high-risk environments and being disadvantaged regarding health and education-related variables is still relatively higher. Yet, promoting language acquisition is not the only relevant factor for their social integration, but also the support of earlier developmental processes associated with adequate early parenting in their first months of life. The Emotional Availability Scales (EAS) measure the quality of caregiver-child-interactions as an indicator of the quality of their relationship and thus of such early parenting, focusing on mutual and emotional aspects of their interaction.

Method

This pilot study examined in a randomized controlled trial the effects of the prevention project First Steps regarding the hypothesis that the Emotional Availability (EA) improved to a greater extent in "difficult-to-reach" immigrant mother-child dyads in a psychoanalytically oriented early intervention (A, FIRST STEPS) compared to a usual care intervention (B) offered by paraprofessionals with an immigrant background. A sample of N = 118 immigrant women in Germany from 37 different countries and their children was compared with regard to the parental EA-dimensions sensitivity, structuring, non-intrusiveness and non-hostility and the child dimensions responsiveness to and involvement of the caregiver in the pre-post RCT design.

Results and Conclusion

Different from what was expected, repeated ANOVAs revealed no significant pre-post group differences for the parental dimensions. For the child dimensions the effect of time of measurement was highly significant, which can be interpreted as mostly natural developmental effects. Still, on the level of simple main effects for each intervention, only in the FIRST STEPS groups child responsiveness significantly improved. When controlled for confounding variables, a significant interaction effect for maternal sensitivity in favor of the FIRST STEPS intervention was found. The systematic group differences indicate that the more extensive and professional intervention, focusing on the individual needs of the participants, is more suitable to support the quality of the mother-child-relationship amongst immigrant mother-child dyads than usual care. The results are discussed taking into account the context of the maternal migration process and potential maternal traumatization.

Clinical Trial Registration

[https://clinicaltrials.gov], identifier [DRKS00004632].