A Study of Family Risk Contexts and Child Conduct Problems Among Rural, Low-Income Families

This dissertation research is comprised of three studies using data from a larger study, the Family Life Project, aimed at examining the role of family functioning in the development of conduct problems in young children within high-risk contexts. Specifically, study 1, using propensity-matched controls, explores long-term adjustment of women in terms of individual functioning, parenting behavior, and relationship quality as a function of childhood sexual trauma status. Study 2 focuses attention on the pathways by which a mother's childhood sexual trauma may exert influence on her parenting behavior and thereby influence the behavioral development of her children, including her depressive symptomatology, parenting behavior, and alcohol and substance use using the same propensity matched sample as in study 1. Using a subsample of resident fathers from the larger Family Life Project, the focus of study 3 was on mothers' adaptive parenting strategies of maternal gatekeeping behaviors in the prediction of conduct problems in her children in the context of a home environment with an alcohol-and substance-using father and intimate partner violence. Data for these analyses were obtained from mother reports and coding from observational protocols from the Family Life Project. The use of propensity-matched controls to create a control group matched on family of origin variables, study 1 provides evidence that when women with childhood sexual trauma are compared with the matched comparison women, females who experienced childhood sexual trauma show poor functioning, across many domains including interpersonal functioning, relationship quality and parenting. Study 2 provides evidence to support the notion that mothers' childhood sexual trauma is related to child conduct problems in her children. The findings from study 2 reveal that maternal childhood sexual trauma, her depressive symptoms, intimate partner violence, and maternal parenting are closely linked to child conduct problems. The findings from study 3 suggest that intimate partner violence and fathers' alcohol and substance use are related to his harsh intrusive parenting, which in turn is related to child conduct problems. There was evidence that maternal gatekeeping moderates the association between fathers' harsh intrusive parenting and child conduct problems, such that mothers encouragement of fathers high in harsh intrusive parenting to spend greater, as compared to less time with their children, was related to higher levels of conduct problems. In sum, this research highlights the importance of examining multiple family contexts to understanding conduct problems in young children.Doctor of Philosoph

Fathers’ Involvement in Child Health Care: Associations with Prenatal Involvement, Parents’ Beliefs, and Maternal Gatekeeping

Using data from 182 dual-earner couples experiencing the transition to parenthood, this study examined associations between prenatal involvement, gender role beliefs, and maternal gatekeeping and new fathers’ involvement in child health care. Results indicated that prenatal father involvement was associated with both fathers’ direct engagement in child health care and fathers’ perceived influence in child health-related decision-making. Fathers also demonstrated greater direct engagement in child health care when mothers held more nontraditional beliefs about gender roles. Moreover, when mothers were more encouraging of fathers’ involvement in childrearing, fathers felt more influential in child health-related decision-making, whereas when mothers engaged in greater gate closing behavior, fathers with more traditional gender role beliefs felt less influential in child health-related decision-making. This study suggests that fathers’ prenatal involvement, mothers’ beliefs, and maternal gatekeeping may play a role in the development of new fathers’ involvement in child health care at the transition to parenthood

Self-Compassion and Depressive Symptoms as Determinants of Sensitive Parenting: Associations with Sociodemographic Characteristics in a Sample of Mothers and Toddlers

Parenting that is sensitive and responsive to children’s needs has been shown to support children’s optimal growth and development in many cultural contexts. Numerous studies suggest that self-compassion is positively related to sensitive parenting. Despite growing research interest linking self-compassion to responsive parenting, there are considerable gaps in the literature. The current study examined the associations between self-compassion, depressive symptoms, socioeconomic status, and sensitive parenting. Data was obtained from a cohort study of 300 families in central Ohio enrolled when children were a mean (SD) calendar age of 18.2 (0.7) months. Children of all gestational ages at birth are included, and 37% were born preterm (<37 weeks’ gestation). Observational protocols were used to determine maternal sensitivity in a semi-structured play setting. Self-compassion was assessed with the Self-Compassion Scale when children were 24 months old. Self-compassion was not associated with sociodemographic characteristics including maternal education, household income, child sex and gestational age. In unadjusted regression models, depressive symptoms were related to sensitive parenting (B = −0.036, SE = 0.016, p = 0.03), but self-compassion was not a statistically significant predictor (p = 0.35) of sensitivity, and neither self-compassion nor depressive symptoms were statistically significant predictors of sensitive parenting after adjustment for covariates. Considerations for future studies are discussed

Maternal positive emotions during infant feeding and breastfeeding outcomes

Background: Major medical organizations in the U.S. recommend exclusive breastfeeding for six months, with continued breastfeeding through the first year “or longer as mutually desired by the woman and her infant.” Few studies have explored the role of maternal emotions in breastfeeding outcomes. Dr. Barbara Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions suggests that experiences of positive emotions lead to adaptive benefits by broadening one’s thought-action repertoire, allowing the accrual of personal and social resources to improve health and well-being.Aims/Purpose: To estimate the association between maternal positive emotions during infant feeding at two months and time to any and exclusive breast milk feeding cessation and overall maternal evaluation of breastfeeding at 12 months.Narrative: 185 women from a longitudinal cohort of mother-infant dyads were followed from the third trimester through 12 months postpartum. All women intended to breastfeed at least two months. We measured positive emotions during infant feeding at 2 months using the mean subscale score of the modified Differential Emotions Scale (mDES). The mDES asks the “greatest amount” 10 positive and 10 negative emotions were experienced during infant feeding over the past week using a 5-point Likert scale. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate hazard ratios for time to any and exclusive breast milk feeding cessation associated with a one-unit increase in positive emotions. We also estimated the association between positive emotions and the maternal evaluation of breastfeeding at 12 months using the Maternal Breastfeeding Evaluation Scale (MBFES), which asks about agreement or disagreement with 30 statements about breastfeeding and/or expressing milk as an overall experience using a 5-point Likert scale. A one-unit increase in positive emotions at 2 months was associated with a 26% lower hazard of stopping any breast milk feeding and 42% reduced hazard of ceasing exclusive breast milk feeding (see Table 1). The association with breast milk feeding cessation was stronger where women had met their prenatal breastfeeding intention at 2 months and among Non-Hispanic White women, while the association with exclusive breast milk feeding cessation was stronger among women of color. Positive emotions at 2 months were also associated with a better maternal report of the overall breastfeeding experience at 12 months, with a stronger association among women who were breast milk feeding at 2 months. Positive emotions at 2 months were more strongly associated with the maternal enjoyment and role attainment subscale of the MBFES.Conclusions: Positive emotions during feeding at 2 months were associated with a longer time to cessation of any and exclusive breast milk feeding. More research is needed to understand trajectories of maternal emotions during infant feeding and maternal and infant outcomes associated with positive emotions

Parenting and children’s representations of family predict disruptive and callous-unemotional behaviors.

Data from a large prospective longitudinal study (n = 1,239) was used to investigate the association between observed sensitive parenting in early childhood and children's representations of family relationships as measured by the Family Drawing Paradigm (FDP) in first grade as well as the extent to which these representations partially mediate the influences of early caregiving experiences on later conduct problems and callous-unemotional behaviors. A structural equation modeling approach revealed that less sensitive parenting at 24, 36, and 58 months predicts higher levels of conduct problems (CP) and callous-unemotional (CU) behaviors in first grade controlling for earlier measures of CP and CU behaviors. Results also indicated that greater dysfunctional family representations, as assessed with the FDP, are significantly associated with higher CU behaviors in the first grade, but not CP. Finally, a test of the indirect pathway suggests that children's dysfunctional family representations may, in part, account for the association between sensitive parenting and CU behaviors

Mothers' and fathers' sensitivity and children's cognitive development in low-income, rural families

This study examines associations between maternal and paternal sensitive parenting and child cognitive development across the first 3 years of life using longitudinal data from 630 families with co-residing biological mothers and fathers. Sensitive parenting was measured by observational coding of parent-child interactions and child cognitive development was assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence. There were multiple direct and indirect associations between parenting and cognitive development across mothers and fathers, suggesting primary effects, carry-forward effects, spillover effects across parents, and transactional effects across parents and children. Associations between parenting and cognitive development were statistically consistent across mothers and fathers, and the cumulative effects of early parenting on later cognitive development were comparable to the effects of later parenting on later cognitive development. As interpreted through a family systems framework, findings suggest additive and interdependent effects across parents and children

Self-Compassion and Depressive Symptoms as Determinants of Sensitive Parenting: Associations with Sociodemographic Characteristics in a Sample of Mothers and Toddlers

Parenting that is sensitive and responsive to children’s needs has been shown to support children’s optimal growth and development in many cultural contexts. Numerous studies suggest that self-compassion is positively related to sensitive parenting. Despite growing research interest linking self-compassion to responsive parenting, there are considerable gaps in the literature. The current study examined the associations between self-compassion, depressive symptoms, socioeconomic status, and sensitive parenting. Data was obtained from a cohort study of 300 families in central Ohio enrolled when children were a mean (SD) calendar age of 18.2 (0.7) months. Children of all gestational ages at birth are included, and 37% were born preterm (p = 0.03), but self-compassion was not a statistically significant predictor (p = 0.35) of sensitivity, and neither self-compassion nor depressive symptoms were statistically significant predictors of sensitive parenting after adjustment for covariates. Considerations for future studies are discussed