Carolyn J. Dayton

Parent–Child Intervention Decreases Stress and Increases Maternal Brain Activity and Connectivity During Own Baby-Cry: An Exploratory Study

Parental responses to their children are crucially influenced by stress. However, brain-based mechanistic understanding of the adverse effects of parenting stress and benefits of therapeutic interventions is lacking. We studied maternal brain responses to salient child signals as a function of Mom Power (MP), an attachment-based parenting intervention established to decrease maternal distress. Twenty-nine mothers underwent two functional magnetic resonance imaging brain scans during a baby-cry task designed to solicit maternal responses to childs or selfs distress signals. Between scans, mothers were pseudorandomly assigned to either MP (n = 14) or control (n = 15) with groups balanced for depression. Compared to control, MP decreased parenting stress and increased child-focused responses in social brain areas highlighted by the precuneus and its functional connectivity with subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, which are key components of reflective self-awareness and decision-making neurocircuitry. Furthermore, over 13 weeks, reduction in parenting stress was related to increasing child- versus self-focused baby-cry responses in amygdala-temporal pole functional connectivity, which may mediate maternal ability to take her childs perspective. Although replication in larger samples is needed, the results of this first parental-brain intervention study demonstrate robust stress-related brain circuits for maternal care that can be modulated by psychotherapy.

STRONG, SAFE, AND SECURE: NEGOTIATING EARLY FATHERING AND MILITARY SERVICE ACROSS THE DEPLOYMENT CYCLE

Military fathers of young children often endure repeated separations from their children, and these may disrupt the early parent-child relationship. Postdeployment reunification also poses challenges; disruptions that have occurred must often be repaired in the context of heightened emotions on the part of each family member at a time when fathers are themselves readjusting to the routines and responsibilities of family life. The current study employed qualitative research with the central aim of informing a richer understanding of these experiences. Interviews were conducted with 14 military fathers of young children who had experienced separation from their families during deployment. Narratives were coded using principles of grounded theory, and common parenting themes were extracted. Fathers shared their hopes that their young children would develop qualities of strength, confidence, and self-sufficiency. They also discussed difficulty in supporting the development of these qualities in their young children due to problems dealing with the negative emotions and difficult behaviors that their children exhibited. Reliance on their parenting partner was commonly cited as an effective strategy as fathers transitioned back to family life. Implications for intervention programs include the provision of parenting and self-care skills and inclusion of the fathers parenting partner in the intervention.

The Influence of Interpersonal Aggression on Maternal Perceptions of Infant Emotions: Associations With Early Parenting Quality.

The current study tested the hypothesis that mothers who have experienced child maltreatment and aggression within their adult relationships may be at particular risk for misinterpreting infant emotions, leading to less sensitive parenting behaviors. Participants were 120 pregnant women recruited for a larger, longitudinal study investigating the role of psychosocial and environmental risk on women and their young children. Data were collected during the third trimester of pregnancy, and when children were 1 and 2 years of age. Participants completed a projective test designed to elicit individual differences in perceptions of infant emotions and an observer-rated assessment of parenting behaviors was conducted in the family home. Using structural equation modeling, we tested associations between maternal interpersonal aggression exposure and perceptions of infant emotion and parenting behaviors. Results demonstrated that a history of child abuse and intimate partner conflict were associated with a maternal tendency to view ambiguous infant facial expressions as negative (i.e., negative attribution bias), and in turn, with less parenting sensitivity over time. Findings suggest that negative attributions of infant emotion may be 1 mechanism by which a history of trauma and violence exposure contributes to less sensitive parenting for some mothers. Implications for intervention include the need for trauma-informed clinical services and psychoeducational methods that help mothers more accurately read and respond to infant emotional expression and bids for connection. (PsycINFO Database Record

MATERNAL SENSITIVITY AND LATENCY TO POSITIVE EMOTION FOLLOWING CHALLENGE: PATHWAYS THROUGH EFFORTFUL CONTROL

The ability to self-generate positive emotions is an important component of emotion regulation. In this study, we focus on childrens latency to express positive emotions following challenging situations and assess whether this ability operates through early maternal sensitivity and childrens effortful control. Longitudinal relations between maternal sensitivity, infant negative affect, effortful control, and latency to positive emotion following challenge were examined in 156 children who were 33 months of age. Structural equation models supported the hypothesis that maternal sensitivity during infancy predicted better effortful control and, in turn, shorter latencies to positive emotions following challenge at 33 months. Directions for future research are discussed.

DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIALIZATION OF PHYSICAL AGGRESSION IN VERY YOUNG BOYS

The expression of physical aggression is normative in early child development; it peaks in the second year of life, with steep declines for most children by the third and fourth years as children learn alternatives to aggression. Some children, however, fail to demonstrate declines in aggressive acts, and many of these are boys. The current review uses a dynamic systems (DS) approach to identify early individual and contextual factors that may dynamically influence trajectories of aggression as a characteristic way of engaging within communities and relationships. Within the DS framework, we focus on the parent-infant relationship as central to the development of adaptive emotion-regulation capacities of the infant and young child. Biological sex differences that may influence this early relationship are highlighted, as is the influence of contextual processes such as family violence. Clinical implications suggested by both the empirical and theoretical literatures are then described.

Acculturative stress and lack of social support predict postpartum depression among U.S. immigrant women of Arabic descent

PURPOSE To examine the relationships among acculturative stress, social support, and postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms among U.S. immigrant women of Arabic descent; and to examine if social support moderates the associations between acculturative stress and PPD symptoms. METHODS Using a cross‐sectional design, a sample of 115 U.S. immigrant women of Arabic descent, all between 1 and 12 months postpartum, were enrolled from clinics in Dearborn, MI. Data were analyzed using correlational and multiple linear regression. RESULTS Women had a mean age of 29 ± 5 years and were 5 ± 4 months postpartum. Women had been in the U.S. for 7 ± 6 years and had a mean education of 12 ± 4 years. The majority had an annual household income of <

MIXED‐METHODS EVALUATION OF PARTICIPANT RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION IN THE MOM POWER PARENTING INTERVENTION PROGRAM

40,000 (88%), were unemployed (80%), and preferred Arabic language for interview (68%). Higher levels of acculturative stress, higher levels of education, antenatal anxiety, and lower levels of social support predicted PPD symptoms (all significant at p < .05). The moderating effect of social support on the association between acculturative stress and PPD symptoms was not supported. CONCLUSIONS Acculturative stress, lack of social support, higher level of education, and antenatal anxiety predicted PPD symptoms. Future research is needed to examine acculturative stress among immigrant women in different U.S. settings. Longitudinal studies and utilizing diagnostic assessments of PPD is highly recommended. Nurses need to screen immigrant women of Arabic descent for anxiety and depression during antenatal visits and develop evidence‐based interventions targeted to improve mental health during pregnancy and postpartum.

Maternal parenting predicts infant biobehavioral regulation among women with a history of childhood maltreatment

Parenting group success begins with attendance. Using archival pilot data from 99 mothers who enrolled in the Mom Power (MP) parenting intervention, this study sought to understand the factors that influenced participant engagement and retention. MP is a group-based, early intervention program grounded in attachment theory that utilizes motivational interviewing as a core component to enhance program engagement. Study aims were to qualitatively describe the reasons why mothers were interested in participating in the program, including what they hoped to gain from the experience, and to quantitatively examine the extent to which attendance was associated with demographic, experiential, and psychosocial factors. The qualitative analysis of intake interviews revealed that mothers expected the MP intervention to provide a warm environment for themselves and their children as well as to support and enhance their parenting, and 95% revealed their hopes that the intervention would help them grow and develop as women. Attendance rates were relatively high, with 62% of mothers missing less than one group session. Quantitative analyses using multiple regression to test associations of demographic, experiential, and psychosocial factors with attendance rates were not significant. Results suggest that motivational interviewing may be an important component in promoting participant engagement efforts in parenting interventions.