Cathryn L. Booth

Prevention of Parenting Alterations for Women with Low Social Support

Parenting is a demanding role. Traditionally societies provide mechanisms for supporting major caregivers. For most parents the partner relationship is a source of refueling energy. In addition, often the extended family members provide support for the parent(s). In a prior research study dealing with early intervention where the family demonstrated double vulnerability, defined by pregnancy complications and social problems, we found the mothers most resistant to help were women who both had a lot of situational problems and few if any friends or family supporting them (Barnard et al. 1985). This finding prompted us to think about parents who did not have the supportive mechanisms cultures generally provide.

Affect dysregulation in the mother-child relationship in the toddler years: Antecedents and consequences

The purpose of this study was to examine child, maternal, and family antecedents of childrens early affect dysregulation within the mother-child relationship and later cognitive and socioemotional correlates of affect dysregulation. Childrens affect dysregulation at 24 and 36 months was defined in the context of mother-child interactions in semistructured play and toy cleanup. Dyads were classified as dysregulated at each age based on high negative affect. Affect dysregulation was associated with less maternal sensitivity and stimulation, more maternal depressive symptoms, and lower family income over the first 36 months of life. Children with early negative mood, lower Bayley Mental Development Index scores and insecure-avoidant (15 months) or insecure-resistant attachment classifications (36 months) were more likely to be in an affect-dysregulated group. Controlling for family and child variables, affect-dysregulated children had more problematic cognitive, social, and behavioral outcomes at 54 months, kindergarten, and first grade. The findings are discussed in terms of the early role played by parents in assisting children with affect regulation, the reciprocal nature of parent-child interactions, and the contribution of affect regulation to childrens later cognitive, social, and behavioral competence.

Relating Preschoolers' Social Competence and their Mothers' Parenting Behaviors to Early Attachment Security and High-Risk Status

Early attachment quality was related to social competence with an unfamiliar peer at age four, and to maternal management of peer interaction. Subjects were thirty-eight children, eighteen insecure and twenty securely attached children at twenty months. Approximately half of each group was middle-class and half was lower-class, high risk. At age four, each focal child and an unfamiliar play partner were videotaped during dyadic free play; the mother and the two children were videotaped building a house out of Duplo blocks. Behaviors of the mother and the focal child were coded using a social problem-solving framework. Results indicated that mothers of insecurely attached children were more adult-centered and less likely to use questions to meet their goals than were mothers of securely attached children. High-risk mothers were more adult-centered and more likely to use coercive, power assertive strategies than middle-class mothers. Four-year-old children who were insecurely attached as toddlers were more aggressive and their social interchanges were more likely to involve negative affect than securely attached children. Attachment x social class interactions suggested diverging maladaptive developmental pathways for insecures from different family environments.

Toddlers' Language Development: Sex Differences within Social Risk.

Sex differences in the association between environmental risk and language development were examined in a longitudinal study of 54 high-social-risk families. Measures of the environment included information about family stress and coping, opportunities for cognitive and linguistic stimulation, the nature of learning experiences, and the affective quality of the infant-mother relationship. Despite apparently similar family conditions and early experiences, there were significant sex differences favoring girls on observational measures of spontaneous language production at 20 and 30 months of age. For the group as a whole, sex differences on standardized tests at 24 and 36 months of age were nonsignificant. In addition, relations between aspects of the learning environment and childrens language performance differed for boys and girls, supporting a moderator interpretation of the findings.

The Relation of Maternal Directiveness and Child Attachment Security to Social Competence in Preschoolers

The primary focus of this study was the assessment of childrens social competence in relation to two aspects of the mother-child relationshipattachment security and maternal directiveness. Specifically, we expected concurrent child-mother attachment security to be positively correlated with childrens positive social engagement and social problem-solving skills and negatively related to aggression, whereas maternal directiveness was predicted to show the opposite pattern of correlations. Subjects were 111 mothers and their 4-year-old target children, each paired with a same-sex, same-age unfamiliar control child. Maternal directiveness was assessed in co-operative task and free-play sessions involving the target child, target mother, and control child. The target childs social engagement and social problem-solving skills were measured during dyadic free play with the control child. Multiple regression analyses assessed relative contributions of maternal directiveness and attachment security to the prediction of child behaviour with the peer. Attachment security predicted positive social engagement. Maternal directiveness was associated only with aspects of the childrens social problem-solving. These results support previous research linking child-mother attachment security, maternal control patterns and childrens social competence, although our findings showed the importance of separating the influences of attachment quality and the socialisation aspects of parenting.

The influence of early mother—child interaction on preschool cognitive/linguistic outcomes in a high-social-risk group

In this paper, elements of early mother—child interaction are related to later cognitive and linguistic outcomes in a sample of 53 high social risk mothers and their preschoolers. Mother—child interaction was observed longitudinally when the children were 13 and 20 months old. Multiple regression analyses were used to predict cognitive and linguistic outcomes at 3 and 5 years from measures of early mother—child interaction. The results indicated that the quality of early mother—child interaction was a significant predictor of preschool cognitive and linguistic outcomes. This was shown to be true regardless of the contribution of the mothers IQ.

Child-Care Characteristics of Infants with and without Special Needs: Comparisons and Concerns.

Abstract Employment patterns and child-care characteristics and concerns of mothers and infants (12–15 months) with special needs (n = 166) were described and compared with a group of typically-developing children and their mothers (n = 139). Compared with the latter group, fewer mothers of children with special needs had reentered the work force by one year; infants began child care at an older age, and for fewer hours; care by relatives was more common, and formal arrangements were less common. The groups did not differ on any measures of observed quality of care. Special needs were an important concern in making employment decisions and finding child care for 1 3 of the sample.

Toddlers' Attachment Security to Child-Care Providers: The Safe and Secure Scale

Attachment relationships of toddlers (N = 45) to their child-care providers were investigated. Childrens behaviors with their mothers were observed at home at 24 months and with their child-care providers at 26 months. Attachment Q-Sort procedures were used at home (90 items) and in child care (78 items); the latter yielded a 15-item Safe and Secure Scale describing the safe haven and secure base functions of attachment relationships in child care—being able to (a) seek and receive positive attention, (b) feel safe and protected, (c) receive support for exploration, (d) receive consolation when distressed, and (e) seek and accept assistance. Independent observational measures of child-care quality also were obtained at 24 months. As hypothesized, the Safe and Secure Scale was related to proximal rather than distal indicators of child-care quality, and it was a stronger measure than the child-caregiver Q-security score that was based on all 78 items. Child–mother and child–caregiver security were significantly related.

Child care effects on the development of toddlers with special needs

Abstract Among children with significant developmental delays or with biomedical risk factors for developing delays, those who were in nonmaternal child care ( n =80) did not differ from children staying at home with their mothers ( n =73) on mental, motor, or adaptive functioning; behavior problems; or attachment security at 30 months of age. An ecological model then was used to predict outcomes for children who had been observed in child care. After accounting for selection effects, child characteristics at 12 months of age, and quality of home caregiving, none of the child-care variables (age of entry, hours, quality) predicted mental or motor development or attachment security among children in nonmaternal care. Older age of entry into child care predicted greater behavioral organization during testing. Higher observed quality of caregiving in child care predicted better adaptive behavior. Additionally, quality of home caregiving predicted mental development, behavioral organization, and secure attachment to mother.

Expected and actual experience in labour and delivery and their relationship to maternal attachment

Abstract Mothers of one-month-old infants were asked to provide information regarding their psychological and physical expectations about childbirth, and their actual experiences. This information was obtained by means of a questionnaire which was completed by 267 women who gave birth in the Seattle area. The results showed that primiparous women (n=139) had greater discrepancies between expectations and outcomes than did multiparous women (n=128). This discrepancy was largely due to poorer outcomes rather than differences in the initial level of expectations. Specifically, primiparas had many more obstetric interventions and had a more negative psychological experience. Psychological outcomes were also positively correlated with maternal attachment in this group. The clinical implications of these results are discussed, especially of the psychological care of mothers before and shortly after childbirth.