Jennifer A. Mortensen

A META-ANALYTIC REVIEW OF RELATIONSHIP-BASED INTERVENTIONS FOR LOW-INCOME FAMILIES WITH INFANTS AND TODDLERS: FACILITATING SUPPORTIVE PARENT–CHILD INTERACTIONS

Relationship-based intervention programs are increasingly being implemented as a way to enhance parent-child interaction quality. In this meta-analytic review, we examined the effectiveness of 19 recent relationship-based interventions serving socioeconomically disadvantaged families with infants and toddlers (N = 6,807). This review specifically focused on intervention effectiveness in terms of improving supportive parenting behaviors, as measured by observational assessments of dyadic parent-child interactions. Meta-analytic results indicated significant, yet modest, effectiveness across all interventions (d = .23). Intervention characteristics such as participant randomization, breadth of intervention services offered, duration, child age at the start of the intervention, professional qualifications of the intervenor, and type of play task used during assessment were tested as possible moderators of effectiveness. Significant differences in effectiveness were found between randomized and nonrandomized interventions. Within the subsample of randomized interventions, programs that were shorter in duration, that provided direct services to the parent-child dyad, used intervenors with professional qualifications, and assessed parent-child interactions with free-play tasks were the most effective, highlighting important considerations for designing effective intervention protocol tailored to the needs of this high-risk population.

Teacher–Child Interactions in Infant/Toddler Child Care and Socioemotional Development

Research Findings: The teacher–child relationships that develop in infant/toddler child care provide a critical caregiving context for young children’s socioemotional development. However, gaps remain in researchers’ understanding of the individual-level processes that facilitate socioemotional development, specifically in center-based child care programs. Guided by ecological theory, this article offers a review of the current literature on this topic, including influential factors and developmental outcomes associated with teacher–child interaction quality, the teacher–child relationship as a compensatory mechanism for children facing risk, and differential susceptibility to caregiving experiences. Practice or Policy: Within the context of infant/toddler child care, many opportunities exist for researchers to refine the measurement of individual teacher–child interactions, test young children’s self-regulation as an outcome variable, and develop understanding of compensatory and differential susceptibility mechanisms. Clarifying these processes will inform early childhood education teacher training in terms of how teachers can best facilitate healthy socioemotional outcomes, especially for the most vulnerable children.

Risk and Protective Factors, Parenting Stress, and Harsh Parenting in Mexican Origin Mothers with Toddlers

In a community sample of Mexican origin mothers with toddlers (n = 58), we examined risk and protective factors associated with mothers’ feelings of parenting stress and reports of harsh parenting practices. We evaluated maternal depressive symptoms, economic hardship, and child negative affect as risk factors and mothers’ global social support and romantic relationship quality as protective factors. Results indicated that depressive symptoms and economic hardship were unique predictors of increased parenting stress, whereas romantic relationship quality was associated with decreased parenting stress. Maternal depressive symptoms and romantic relationship quality were uniquely associated with harsh parenting practices; moreover, these statistical associations were accounted for by mothers’ feelings of parenting stress. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for programs that work with Mexican origin families with young children who are experiencing parenting stress, highlighting the importance of comprehensive interventions for reducing parenting stress in this rapidly growing population.

Global and parenting-specific social support as protective factors for the well-being of Mexican American mothers of toddlers

This study applies an ecodevelopmental stress process model to consider the extent to which social support buffers mothers from experiencing depressive symptoms and parenting stress among a community sample of 81 Mexican American mothers of toddlers. Specifically, we examine how mother-reported perceived global and parenting-specific social support interact with economic strain and child negative affectivity in the prediction of maternal depressive symptoms and parenting stress. We also examine the extent to which both forms of social support interact with mothers’ familism support beliefs. Findings indicate that parenting-specific social support interrupts the positive associations between economic strain and negative child affect and maternal depressive symptoms, above and beyond the influence of global social support. Moreover, the combination of high familism beliefs and global social support reduces risks for maternal depressive symptoms.

Grandmother Involvement in Mexican American Families Implications for Transborder Relationships and Maternal Psychological Distress

Grandmothers often provide support for Mexican-origin mothers and young children. The factors influencing grandmother involvement, and the implications of this involvement for maternal well-being, particularly in the context of transborder family relationships, remain largely unexplored. This study considers the extent to which maternal, child, and intergenerational factors are linked with levels of grandmother involvement, and in turn grandmother involvement is associated with maternal psychological distress among an American community sample of 78 Mexican-origin families, for which over one third of grandmothers live in Mexico. Findings suggest that mother reported grandmother involvement is higher when children are temperamentally difficult, mothers perceive overall high-quality mother–grandmother relationships, and grandmothers live in the United States. Furthermore, extensive grandmother involvement when grandmothers live in Mexico is related to higher levels of psychological distress. These results highlight the importance of an intergenerational and transborder perspective on family relationships and well-being among Mexican-origin families.

Emotion Regulation, Harsh Parenting, and Teacher Sensitivity Among Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Toddlers in Child Care

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study examined the transactional nature of harsh parenting and emotion regulation across toddlerhood, including the moderating role of teacher sensitivity in child care. Secondary data analyses were conducted with a subsample of families from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project who participated in center-based child care. Autoregressive cross-lagged path models were used to examine stability and transactional associations between observations of mothers’ harsh parenting behaviors and observers’ ratings of toddler emotion regulation at 14, 24, and 36 months. Teacher sensitivity was observed in children’s child care classrooms and was hypothesized to attenuate the negative impact of harsh parenting on subsequent emotion regulation. Results suggested that poorer emotion regulation and increased harsh parenting at 14 months were particularly salient in setting the stage for worse parent and toddler outcomes at 36 months. Teacher sensitivity was not a significant protective factor. Practice or Policy: Results are discussed in terms of the importance of early parent–toddler interactions that match the developing regulatory needs of young toddlers as well as considering how teacher sensitivity is conceptualized and measured so programs such as Early Head Start can best meet the needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged parents and toddlers.

FAMILY CONFLICT MODERATES EARLY PARENT–CHILD BEHAVIORAL TRANSACTIONS

The reciprocal transactions that shape early parent-child relationships are influenced by contextual stress, such as family conflict. Although family conflict is a salient stressor to the family system, few studies have considered how parent-child transactions vary according to exposure to family conflict. The present study examined how family conflict alters early parent-child behavioral transactions. We utilized three waves of data from a multisite longitudinal study of low-income families (N = 2, 876), child age 14 months, 24 months, and 36 months, to identify behavioral transactions of positive and negative maternal (supportiveness, negative regard) and child (engagement, negativity) behaviors. Results indicated that family conflict at 14 months diminished the positive association between maternal supportiveness and child engagement, and amplified the inverse association between maternal negativity and child engagement. Family conflict at 14 months also was associated with increased stability of child negativity and subsequent increased maternal negative regard at 36 months, in part via increases in 24-month child negativity. In sum, family conflict occurring early in childhood predicted and moderated behavioral transactions between young children and their mothers.