Sarah C. Mangelsdorf

Associations between coparenting and marital behavior from infancy to the preschool years.

This study examined the associations between coparenting and marital behavior from infancy to the preschool years. Coparenting and marital behavior were assessed in 46 families during observations of family play and marital discussions at 6 months and 3 years. Both coparenting and marital behavior showed moderate stability from 6 months to 3 years. In addition, coparenting and marital behavior were more consistently associated at 3 years than at 6 months. When the predictive capabilities of early coparenting and marital behavior for later coparenting and marital behavior were considered, early coparenting predicted later marital behavior but not vice versa. This study highlights the importance of early coparenting behavior, especially undermining coparenting behavior, for understanding both subsequent coparenting behavior and subsequent marital behavior.

Natural mentor relationships among latina adolescent mothers: Psychological adjustment, moderating processes, and the role of early parental acceptance

Investigated the antecedents, effects, and underlying characteristics of natural mentor relationships in a sample of 54 inner-city, Latina adolescent mothers. Women with mentors reported significantly lower levels of depression and anxiety than those without mentors despite similar levels of stress exposure and overall support resources. Young women with natural mentors were also more satisfied with their support resources and appeared better able to cope effectively with relationship problems. Finally, women with mentors recalled their childhood relationships with their mothers as more accepting. Mentor relationships appear to enhance young womens capacity to benefit from their support resources and offset the effects of relationship problems. Implications for future research and intervention strategies are discussed.

Behavioral strategies for emotion regulation in toddlers: associations with maternal involvement and emotional expressions

Abstract Ninety-four mothers and their 18- or 24-month-old children participated in four laboratory episodes designed to elicit fear or anger. Mothers’ behavior was constrained for the first part of each episode; mothers were then instructed to help their children. Toddlers’ behavioral strategies differed as a function of maternal involvement and as a function of the emotion-eliciting context. Only some of the behavioral strategies assumed to minimize expressions of distress truly did so; other behaviors showed maintenance effects on fear and anger expressions. The different pattern of results for the fear and frustration episodes highlights the importance of examining behavioral strategies across contexts designed to elicit different emotions.

Attachment Security in Very Low Birth Weight Infants.

Infants of very low birth weight (VLBW) (n = 34) and a comparison group of 40 full-term infants were observed in Ainsworths Strange Situation at 14 and 19 months and observed in the home at 14 months of age, using Waterss Attachment Q-set. Results indicated that at 14 months VLBW infants were more likely than the full-term infants to be insecurely attached when rated using the Q-set but not when using the Strange Situation. However, at 19 months VLBW infants were also more likely than full-term infants to be insecurely attached in the Strange Situation assessment. There were no associations between the Q-set and Strange Situation measures of attachment security. These results are discussed in terms ofthe social-emotional development of VLBW infants.

Chapter 9 – The Emotional Basis of Early Personality Development: Implications for the Emergent Self-Concept

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the emotional basis of early personality development. In recent years, personality psychologists have made a great deal of progress toward the structure of personality. Personality development occurs in five basic steps in which the child progresses by: (1) learning organized patterns of behavior, (2) nonverbal conceptions of emotional states, (3) verbal conceptions of emotional states, (4) verbal conceptions of dispositions, and (5) a metatheory of self similar to what is held by older children and adults. Early individual differences influence the parents personality on the developing child, the parents perceptions of the child, the childs own behavior, and characteristics or temperament and the attachment between the child and the parent. It is clear that it is difficult to disentangle the independent effects of each of these influences. Focusing on the emotional basis of personality should allow for a better correspondence between research on child and adult personality, eventually leading to a better understanding of the course of personality development. A great deal of research has been devoted to understand individual differences in personality among preschool and kindergarten children, but the research primarily relied on the reports of other persons and/or behavioral observations.

The determinants of parenting competence in adolescent mothers.

This study examines whether models of parenting competence derived from studies of adult mothers are descriptive of adolescent mothers as well. Fifty-eight adolescent mothers were recruited from an alternative high school. All subjects completed questionnaires on self-esteem, life events, social support, well-being, and maternal efficacy. In addition, they completed an emotion interpretation task, and were videotaped in feeding, structured play, and unstructured play episodes with their child. Associations among the variables life stress, social support, well-being, self-esteem, maternal efficacy, and the capacity to interpret infant emotion were examined. The utility of these variables as predictors of maternal behavior was also examined. Age-related individual differences among adolescent mothers were also explored, as were differences across interaction episodes. Results indicated that determinants of parenting competence among adolescents are patterned differently than would be predicted by existing models of adult parenting competence. For example, adolescents who received more support from the babys father displayed less optimal parenting behavior. Results are discussed in the context of adolescent development and in terms of their utility for intervention design.

Preventing preschool externalizing behavior problems through video-feedback intervention in infancy

In the present study (1) intervention effects on childrens preschool behavior problems were evaluated in a high risk sample with an overrepresentation of insecure adult attachment representations in 77 first-time mothers, and (2) predictors and correlates of child problem behavior were examined. Early short-term video-feedback intervention to promote positive parenting (VIPP) focusing on maternal sensitivity and implemented in the babys first year of life significantly protected children from developing clinical Total Problems at preschool age. Also, compared with the control group, fewer VIPP children scored in the clinical range for Externalizing Problems. No intervention effects on Internalizing clinical problem behavior were found. The VIPP effects on Externalizing and Total clinical Problems were not mediated by VIPP effects on sensitivity and infant attachment or moderated by mother or child variables. Maternal satisfaction with perceived support appeared to be associated with less childrens Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems. More research is needed to find the mechanisms triggered by VIPP, but the outcomes could be considered as promising first steps in the prevention of disturbing, externalizing behavior problems in young children.

Infant attachment: Contributions of infant temperament and maternal characteristics

This study examined the joint contributions of maternal characteristics and infant characteristics to quality of attachment. When infants were 8 months, one hundred and two mothers and their infants completed a videotaped interaction and infants completed a laboratory assessment of temperament. Mothers completed personality and infant temperament questionnaires. At 12 months, infant mother attachment quality was measured in the Strange Situation. In a discriminant function analysis using both child and maternal characteristics, seventy-eight percentage of infants were correctly classified as secure, resistant, or avoidant. Insecurely attached infants were higher on activity and distress to novelty and had mothers who were lower on Constraint than securely attached infants. Infants classified as avoidant were lower on positive affect and higher on fearfulness and had mothers lower on positive affectivity than infants classified as resistant. The results of this study point to the importance of examining both parent and child characteristics in the prediction of attachment.

Young Children’s Self-Concepts: Associations with Child Temperament, Mothers’ and Fathers’ Parenting, and Triadic Family Interaction

This study explored how children’s self-concepts were related to child temperament, dyadic parenting behavior, and triadic family interaction. At age 3, child temperament, mothers’ and fathers’ parenting behavior, and triadic (mother, father, and child) family interaction were observed in the homes of 50 families. At age 4, children’s self-concepts were assessed using the Children’s Self-View Questionnaire (Eder, 1990). Analyses revealed that temperamental proneness to distress and triadic family interaction made independent contributions to children’s self-reported timidity and agreeableness. In contrast, dyadic parenting behavior moderated the associations between child temperament and children’s self-reported timidity and agreeableness such that temperament was only associated with children’s self-concepts when mothers and fathers engaged in particular parenting behaviors. Results suggest both direct and interactive influences of family dynamics and child characteristics on children’s self-concept development.

Roles of family cohesiveness, marital adjustment, and child temperament in predicting child behavior with mothers and fathers

The current study explored how family characteristics (i.e., family cohesiveness and marital adjustment) and child characteristics (i.e., temperament) assessed when the child was 13 months old predicted child behavior with mothers and fathers at 36 months. Mother–father–child interaction was observed to assess family cohesiveness at 13 months. Mothers and fathers also completed questionnaires assessing their perceptions of marital adjustment and their child’s temperament at 13 months. Based on dyadic parent–child interactions at 36 months, under-controlled behavior and positive engagement were examined as outcome variables. Results indicated that observed family cohesiveness predicted positive engagement with both parents. Moreover, in families with high cohesiveness at 13 months, child behavior was significantly consistent across mother–child and father–child interactions, whereas in families with low cohesiveness, consistency of child behavior was not observed. Results also revealed that fathers’ perceptions of marital adjustment directly predicted child behavior with fathers, while the combination of low family cohesiveness/low marital adjustment and difficult temperament predicted child behavior with mothers.