Couple relationship quality and the infant home language environment: Gender-specific findings.

Fink, Elian; Browne, Wendy V.; Kirk, Isla; Hughes, Claire

doi:10.1037/fam0000590

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…That is, relationships characterized by high levels of satisfaction and low levels of conflict may be a place of solace for new mothers experiencing difficulties in learning how to respond sensitively to their infants' distress cues. Our nuanced findings mirror results from a subsample of 93 families who took part in in-depth recordings of their family-talk environment at 7-months ( 48 ). Specifically, compared with mothers of daughters, mothers of sons who reported less satisfaction and more conflict in their relationship with their partner used more infant-directed speech.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

“…Other analyses from this study sample have also revealed striking between-parent similarities in: (a) the interplay between difficult birth experiences and postnatal wellbeing ( 7 ); and (b) associations between prenatal symptoms of anxiety and depression and infant adjustment at 24-months ( 4 ). That said, day-long recordings of family talk in a subsample of these families showed more frequent maternal rather than paternal infant-directed speech at 7 months ( 48 ). Outside of this sample, there are inconsistent reports of gender-related contrasts in parent sensitivity [e.g., ( 74 , 75 )].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, family dynamics can be complicated: family systems theory also includes a “compensation” hypothesis that, for example, caregivers might devote extra attention to their infant to compensate for an unfulfilling partner relationship [e.g., ( 48 )]. This possibility is captured by the adage “Two's company, three's a crowd” included in the title for this paper.…”

Section: Interplay Between Self-focus and Relationship Quality As Prementioning

confidence: 99%

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Two's Company, Three's a Crowd? Maternal and Paternal Talk About Their Infant Differs in Associations With Wellbeing, Couple Relationship Quality, and Caregiving Sensitivity

et al. 2020

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Problems of depression and anxiety are common in early parenthood and adversely affect parenting quality (1). Rumination is closely linked to poor wellbeing (2), suggesting that self-focus may be one mediator of the association between wellbeing and caregiving [e.g., (3)]. Framed within an international study of first-time mothers and fathers (4), the current study included 396 British mothers and fathers (in 198 heterosexual cohabiting couple relationships) of first-born 4-month-old infants. Parents reported on their symptoms of depression, anxiety and satisfaction in their couple relationship. Five-minute speech samples were transcribed and coded for parents' pronoun use (i.e., “I” and either infant- or partner-inclusive use of “We”), whilst observations in the Still-Face paradigm were coded for parental sensitivity to infants' cues. Our first goal was to test whether new parents' self-focus was associated with wellbeing and couple relationship quality. We also examined whether (i) self-focus mediated the expected association between wellbeing and caregiving sensitivity and (ii) couple relationship quality moderated the expected association between self-focus and caregiver sensitivity. Finally, we compared results for mothers and fathers. Our results illustrate gender-specific associations. First, although mean levels of self-focus and partner-inclusive talk were similar for mothers and fathers, infant-inclusive use of the “we” pronoun was higher in mothers than fathers. Second, self-focus was unrelated to either mothers' or fathers' wellbeing, but was associated with fathers' report of reduced couple relationship quality. In addition, poor perinatal wellbeing was associated with reduced partner-inclusive talk for fathers, but with reduced use of infant-inclusive talk for mothers. Third, mediation models suggest that reduced infant-inclusive talk underpins the association between poor wellbeing and reduced sensitivity in mothers, but not fathers. Fourth, in the context of good couple relationship quality, mothers' elevated partner-inclusive talk was associated with reduced caregiving sensitivity. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for interventions to support new mothers and fathers, who may benefit from distinct strategies to foster attention to their developing infant.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Interplay Between Self-focus and Relationship Quality As Prementioning

confidence: 99%

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Two's Company, Three's a Crowd? Maternal and Paternal Talk About Their Infant Differs in Associations With Wellbeing, Couple Relationship Quality, and Caregiving Sensitivity

et al. 2020

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“…Most of the sample were highly educated (83% of mothers and 74% of fathers had an undergraduate or higher degree), a minority of parents were from ethnic minority backgrounds (9% of mothers and 8% of fathers). All infants (52% male) were born healthy, as confirmed by midwife report, and, according to parent report on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, showed typical development at 4 months of age (M = 4.16 months, SD = 0.50) when the postnatal speech sample was collected and at 7 months of age (M = 6.94 months, SD = 1.09) when the LENA measures were collected (for more information see Fink et al, 2019). Five-minute speech samples were completed by 92 mothers and 89 fathers prior to the birth of their child and by 88 mothers and 86 fathers at 4 months postpartum.…”

Section: Samplementioning

confidence: 85%

Expectant mothers' not fathers' mind‐mindedness predicts infant, mother, and father conversational turns at 7 months

Foley

Hughes

Fink

2022

Infancy

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Parental mind-mindedness (MM), defined as the propensity to view one's child as an agent with thoughts, feelings, and desires, is associated with positive child outcomes (McMahon & Bernier, 2017) and can be assessed in expectant parents by using five-minute speech samples (Magaña et al., 1986). Individual differences in MM appear stable across the transition to parenthood (Foley et al., in press), offering an exciting intervention opportunity, as expectant mothers' thoughts and feelings about their unborn infants are associated with the quality of mother-infant interactions. To assess prenatal MM as a predictor of parent-infant conversation at 7 months, we followed 93 low-risk British heterosexual couples across the transition to parenthood.Mothers' and fathers' MM was measured both in the third trimester of pregnancy and at 4 months. Wearable LENA devices were used to gather detailed measures of mother-, father-, and infant-initiated conversations at 7 months. Prenatal MM in both parents was associated with more frequent infant-initiated conversations at 7 months, while prenatal maternal (not paternal) MM was also associated with more mother-and father-initiated conversations.

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“…As open systems affected by developments in their environment, families constantly have to adjust and evolve. According to Fink et al (2019), family systems theory describes two contrasting processes: spillover and compensation.…”

Section: Parental Relationship Quality and Socio-emotional Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental relationship quality and children's behavioural problems: Childcare quality as a protective factor?

Fischer

Schober

Nagengast

2021

JFamRes

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Objective: This study investigates how changes in parental relationship quality relate to children's socio-emotional development during early childhood and whether high-quality early childcare arrangements may act as a protective factor in children’s environments. Background: We draw on family systems theory and the bioecological model of human development to conceptualise how different social environments may interact in their influences on children's socio-emotional development during early childhood and across the transition to primary school. Method: Based on a pooled sample of 636 US-American children who took part in the longitudinal NICHD Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development (SECCYD), we applied fixed-effects panel models to three time points between age 3 and first grade. Results: Whereas changes in parental relationships quality were not significant in predicting children's socio-emotional development from age 3 to 4.5 years, our results showed that a reduction in parental relationship quality was moderately associated with an increase in behaviour problems of children across the transition to first grade. We did not find any evidence of mitigating effects of the child-specific process quality of the ECEC arrangement, neither for informal nor formal care settings. Conclusion: The results suggest that initiatives designed to improve a couple’'s relationship quality might also be an effective way to further their children’s socio-emotional development.

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Couple relationship quality and the infant home language environment: Gender-specific findings.

Cited by 12 publications

References 60 publications

Two's Company, Three's a Crowd? Maternal and Paternal Talk About Their Infant Differs in Associations With Wellbeing, Couple Relationship Quality, and Caregiving Sensitivity

Two's Company, Three's a Crowd? Maternal and Paternal Talk About Their Infant Differs in Associations With Wellbeing, Couple Relationship Quality, and Caregiving Sensitivity

Expectant mothers' not fathers' mind‐mindedness predicts infant, mother, and father conversational turns at 7 months

Parental relationship quality and children's behavioural problems: Childcare quality as a protective factor?

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