Little tyrants or just plain tired: Evaluating attributions for caregiving outcomes across the transition to parenthood.

Abstract

There is now substantial evidence that parental attributions for power over negative caregiving outcomes play an important role in the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment. Despite the substantial research and clinical significance of this construct, and the widely held assumption that it represents a trait-like attributional style, there is a lack of empirical support for its long-term stability, especially over the transition to parenthood. The present study examined the stability of 88 at-risk women's perceived power over caregiving failure from the 3rd trimester of their 1st pregnancy to 18 months postnatal. Although results showed no significant change in overall self-reported perceived power over caregiving failure across time, subcomponents that separately assess perceived importance of adult and child factors both decreased over time, driven by increasing external attributions. Examination of subscale scores further revealed consistency in women's attributional style for their own and their child's behavior, and for positive and negative events, over time. Individual differences in these patterns suggested that past and present difficulties interfered with normative shifts such that maternal stress and history of trauma were associated with an increased sense that children control problematic events while decreasing mothers' own sense of control. Research and clinical implications are discussed.

Determining factors related to success in parent-implemented emergent language and literacy intervention

“…In other words, mothers with a more internal locus of control tended to use more of the strategies overall, and more of the strategies specifically focusing on modeling/expanding and print referencing, at baseline than mothers with a more external locus of control. This theme is consistent with other developmental literature that has linked PLOC to positive parenting behaviors and child outcomes (Bernstein et al, 2013;Estroff et al, 1994;Grolnick et al, 1997;Hagekull et al, 2001;Hassall et al, 2005;Houck et al, 1991;Lloyd & Hastings, 2009).…”

“…That is, mothers with a more external perceived locus of control at baseline tended to make greater gains over the course of the training as evidenced by increased strategy use in those areas. This is a novel finding in the early intervention parental PLOC literature, but it is consistent with the idea of a more internal PLOC being more favorable for parents and children than a more external PLOC (Bernstein et al, 2013;Estroff et al, 1994;Grolnick et al, 1997;Hagekull et al, 2001;Hassall et al, 2005;Houck et al, 1991;Lloyd & Hastings, 2009). Specifically, the strategies are evidence-based and known to be beneficial, and maternal PLOC is negatively correlated at baseline, so it follows that mothers with a more external PLOC at baseline would have more room to grow than the mothers with a more internal PLOC (who might experience a ceiling effect in terms of strategy use).…”

“…Specifically, maternal PLOC and PSE scores are reflective of mothers' attitudes about their life, their children, parenting. Furthermore, existing PLOC and PSE literature from other domains (e.g., developmental and child behavior literature) has demonstrated a link between favorable maternal PLOC and PSE scores and child outcomes (Bernstein et al, 2013;Coleman & Karraker, 1997;DeSocio et al, 2003;Elder et al, 1995;Estroff et al, 1994;Grolnick et al, 1997;Hagekull et al, 2001;Hassall et al, 2005;Houck et al, 1991;Lloyd & Hastings, 2009;Swanson et al, 2011) and…”

“…Maternal PLOC also mediated the relationship between maternal depression and children's handling of negative emotions (Coyne & Thompson, 2011). Furthermore, mothers' perceptions of their own control were linked to their perceptions of their child's control and/or vulnerability (Bernstein et al, 2013;Estroff et al, 1994). PLOC explained the majority of the variance in parenting-related stress for parents of children with intellectual disabilities (Hassal & McDonald, 2005;Lloyd & Hastings, 2009).…”

“…However, maternal PLOC and PSE were selected for this study over other maternal factors for three main reasons. First, in the developmental and early-intervention literatures, favorable parenting practices and positive child outcomes have been linked to more internal maternal PLOC (Bernstein, Laurent, Measelle, Hailey, & Ablow, 2013;Estroff, Yando, Burke, & Snyder, 1994;Grolnick, Benjet, Kurowski, & Apostoleris, 1997;Hagekull, Bohlin, & Hammarberg, 2001;Hassall, Rose, & McDonald, 2005;Houck, Booth, & Barnard, 1991;Lloyd & Hastings, 2009) and higher parental PSE (DeSocio, Kitzman, & Cole, 2003;Elder, Eccles, Ardelt, & Lord, 1995;Swanson, Raab, & Dunst, 2011).…”