Maternal Responsiveness, Intrusiveness, and Negativity During Play with Infants: Contextual Associations and Infant Cognitive Status in A Low‐Income Sample

Abstract

Maternal parenting behaviors during a mother-infant play interaction were examined in a sample of 160 low-income mothers and their 15-month-old infants. Maternal responsive/didactic, intrusive, and negative behaviors were coded from videotapes and examined in relation to mothers' age, marital status, stressful life events, and depressive symptoms, and infants' cognitive scores at 15 and 25 months. Younger maternal age and increases in stressful life events were associated with increases in mothers' negative behaviors whereas being married was positively associated with mothers' responsive/didactic behaviors and inversely associated with their negative and intrusive behaviors. Mothers' depressive symptoms were inversely associated with both responsive/didactic and intrusive behaviors and predicted lower cognitive scores in infants at 15 months, but not 25 months. Maternal responsive/didactic behaviors predicted infant cognitive scores at both ages after controlling for maternal characteristics and other parenting behaviors. Intrusiveness moderated associations between both responsive/didactic and negative parenting behaviors and infant 25-month cognition. Maternal age, marital status, psychological resources, and contextual sources of stress play a central role in the quality of parenting among low-income mothers, and positive mother-infant interactions are strong predictors of infants' early cognitive status. ). Theoretical and empirical work on the "determinants" of parenting indicate that parents' psychological functioning, characteristics of children, and contextual sources of stress and support are main areas of influence (Belsky, 1984). Parenting, however, is not a unidimensional construct but rather is made up of multiple behaviors, including positive and negative affect (

Multiple adverse experiences and child cognitive development

“…Additionally, multiple regression models tend to explain more of the variance in cognitive outcomes when compared to a cumulative index approach (24,28,37). Several adversities emerged as significant predictors of child cognitive ability, after accounting for other exposures, including those associated with low socioeconomic status (22,28,29), neighborhood safety (28), and maternal depression (29,39). Among studies of executive function, one study showed that family chaos and instability, but not poverty, was associated with diminished inhibitory control among preschool-aged children (38).…”

“…McFadden and Tamis-Lemoda explored multiple parenting behaviors under conditions of socioeconomic disadvantage, including poverty, stressful life events, and maternal depression, and found that nonresponsive parenting mediated the effects of maternal depression on the cognitive outcomes of 2-y-old infants while there was no effect of intrusive or negative parenting (39). Another study showed that the quality of the home environment (i.e., the extent to which the environment is stimulating, safe, and responsive) also mediated the relationship between maternal substance use and cognitive competence (28).…”

“…Five longitudinal studies examined the relationship between adverse exposures measured at a single point in time and concurrent or subsequent general cognitive ability (26)(27)(28)39,42). Overall, concurrent adverse exposures were most detrimental to general cognitive ability, and the predictive power diminished over time.…”

Child Vocabulary, Maternal Behavior, and Inhibitory Control Development Among Spanish-Speaking Children

“…Sensitive parents are emotionally available, engaged and responsive to children’s signals and needs, cognitively stimulating, warm, and not harsh or hostile (McFadden & Tamis-LeMonda, 2013; Whiteside-Mansell, Bradley, Owen, Randolph, & Cauce, 2003). Insensitivity can be marked by emotional detachment from the child; negativity toward the child; and/or intrusive, overly directive behavior that undermines the child’s autonomy.…”

“…Insensitivity can be marked by emotional detachment from the child; negativity toward the child; and/or intrusive, overly directive behavior that undermines the child’s autonomy. Given the risks for academic difficulties for children of low socioeconomic and ethnic minority status, sensitive parenting may be a particularly important protective factor (McFadden & Tamis-LeMonda, 2013). …”