Pathways by which mothers’ physiological arousal and regulation while caregiving predict sensitivity to infant distress.

Abstract

Pathways by which maternal physiological arousal (skin conductance level [SCL]) and regulation (Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia [RSA] withdrawal) while parenting are linked with concurrent and subsequent maternal sensitivity were examined. Mothers’ (N = 259) SCL and RSA were measured during a resting baseline and while interacting with their 6 month old infants during tasks designed to elicit infant distress. Then, mothers were interviewed about their emotional and cognitive responses to infant cues (i.e., cry processing) while caregiving using a video recall procedure. Maternal sensitivity was observed during the distressing tasks at 6 months and again when children were 1 year old. Mothers who were well-regulated (higher RSA suppression from baseline to parenting tasks) engaged in less negative and self-focused cry processing while interacting with their infants, which in turn predicted higher maternal sensitivity at both time points. In addition, SCL arousal and RSA regulation interacted such that maternal arousal was associated with more empathic/infant focused cry processing among mothers who were simultaneously well-regulated, which in turn predicted maternal sensitivity, albeit only at 6 months. These effects were independent of a number of covariates demonstrating the unique role of mothers’ physiological regulation while caregiving on sensitivity. Implications for intervention are discussed.

Maternal physiological dysregulation while parenting poses risk for infant attachment disorganization and behavior problems

“…The results demonstrate that high SCL augmentation was indirectly linked with more sensitive maternal behavior when RSA withdrawal was high, but not when RSA withdrawal was low via a greater focus on infant needs and lesser focus on mother needs. A similar pattern was apparent when using the prenatal (Leerkes et al, 2015) and the postnatal (Leerkes et al, in press) measures of SCL and RSA responding. In the current report, we focus on maternal physiology when infants are 6 months old because that is a direct measure of maternal physiology while actively caregiving, and we are interested in the extent to which, and pathways by which, maternal arousal and regulation while caregiving may place infants at risk for subsequent maladjustment.…”

Variation in mothers' arginine vasopressin receptor 1a and dopamine receptor D4 genes predicts maternal sensitivity via social cognition

“…That is, the extent to which a mother feels empathy may be more strongly driven by her infant's state in the moment than in her own genetically driven dispositions. In contrast, mothers’ negative attributions and beliefs about crying may reflect a more stable tendency to minimize or downplay infant distress (Leerkes et al, 2016). The fact that women's DRD4 and global emotional empathy were not significantly associated in a prior study (Usefovsky et al, 2014) buttresses this argument.…”

“…We created two manifest variables based on analyses presented in Leerkes et al (2016) by standardizing and averaging the relevant scores. Infant-oriented cry processing is the average of empathy, distress detection, situational/emotional cry attributions, and infant-oriented cry beliefs (Chronbach's alpha = .62) and mother-oriented cry processing is the average of negative and minimizing cry attributions and mother-oriented cry beliefs (Chronbach's alpha = .61).…”

“…Thus, maternal social cognitive skills should underlie sensitive maternal behavior. In our prior work, we have demonstrated that mothers who engage in more infant-oriented social information processing, characterized by accurate identification of infant distress, appropriate attributions about the causes of crying, empathy for the infant, and the endorsement of positive and infant-oriented beliefs about crying (i.e., crying communicates infant needs) were observed to be more sensitive (Leerkes, Su, Calkins, Supple & O'Brien, 2016). In contrast, mothers who engage in more mother-oriented social information processing, characterized by negative and non-emotional attributions about the causes of crying and negative, self-oriented beliefs about crying (e.g., crying should be minimized, responding to crying spoils infants) were observed to be less sensitive.…”

“…Then, we consider indirect pathways in which carrying the long allele of AVPR1a or DRD4 will be associated with a) lower infant-oriented crying processing and/or b) higher mother-oriented cry processing which in turn would predict lower maternal sensitivity. We control for race, adult attachment coherence, and maternal education as prior research has demonstrated that each is related to cry processing and/or maternal sensitivity in this and other samples (Leerkes et al, 2016). In addition, we control for infant's DRD4 and AVPR1a genotypes to ensure observed associations are not a function of infant evocative effects.…”