Relationships between parenting stress and developmental functioning among 2-year-olds

doi:10.1016/0163-6383(94)90034-5

Infant Behavior and Development

Volume 17, Issue 4, October–December 1994, Pages 423-429

https://doi.org/10.1016/0163-6383(94)90034-5 Get rights and content

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to specify the relation between parenting stress and the early behavioral organization of 2-year-olds. Twenty-seven families provided assessments of parental stress and child behavior problems. In addition, observations of toddler pretend play and autonomy development were conducted. Mothers who reported higher level of stress within areas of life related to parental adjustment (e.g., relationship with spouse, social isolation, health) had toddlers who exhibited more externalizing and total behavior problems. In addition, mothers who reported higher levels of stress in relation to their toddler (e.g., perceptions of reinforcement from child) were more likely to have toddlers who exhibited behavior problems, less pretend play, and less usage of self-assertion during home observations. Finally, fathers who reported higher levels of stress in relation to their toddler also reported more behavioral problems.

References (35)

T. Field
Early interactions between infants and their postpartum depressed mothers
Infant Behavior and Development
(1984)
R. Forehand et al.
Parent perceptions and parent-child interaction in clinic-refered children: A preliminary investigation of the effects of maternal depressive moods
Behavior Research and Therapy
(1986)
T. Holmes et al.
The Social Readjustment Rating Scale
Journal of Psychosomatic Research
(1967)
P. Jarvis et al.
Parental stress, coping, and attachment in families with an 18-month-old infant
Infant Behavior and Development
(1991)
P. Jarvis et al.
The effects of infants' illness on mothers' interactions with premature at 4 and 8 months
Infant Behavior and Development
(1989)
T. Achenbach
The Child Behavior Checklist for 2-to 3-Year-Old Children
(1985)
J. Belsky et al.
From exploration to free play: A cross-sectional study of infant free play behavior
Developmental Psychology
(1981)
A. Billings et al.
Social-environmental factors in unipolar depression: Comparisons of depressed patients and nondepressed controls
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
(1983)
N. Bolger et al.
Effects of daily stress on negative mood
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
(1989)
U. Bronfenbrenner
Ecological systems theory

P. Caplan et al.

Mother-blaming in major clinical journals

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

(1985)

B. Compas et al.

Parent and child stress symptoms: An integrative analysis

Developmental Psychology

(1989)

R. Corrigan

A developmental sequence of actor-object pretend play in young children

Merrill-Palmer Quarterly

(1987)

S. Crockenberg et al.

Autonomy as competence in 2-year-olds: Maternal correlates of child defiance, compliance, and self-assertion

Developmental Psychology

(1990)

M. Cummings

Coping with background anger in early childhood

Child Development

(1987)

A. DeLongis et al.

The impact of daily stress on health and mood: Psychological and social resources as mediators

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

(1988)

G. Downey et al.

Children of depressed parents: An integrative review

Psychological Bulletin

(1990)

Cited by (64)

Neighborhood matters: Neighborhood violence, collective efficacy, and social emotional development in early childhood
2022, Children and Youth Services Review
Exposure to community violence has been associated with a range of negative behavioral outcomes among school-age children and adolescents; yet there is limited evidence in the preschool setting. In the current study we examined the association between objective and parent-perceived neighborhood safety, and perceived collective efficacy, on behavioral concerns of children aged 3–5 enrolled at an early childhood school in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 2014 to 19 (n = 165). Teachers collected data on outcome measures of child social emotional well-being in the classroom setting. A parent survey included data on residential address, how safe they felt in their neighborhood, and perceived collective efficacy. Addresses were geocoded and linked by Census tract number to data on violent crime rates (per 1,000 tract residents). Associations between neighborhood violent crime, perceived safety, perceived collective efficacy, and child social emotional development were assessed with generalized estimating equations. After mutually adjusting for perceived neighborhood safety and violent crime rate, children of parents with the lowest perceived neighborhood collective efficacy had similar findings: children of parents that perceive the neighborhood as unsafe had a lower attachment (β = −6.55, 95 % CI 1.44, 11.66) and protective score (β = −4.51, 95 % CI 0.89–8.13) and a 10-unit increase in violent crime was associated with a decrease in attachment score (β = −2.77, 95 % CI −4.22, −1.32). Overall, child attachment and protective scores were significantly associated with perceived unsafe neighborhoods and violent crime, and the relationship was moderated by perceived neighborhood efficacy. These findings suggest a negative impact of perceived neighborhood safety and protective impact of collective efficacy on early childhood social emotional development.
Self-care in caregivers of children with FASD: How do caregivers care for themselves, and what are the benefits and obstacles for doing so?
2020, Research in Developmental Disabilities
Citation Excerpt :
Research supports a transactional relationship between parent stress and child problem behavior; parental stress contributes to child behavior problems which in turn contribute to parental stress (Baker et al., 2003). Studies have shown a clear association between increased problem behavior in young children and high child-focused parental stress for both mothers and fathers (Creasey & Jarvis, 1994; Jirikowic, Olson, & Astley, 2012; Myers & Taylor, 1998; Paley et al., 2005; Paley, O’Connor, Frankel, & Marquardt, 2006; Smith et al., 2001). This relationship has been shown to be moderated by maternal social support and mediated by caregivers’ cognitive appraisal of the responsibilities of caregiving (Plant & Sanders, 2007).
Caregivers of children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) have elevated levels of stress, which can negatively impact family functioning and caregivers’ mental and physical health. Self-care is a critical resource to address caregivers’ stress.
This study describes strategies and obstacles related to self-care reported by caregivers of children with FASD. It also examines how caregivers’ perceived confidence in and frequency of self-care is related to stress, parenting attitudes, and family needs.
Forty-six caregivers of children with FASD identified self-care strategies and obstacles and rated their confidence and frequency of self-care. Additional measures of perceived parenting efficacy, stress, family needs, child behavior, and family demographics were administered. Correlation analyses examined associations between self-care and measures of child and family functioning.
Self-care strategies and obstacles were varied. Greater reported confidence in self-care was associated with less parental distress and more satisfaction in the parenting role. Frequency of self-care was positively associated with confidence in self-care but not with any other measure of family functioning.
Caregivers use a variety of strategies and face significant obstacles in self-care. Confidence in self-care may be associated with lower stress and greater satisfaction in the parenting role.
Associations among mothers’ representations of their relationship with their toddlers, maternal parenting stress, and toddlers’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors
2018, Infant Behavior and Development
This study examined the array of associations among the emotional valence and the coherence of mothers’ representations of their relationship with their toddlers, mothers’ reported parenting stress, and toddlers’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors. To evaluate maternal representations, 55 mothers were interviewed using the Five Minute Speech Sample procedure (FMSS; Magaña et al., 1986), which was coded for criticism and positive comments (Magaňa-Amato, 1993), as well as coherence (Sher-Censor & Yates, 2015). Mothers also completed the Parenting Stress Index − Short Form (PSI; Abidin, 1997) to evaluate their parenting stress and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/1.5–5; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000) to assess their toddlers’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Results indicated that parenting stress was associated with maternal criticism and fewer positive comments in the FMSS, but not with the coherence of mothers’ FMSS. Parenting stress, criticism, and lower coherence in the FMSS were associated with maternal reports of externalizing behaviors. Only parenting stress and lower coherence in the FMSS were related to mothers’ reports of internalizing behaviors of the child. Thus, the emotional valence and the coherence of mothers’ representations of their relationship with their child and parenting stress may each constitute a distinct aspect of parenting and contribute to the understanding of individual differences in toddlers’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Implications for research and practice with families of toddlers are discussed.
Reducing children's behavior problems through social capital: A causal assessment
2017, Social Science Research
Behavior problems among young children have serious detrimental effects on short and long-term educational outcomes. An especially promising prevention strategy may be one that focuses on strengthening the relationships among families in schools, or social capital. However, empirical research on social capital has been constrained by conceptual and causal ambiguity. This study attempts to construct a more focused conceptualization of social capital and aims to determine the causal effects of social capital on children’s behavior. Using data from a cluster randomized trial of 52 elementary schools, we apply several multilevel models to assess the causal relationship, including intent to treat and treatment on the treated analyses. Taken together, these analyses provide stronger evidence than previous studies that social capital improves children’s behavioral outcomes and that these improvements are not simply a result of selection into social relations but result from the social relations themselves.
Child behavior problems: Mothers’ and fathers’ mental health matters today and tomorrow
2016, Early Childhood Research Quarterly
Citation Excerpt :
A number of studies have examined similarities and differences in mothers’ and fathers’ mental health, parenting, and effects on children, yet many have not overtly addressed the nonindependence of data that come from mothers and fathers of the same child. There are several ways these data have been analyzed to try to accommodate this issue, including combining mothers’ and fathers’ scores into a composite or latent variable, or using mothers’ and fathers’ reports as independent indicators in the same analyses to predict child behavior (e.g., Belsky, Woodworth, & Crnic, 1996b), and, most commonly, analyzing mother and father reports in separate models, producing separate sets of results for mothers and fathers that are then compared (e.g., Jarvis & Creasey, 1991; Creasey & Jarvis, 1994; McBride et al., 2002). Problems associated with these strategies utilizing the traditional linear models include multicolliniarity in the case of using composite scores, loss of specificity in the case of the latent variable approach, the violation of the assumption of independence in the case of independent indicators, and failing to consider the interrelated nature of data coming from the same family in the case of separate models (see Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006).
Informed by a family systems framework, this study utilizes the actor-partner-interdependence model to examine how parents’ mental health, including depressive symptoms and parenting stress, predict their own (actor effects) and their partners’ (partner effects) reports of their children’s behavior problems among 730 low-income families. Further, we examine whether mothers’ and fathers’ mental health in early childhood predicts children’s teacher-reported social development in fifth grade. Both mothers’ and fathers’ depressive symptoms and parenting stress were associated with their own (actor effects) ratings of child behavior problems when children were 3 years (M = 37.16 months, SD = 1.53); parenting stress exerted a larger effect than depressive symptoms. Further, ratings of child behavior were predicted by partners’ parenting stress for fathers but not for mothers. Greater parent depression symptoms in early childhood was associated with higher fifth graders’ hyperactivity, and fathers’ greater depressive symptoms was associated with lower fifth graders’ cooperation. Results indicate that the mental health of both parents predicts child social skills and problem behaviors, both in early childhood and later development.
Maternal stress and behavioral adaptation in methadone- or buprenorphine-exposed toddlers
2013, Infant Behavior and Development
The current study examined the relationship between early interaction, parenting stress, maternal psychological distress symptoms, and behavior problems and health-related quality of life among children born to mothers in opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) in Norway during the period 2005–2007 (N = 36). This group was compared with a normative sample of mothers without substance abuse problems and their children (N = 36). There were significant group differences (p < .01) in perceived child problems in toddlerhood. In a regression model, mothers’ self-reported psychological distress symptoms in terms of depression and anxiety symptoms significantly predicted child behavior problems (p < .01) and health-related quality of life (p < .01) rather than parenting stress. No significant, unique effect of exposure was found after controlling for other factors that could influence developmental outcomes. These findings add to the growing evidence on the importance of maternal psychological well-being for child development, and underscore the need to address opioid-maintained women's personal maladjustment and the constellation of stress experienced by mothers in recovery.

View all citing articles on Scopus

^∗: The authors would like to extend special thanks to Alice Claggett, Jill Cockrel, Gwen Kaliher, Stephanie Krug, Kris Lustig, Amie Marjernik, Susan Phelps, Jan Strohmeyer, and Guadalupe Sandoval who all had some involvement with this study, as well as to Laura Berk for her critical comments on an earlier draft of this article. Portions of this article were presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, LA, March 1993.

View full text

Relationships between parenting stress and developmental functioning among 2-year-olds

Abstract

Infant Behavior and Development

Behavior Research and Therapy

Journal of Psychosomatic Research

Infant Behavior and Development

Infant Behavior and Development

The Child Behavior Checklist for 2-to 3-Year-Old Children

From exploration to free play: A cross-sectional study of infant free play behavior

Developmental Psychology

Social-environmental factors in unipolar depression: Comparisons of depressed patients and nondepressed controls

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

Effects of daily stress on negative mood

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Ecological systems theory

Mother-blaming in major clinical journals

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

Parent and child stress symptoms: An integrative analysis

Developmental Psychology

A developmental sequence of actor-object pretend play in young children

Merrill-Palmer Quarterly

Autonomy as competence in 2-year-olds: Maternal correlates of child defiance, compliance, and self-assertion

Developmental Psychology

Coping with background anger in early childhood

Child Development

The impact of daily stress on health and mood: Psychological and social resources as mediators

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Children of depressed parents: An integrative review

Psychological Bulletin