Parenting in context

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2014.01.001Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Crying behavior shows a natural developmental trajectory.

  • Infants have a range of signaling behaviors.

  • Sensitive care-giving is appropriate and appetitive contextual control.

  • Fusion with verbal rules is likely to decrease parental sensitivity to context.

  • Modeled acceptance may be applied to self via deictic framing.

Abstract

Epstein׳s (2012) paper posed the following question: “how should a parent respond to a crying baby?” Although Epstein׳s (2012) behavioral account of infant crying is excellent, I also find it to be incomplete. Building on this, I present my own contextual account of infant crying and parental caregiving, propose an early developmental pathway to psychological flexibility, and provide my own answer to Epstein׳s (2012) question. Further, I call for an end to piecemeal behavioral accounts of infant behavior. In order to develop a truly contextual understanding of a particular infant behavior and give appropriate advice on parental responses, we need to look beyond the behavior, beyond the child, and beyond infancy.

Section snippets

Epstein׳s behavioral account of infant crying

This article was prompted by reading a recent paper in this journal (Epstein, 2012). In it, Epstein (2012) poses the following question: “how should a parent respond to a crying baby?” He suggests that there are two well-known options: to ignore the baby׳s cries or to respond immediately. Epstein (2012) then presents an excellent behavioral account of infant crying, which suggests that it is often a respondent behavior elicited by an aversive conditioned stimulus (CS) or unconditioned stimulus

Developmental context

Crying behavior shows a natural developmental trajectory, peaking during the first 3 months of life and decreasing after 3 or 4 months (Wake et al., 2006). However, there is no scientific consensus on the reasons for this developmental pattern (Douglas & Hill, 2011a). Excessive crying in the first 3 months may indicate the presence of a feeding problem or a medical condition; however, often the reasons are unclear. (Douglas & Hill, 2011b). One explanation is that it reflects a sensitized stress

Non-crying signaling behaviors

Epstein׳s (2012) behavioral account of infant crying and other behavioral accounts of crying as an operant behavior (Glavin & Moyer, 1975) do not consider the influence of competing non-crying signaling behaviors. A newborn infant is equipped with a range of respondent signaling behaviors or cues, including but not limited to crying. For example, in response to the UCS of hunger, a newborn may demonstrate numerous respondent signaling behaviors, including mouth opening, lip smacking, and

Contextual account of parental caregiving

A contextual understanding of parental caregiving (the other side of the parent–child interaction) is necessary to answer the question posed by Epstein (2012) appropriately. Firstly, it is likely that crying is an aversive UCS, eliciting parental attending behavior (Boukydis & Burgess, 1982). Other infant respondent signaling behaviors may also serve as UCS, and it is likely that many come to serve as CS, eliciting attending behavior in parents. For many parents, attending regularly to their

Long-term developmental perspective

To answer Epstein׳s (2012) question, it is also necessary to take a long-term developmental perspective. It is possible that, of the three proposed strategies, one strategy is superior in terms of a reduction in crying behavior during infancy, but a different strategy holds a long-term benefit. It may even be the case that there is not one clearly superior strategy, with one approach offering one set of long-term benefits and another approach offering a different set. It is plausible that, with

Call for a new contextual approach

To improve our understanding of child and parent behavior during infancy and to support parents, it is necessary to look at infancy through fresh contextual eyes. At present, behavioral understanding of infant behaviors are piecemeal, focusing on one infant behavior during infancy itself without taking into account the full behavioral repertoire of the infant, without developing a contextual understanding of parental responses, and without taking a long-term developmental view. This can only

My solution to the crying baby problem

For the reasons outlined above, I would encourage parents to begin life with their newborn child by paying attention to their infant, enjoying their child, noticing the rewards of parenting, discovering their parenting values, and responding immediately to all recognizable signaling behaviors. The most important task in the immediate postnatal period is for parental caregiving behavior to be brought under appropriate and appetitive contextual control so that parental enjoyment and flexibility

References (21)

  • R. Epstein

    Crying babies

    Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science

    (2012)
  • J.P. Glavin et al.

    Facilitating extinction of infant crying by changing reinforcement schedules

    Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry

    (1975)
  • L.-G. Ost

    Efficacy of the third wave of behavioral therapies: A systematic review and meta-analysis

    Behaviour Research and Therapy

    (2008)
  • M.D.S. Ainsworth et al.

    Patterns of attachment: a psychological study of the strange situation

    (1978)
  • Z. Biringen et al.

    Emotional availability: Concept, research, and window on developmental psychopathology

    Development and Psychopathology

    (2012)
  • C.F.Z. Boukydis et al.

    Adult physiological response to infant cries: Effects of temperament of infant, parental status and gender

    Child Development

    (1982)
  • L.W. Coyne et al.

    The joy of parenting: an acceptance and commitment therapy guide to effective parenting in the early years

    (2009)
  • L.W. Coyne et al.

    The role of cognitive fusion in impaired parenting: An RFT analysis

    International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy

    (2004)
  • P. Douglas et al.

    Managing infants who cry excessively in the first few months of life

    British Medical Journal

    (2011)
  • P.S. Douglas et al.

    The crying baby: What approach?

    Current Opinion in Pediatrics

    (2011)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (11)

  • Improving flexible parenting with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A case study

    2018, Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science
    Citation Excerpt :

    In particular, knowing the development and maintenance of their behavioral repertoire, such as the role of their reaction to the literal content of thoughts (cognitive fusion) in their acts as parents, could lead them to experiential avoidance in their attempts to deal with distress. Finally, if experiential avoidance is maintained, it can be manifested in maladaptive parenting behaviors (Cheron, Ehrenreich, & Pincus, 2009; Coyne & Wilson, 2004; Whittingham, 2014). In a longitudinal study, Williams, Ciarrochi, and Heaven (2012) explored the relationship between parenting styles and psychological flexibility in adolescents, and found that authoritarian, intrusive, controlling and cold parenting styles had a negative influence on adolescent psychological flexibility.

  • Connect and shape: A parenting meta-strategy

    2015, Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science
    Citation Excerpt :

    Common specific examples include: expressing emotions verbally, asking for help and problem solving. Connect and shape requires parental psychological flexibility, empathic understanding of their child (Coyne et al., 2007), acceptance of their child׳s emotions (Ramsden & Hubbard, 2002) and defusion from verbal parenting rules (Whittingham, 2014). ACT should be drawn upon as needed to promote flexible parenting in conjunction with connect and shape.

  • Intervention in parental flexibility through a group family training

    2020, Behavioral Psychology/ Psicologia Conductual
View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text