Factors Influencing Female Caregivers' Appraisals of Their Preschoolers' Behaviors

doi:10.1016/j.pedhc.2016.01.006

Journal of Pediatric Health Care

Volume 31, Issue 1, January–February 2017, Pages 46-56

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedhc.2016.01.006 Get rights and content

Abstract

Introduction

This study used the Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment, and Adaptation to explore family factors associated with primary female caregivers' appraisals of children's behaviors, distortion of their appraisals, and children's risk of having behavioral problems.

Method

A cross-sectional, correlational design was used. Data were collected from female caregivers of preschoolers. Instruments measured demographic characteristics, comfort in parenting, appraisal of behaviors, daily and parenting stress, depressive symptoms, social support, ratings of children's behaviors, and distortion in ratings. Analyses included χ² and simultaneous linear regression.

Results

Greater parenting discomfort and daily stress were associated with lower appraisals of children's behaviors. Caucasian race and higher distortion in behavioral ratings were associated with higher risk of behavioral problems. Caregiver's appraisal was associated with daily stress level and parenting comfort.

Discussion

Additional research is needed regarding how these factors affect children's behavior and causes of distorted parental views of children's behaviors.

Section snippets

Aims

This study applied the Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment, and Adaptation to the exploration of individual factors associated with the primary female caregiver's appraisal of her child's behavior, the extent to which the primary female caregiver's appraisal of her child's behavior may be distorted, and the child's level of risk of having a behavioral problem. The study was conducted to increase knowledge related to female caregivers' appraisals of preschool-aged children's behaviors

Theoretical Framework

The Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment, and Adaptation served as the theoretical framework for this study (see Figure). This model describes a family's adaptation and adjustment to major life events over time (DeMarco, Ford-Gilboe, Friedemann, McCubbin, & McCubbin, 2000) and the family's dynamic adaptation process to stressors (McCubbin, Thompson, & McCubbin, 1996). A stressor is an event or problem that has the ability to cause the family to experience an increased level of turmoil

Setting and Sample

A rural Head Start preschool with 330 students located in the Southeastern United States was the setting for this study. At the time of this study, 97.8% of the population was reported to be Caucasian (54.9%) or African American (42.9%; U.S. Census Bureau, 2007), and the majority of participants' incomes fell below state poverty levels.

Inclusion criteria for participation in the study were (a) women who were caregivers of a preschooler, and (b) the ability to speak and understand English.

Results

The majority of study participants (N = 117) were African American (82.8%) and high school graduates (84.3%), and nearly a third were unemployed (27.5%). Ten of the caregivers (8.5%) had a previous diagnosis of depression, and nine of them were taking an antidepressant at the time of the study. Because of variances in the relationship between the female caregiver and preschooler, the mean age was 30.3 years (SD = 9.8; range = 19 to 62 years). With the exception of age, there were no

Discussion

Individual caregiver characteristics have been studied frequently, especially the caregiver's depressive psychological symptoms, as they related to how informants (either teachers, parents, or the children themselves) rate behaviors (Qi & Kaiser, 2003). In the present study, depressive symptomatology was only weakly associated (r = −0.33, p < .01) with lower appraisals of behavior, as it had been in numerous other studies (Brennan et al., 2000, Chilcoat and Breslau, 1997, Seiffge-Krenke and

Strengths and Limitations of the Study

This study was unique in several ways. It is one of the few, if not the only study, that used primarily rural, low-income, African American female caregivers of preschool children to determine factors that are related to distortion and appraisals in caregiver ratings of preschooler's behavior and level of risk of having children with behavioral problems. This study was also different in that it included a measure of perceived daily stress along with a measure of depression.

This study also has

Implications for Practice

Several implications for nursing practice can be derived from the findings of this study. Perceived daily stress and parenting confidence played major roles in the appraisals of children's behaviors by the female caregivers. Including a measure of caregiver daily stress in the evaluation of a child's behavior may help the provider gain insight into other factors that may be occurring in the family. Additionally, interventions to reduce caregiver stress may help to reduce the number of preschool

Sallie P. Coke, Associate Professor of Nursing, Georgia College & State University, Milledgeville, GA.

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Preschool children with externalizing problems are at risk for short- and long-term difficulties and preschool externalizing problems (PEP) are influenced by several caregiver factors. One such factor is caregiver adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Researchers have investigated how caregiver ACEs are related to PEP by identifying risk factors to account for this association. However, research on caregiver factors associated with fewer PEP is limited. Particularly, factors that contribute to caregiver resilience may be adaptive caregiver characteristics that negatively relate to PEP, even when adjusting for caregiver ACEs.
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Citation Excerpt :
One of the possible explanations for this is the age of the participants in the sample, providing evidence that gender differences in the emotional appraisal of events occur later in development. On the other hand, the behaviors of the preschoolers can be associated with different aspects of the home socioenvironmental conditions (Coke & Moore, 2017). Accordingly, some research indicates that socioenvironmental or contextual differences can be associated with variations in emotional processing.
Emotions are essential processes for integrating events into autobiographical memory. Different children react differently to the same event. The process through which these different responses are generated from subjective evaluations of an event is called emotional appraisal. The main purpose of this study was to analyze the variations in the emotional appraisal of autobiographical events of 4- and 5-year-old children from homes with different socioenvironmental conditions. We compared preschoolers’ emotional appraisal responses with those of their families. The emotional accuracy of the preschoolers was found to differ according to the different socioenvironmental conditions of their homes. Greater appraisal accuracy was observed in the favorable condition, and it was greater for emotional events than for neutral events. Appraisal accuracy also differed with age, with 5-year-olds showing greater appraisal accuracy than 4-year-olds. Therefore, the emotional appraisal of these events may also be affected by age and valence when attributing emotions to personal experiences.
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Sallie P. Coke, Associate Professor of Nursing, Georgia College & State University, Milledgeville, GA.

Leslie C. Moore, Associate Professor of Nursing, Georgia College & State University, Milledgeville, GA.

: Conflicts of interest: None to report.

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ArticleFactors Influencing Female Caregivers' Appraisals of Their Preschoolers' Behaviors

Abstract

Introduction

Method

Results

Discussion

Section snippets

Aims

Theoretical Framework

Setting and Sample

Results

Discussion

Strengths and Limitations of the Study

Implications for Practice

Journal of the National Medical Association

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Ambulatory Pediatrics

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Parenting stress index: Professional manual

The MacArthur scale of subjective social status

Situational stressors among African-American women living in low-income urban areas: The role of social support

Women & Health

The relationship between parenting stress, parenting behavior and preschoolers' social competence and behaviour problems in the classroom

Infant and Child Development

Mothers' parental efficacy beliefs and promotive parenting strategies on inner-city youth

Journal of Family Issues

Chronicity, severity, and timing of maternal depressive symptoms: Relationship with child outcomes at age 5

Developmental Psychology

A comparison of North American versus non-North American attention deficit hyperactivity disorder study populations

European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Parenting disruptive preschoolers: Experiences of mothers and fathers

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

CDC study: An average of 1 in 110 children have an ASD

Maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems in a nationally representative normal birth weight sample

Maternal and Child Health Journal

Perceived Stress Scale [Instrument]. Published instrument

Family typology and appraisal of preschoolers' behavior by female caregivers

Nursing Research

Australian adolescents' attitudes and beliefs concerning pregnancy, childbirth, and parenthood: The development, psychometric testing and results of a new scale

Journal of Adolescence

Unclaimed children revisited: The status of children's mental health policy in the United States

Preschoolers at risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder: Family, parenting, and behavioral correlates

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

Preschool outcomes of children of depressed mothers: Role of maternal behavior contextual risk and children's brain activity

Child Development

Stress, coping, and family health

Measurement in health behavior: Methods for research and evaluation

Common emotional and behavioral disorders in preschool children: Presentation, nosology, and epidemiology

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

The reliability of a two-item scale: Pearson, Cronbach, or Spearman-Brown?

International Journal of Public Health

Current and past maternal depression, maternal interaction behaviors, and children's externalizing and internalizing symptoms

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

BASC-2 behavioral and emotional screening system

Reliability analysis

Article
Factors Influencing Female Caregivers' Appraisals of Their Preschoolers' Behaviors