Examining the Associations between Maternal Childhood Maltreatment, Mother-Infant Attunement, and Constructive Parenting Behaviors in a Sample of Black American Mothers Open Access

Abstract

Maternal childhood maltreatment may pose challenges for a mother’s ability to bond with her child and employ warm and responsive parenting. Yet it remains unclear whether and how the ability of mother and her child to synchronize in their behaviors and physiology (known as “attunement”) may relate to maternal exposure to early maltreatment and displayed parenting quality. In a sample of 105 Black American mother-infant dyads, we examined whether different types of maternal childhood maltreatment were differentially related to mother-infant behavioral and physiological attunement at infant age 6- months and whether the attunement was related to mother’s constructive (warm and responsive) parenting behaviors. We collected retrospective reports of maternal childhood abuse during pregnancy and reports of experiences of being parented by their own mothers, as well as mother-infant behavioral mutuality and diurnal cortisol attunement measured at six months postpartum. Mother’s exposure to childhood maltreatment did not predict her behavioral or physiological attunement with her offspring. However, greater severity of maternal childhood emotional abuse predicted lower mother-infant behavioral attunement when mothers reported receiving high care from their own mother. Moreover, behavioral attunement, but not physiological attunement, predicted constructive maternal parenting behaviors. Our results suggest that the experience of being maltreated in childhood does not determine how well a mother will connect with her infant, and that different types of maternal childhood maltreatment may result in differential associations with observed mother and infant behaviors early in the postpartum period. 

Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................1

-Associations between Maternal Childhood Maltreatment and Mother-Child Behavioral and Physiological Attunement ...........................................................................................2

--Conceptual Model for the Association between Maternal Childhood Maltreatment and Mother-Infant Attunement ...............................................................................................5

--Types of Maltreatment .............................................................................................................6

-Optimal Experiences of Being Parented as a Potential Protective Factor....................................7

-Associations between Mother-Child Behavioral/Physiological Attunement and Maternal Parenting Behaviors ...............................................................8

-The Current Study ........................................................................................................................9

Methods..........................................................................................................................................10

-Participants .................................................................................................................................10

-Measures.....................................................................................................................................11

--Maternal Early Life Experiences............................................................................................11

--Behavioral Attunement ..........................................................................................................13

--Physiological Attunement ......................................................................................................13

--Constructive Parenting...........................................................................................................13

-Procedure ...................................................................................................................................14

-Analytic Plan ..............................................................................................................................15

Results ............................................................................................................................................15

-Aim 1..........................................................................................................................................15

-Aim 2..........................................................................................................................................18

-Aim 3 .........................................................................................................................................20

-Post-Hoc Analyses .....................................................................................................................22

Discussion ......................................................................................................................................23

References .....................................................................................................................................28 

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Psychology
Subfield / Discipline	Clinical Psychology
Degree	B.S.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Behavioral Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Developmental
Keyword	received parenting behavioral attunement mother-child mutuality physiological attunement mother-infant attunement maternal childhood maltreatment Black American mothers positive parenting constructive parenting diurnal cortisol mother-child interaction childhood adversity emotional abuse
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Patricia Brennan, Emory University
Committee Members	Sara Botto, Emory University Matthew Weinschenk, Emory University

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