Observed sensitivity during family interactions and cumulative risk: A study of multiple dyads per family.

Abstract

The present study sought to investigate the family, individual, and dyad-specific contributions to observed cognitive sensitivity during family interactions. Moreover, the influence of cumulative risk on sensitivity at the aforementioned levels of the family was examined. Mothers and 2 children per family were observed interacting in a round robin design (i.e., mother-older sibling, mother younger-sibling and sibling-dyad, N ϭ 385 families). Data were dyadic, in that there were 2 directional scores per interaction, and were analyzed using a multilevel formulation of the Social Relations Model. Variance partitioning revealed that cognitive sensitivity is simultaneously a function of families, individuals and dyads, though the importance of these components varies across family roles. Cognitive sensitivity for mothers was primarily attributable to individual differences, whereas cognitive sensitivity for children was predominantly attributable to family and dyadic differences, especially for youngest children. Cumulative risk explained family and individual variance in cognitive sensitivity, particularly when actors were older or in a position of relative competence or authority (i.e., mother to children, older to younger siblings). Overall, this study demonstrates that cognitive sensitivity operates across levels of family organization, and is negatively impacted by psychosocial risk.

Maternal Mentalization and Behavior Under Stressful Contexts: The Moderating Roles of Prematurity and Household Chaos

“…Second, adding to recent findings regarding mentalization and family interactions (Jessee et al., ; Marcu et al., ), our findings suggest that under low contextual stress, a mother's spontaneous ability to understand her infants' mental states contributes not only to the quality of the mother–infant relationship but also to the quality of the family interaction as a whole. In line with previous studies, our results also indicated that mothers under high CSC risk were less sensitive than mothers under low CSC (e.g., Browne et al., ; Neuhauser, ; Smaling, Huijbregts, Suurland, et al., ).…”

“…It is well accepted that risk has a cumulative effect, such that the presence of several risk factors amplifies their negative effect on child development (e.g., Atzaba-Poria, Pike, & DeaterDeckard, 2004;Evans, Li, & Whipple, 2013) as well as on the family system (Browne, Leckie, Prime, Perlman, & Jenkins, 2016;Browne, Plamondon, Prime, Puente-Duran, & Wade, 2015). Importantly, cumulative risk has been found to be negatively associated with maternal sensitivity, involving distal environment and child-driven stress risk factors (Browne et al, 2016;Neuhauser, 2016;Smaling, Huijbregts, Suurland, et al, 2016). Furthermore, previous research has shown that environmentalfamilial risk among mothers of preterm infants predicted continuation of maternal emotional distress from birth to 24 months, suggesting that the combination of prematurity together with other environment-driven stressors may be associated with chronic stress (Poehlmann, Schwichtenberg, Bolt, & Dilworth-Bart, 2009).…”

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Brazilian Portuguese Version of an Observational Measure for Parent–Child Responsive Caregiving

“…It is also notable that economic hardship does not operate on its own. SES clusters risk [60] such that children are exposed to multiple challenges that compromise development (e.g., maternal depression, unemployment, domestic violence, poor neighborhoods) and parenting [61].…”

A Practical Tool for Family Assessment Based on the Social Relations Model

“…Alternatively, a multilevel approach may be used instead (Jenkins et al, 2012 ; Nestler, 2016 ). While the latter approach can more easily deal with varying family sizes (Browne et al, 2016 ), the former has been more commonly used by family researchers.…”