The Multiple Determinants of Maternal Parenting Stress 12 Months After Birth: The Contribution of Antenatal Attachment Style, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Infant Temperament

Abstract

Parenting stress can influence caregiving behavior negatively, which in turn may harm children’s development. Identifying precursors of parenting stress, preferably beginning during pregnancy and throughout the first year of life, is therefore important. The present study aims to provide novel knowledge on this issue through a detailed examination of the association between maternal attachment style and later parenting stress. Moreover, we examine the role of several additional risk factors, specificially the mothers’ own adverse childhood experiences (ACE), as well as infants’ temperamental characteristics. Data from a community based longitudinal study of 1,036 Norwegian mothers, collected during pregnancy and 12 months after childbirth, were used. Results showed that attachment style in pregnancy predicted parenting stress 1 year after birth. In addition, it was demonstrated that the mothers’ own ACEs predicted postnatal parenting stress, and that attachment style operated as a mediator of this association. A significant association between perceived infant temperament and parenting stress was also found. The study illustrates the importance of understanding the multifactorial antecedents of parenting stress. The results may inform early intervention efforts aimed at supporting mothers and their partners in the potentially difficult transition period around childbirth.

Little in Norway: a prospective longitudinal community-based cohort from pregnancy to child age 18 months

“…We also found that paternal symptoms of anxiety and depression during pregnancy as well as their own adverse childhood experiences predicted stress and a negative perception of the infants’ behaviour 55. In a similar vein, we investigated the multiple determinants of mothers’ parenting stress and found that partner attachment style assessed prenatally was a salient predictor of such stress 12 months after birth 18. We further found a link between maternal adverse childhood experiences and later parenting stress, and showed that partner attachment style operated as a mediator in this link.…”

“…The most important findings generated by the cohort so far can be summarised in three main domains. The first domain concerns parental mental health functioning in the perinatal period and factors related to parental anxiety, depression and stress in mothers and fathers 18 22 54 55. The second domain is directed towards child functioning and early detection of infants and toddlers at risk,23 51 52 56 while the third domain concerns maternal nutrition during pregnancy and its possible relation to early child development 32 57 58…”

“…A related concern is selective attrition, as dropout was shown to be related to depressive symptoms 23 54. However, appropriate statistical methods have been used to minimise the effect of selective attrition in papers based on this study population 18 22 23 54 55. In publications where multiple assessments over time have been included, based on both mother, father, and in some instances child data, we have used a structural equation (SEM) framework 18 22 23 54.…”

“…However, appropriate statistical methods have been used to minimise the effect of selective attrition in papers based on this study population 18 22 23 54 55. In publications where multiple assessments over time have been included, based on both mother, father, and in some instances child data, we have used a structural equation (SEM) framework 18 22 23 54. In these papers using longitudinal data from the study, full information maximum likelihood (FIML) has been used to reduce bias relating to missing data, including late recruitment, intermittent missingness and study dropout.…”

“…For example, parents’ adverse childhood experiences10 11 have been shown to influence later parental mental health, and are associated with insecure attachment, prenatal and postnatal depression, parenting stress and atypical parenting behaviour towards their own children 10 12–17. However, only few studies have examined the longitudinal implications of such risk factors on parenting and parent-child interaction in cohorts followed from the prenatal period 18. One needs to elucidate the mechanisms of how parental adverse childhood experiences and mental health status, such as perinatal depression and anxiety, translate into aberrant child development, as such mechanisms are only partially understood 19 20.…”