Trajectories of Parenting During Infancy: The Role of Infant Temperament and Marital Adjustment for Mothers and Fathers

Abstract

Although it is well accepted that parents greatly impact infant development, it is less clear which factors impact change in quantity and quality of parenting across infancy. This longitudinal study (N = 120 families) investigated how infant temperament and marital adjustment related to trajectories of mother and father involvement and sensitivity across infancy using multilevel models. Parental involvement (caregiving and play), infant temperament (surgency, negative affectivity, regulation), and marital adjustment were assessed from questionnaires when the infant was 3, 5, 7, 12, 14, and 20 months of age; parental sensitivity was coded from two episodes of the Still‐Face Paradigm in early infancy (3, 5, and 7 months). On average, mothers showed higher levels of caregiving, play, and sensitivity than fathers. Mother caregiving, play, and sensitivity increased over time. Father caregiving and play also increased over time, whereas sensitivity did not change with age. Happier marriages were related to increased play for both mothers and fathers. Infant surgency was also significantly related to caregiving, play, and sensitivity trajectories for mothers but not fathers. Findings are discussed in relation to parenting roles and family dynamics.

Interactive Effects of Parental Personality and Child Temperament with Parenting and Family Cohesion

“…Second, the finding that children high on surgency elicited greater maternal negative control but greater paternal positive support is consistent with previous studies showing that surgency can predict both positive and negative parenting Planalp et al, 2013). However, this pattern of results does not always emerge (e.g., see Lengua & Kovacs, 2005).…”

“…For the present purposes, there was concern with the evocation of differential parental behavior due to child temperament. For example, infant surgency predicted decreased maternal sensitivity and caregiving behaviors but increased play behaviors (Planalp, Braungart-Rieker, Lickenbrock, & Zentall, 2013). In addition, found that adolescents high on Extraversion (analogous to surgency) elicited both parental warmth and overreactive discipline, suggesting that the role of surgency is quite complex.…”

Socio-demographic Correlates of Fathers' and Mothers’ Parenting Behaviors

“…More research is needed on these and other relevant factors to better understand the differences and similarities between the parenting behaviors of fathers and mothers. Because, as our study showed, mothers’ work demands are connected with paternal parenting behaviors, issues related to reconciliation between work and family are of special interest, like satisfaction with the division of labor (Phares et al 2009), marital satisfaction and support from the partner (Elam et al 2017; Planalp et al 2013). …”

Extending Models of Sensitive Parenting of Infants to Women at Risk for Perinatal Depression

“…Much less is known about the other two temperament factors in relation to sensitive parenting of infants. In the only study we found to report on this, higher infant surgency/extraversion was found to be associated with mothers’ lower sensitivity and orienting/regulation was not related to sensitivity (Planalp, Braungart-Rieker, Lickenbrock, & Zentall, 2013). …”