When stress gets into your head: Socioeconomic risk, executive functions, and maternal sensitivity across childrearing contexts.

Sturge‐Apple, Melissa L.; Jones, Hannah R; Suor, Jennifer H.

doi:10.1037/fam0000265

Cited by 38 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…And now, an emerging line of research is investigating the link between EFs and parenting, across a variety of different EFs, and in relation to both harsh and positive parenting behaviours (see Crandall et al, 2015 for review). For example, Sturge-Apple, Jones, and Suor (2017) demonstrate direct links between mothers' EFs (assessed by working memory and inhibitory control) and how sensitively they respond to their child's behaviour measured observationally. Given that parenting places demands on parents' emotional and cognitive resources, it makes sense that EFs are helpful in allowing parents to navigate parenting situations successfully.…”

Section: Executive Functions and Harsh Parentingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the current study, I have chosen to examine EFs that reflect the themes of this most recent study. Because much of the previous literature has focused on working memory in association to parenting (e.g., Deater-Deckard, Sewell, Petrill, & Thompson, 2010;Sturge-Apple et al, 2014;Sturge-Apple et al, 2017), I aimed to extend the research by examining cognitive flexibility in association with parenting. In addition, to represent the overall unified EF construct, I included a measure of problem-solving skills, which is defined as a higher-level EF involving other EF skills, such as working memory and cognitive flexibility, working together in a collaborative fashion (Karr et al, 2018).…”

Section: Executive Functions and Harsh Parentingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Relations Among Stress, Executive Functions, and Harsh Parenting in Mothers

Park

Johnston

2020

J Abnorm Child Psychol

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Stress is a common experience in most mothers' lives, and theoretical models posit that mothers' experience of stress may spillover into their parenting behaviours. However, individual factors, such as maternal executive functioning (EF) skills, may buffer the association between stress and parenting. Research has examined these associations using correlational designs with socioeconomic status (SES) and household chaos used as indicators of stress, and has demonstrated inconsistent patterns with regard to the moderating role of EF. The first aim of this study was to replicate previous findings by examining how maternal EF moderates the association between SES and household chaos, and harsh parenting. Furthermore, because correlational research designs preclude the ability to make causal inferences about the effects of stress on parenting, the second aim of this study extended existing research by investigating the effects of experimentally induced stress on harsh parenting behaviours and whether maternal EF moderates these effects. The second aim also investigated these questions in relation to childblaming attributions. To accomplish these aims, a sample of 104 mothers with children (6-10 years old) participated in a laboratory-based study. Mothers completed measures that assessed their EF skills, household chaos, SES, and harsh parenting behaviours. Additionally, mothers were randomly assigned to either a stress group, where they performed a speech in front of a panel of judges, or a control group. Following the stress (or control) induction, mothers rated their child-blaming attributions and harsh parenting behaviours in response to vignettes of common child misbehaviours. Findings from the first aim revealed an interaction between household chaos and EF (assessed with cognitive tasks), such that greater EF skills reduced the association between household chaos and harsh parenting behaviours. However, findings from the second aim indicated no significant effects of experimentally induced stress on child-blaming This study was approved by the Behavioural Research Ethics Board at the University of British Columbia (Approval Certificate Number: H17-02560).

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Section: Executive Functions and Harsh Parentingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Executive Functions and Harsh Parentingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relations Among Stress, Executive Functions, and Harsh Parenting in Mothers

Park

Johnston

2020

J Abnorm Child Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Previous studies have found that cognitive flexibility is impaired in individuals with SUD (Cunha et al, ). In addition, impairments in cognitive flexibility are associated with a heightened experience of stress in parents (Sturge‐Apple, Jones, & Suor, ) and with emotion dysregulation in women with SUD (Marceau et al, ). Mothers with young children and mothers with SUD are shown to have a readily activated “hot” EF system (i.e., EF “coloured” by emotion) when faced with distress (Gladwin & Figner, ; Gonzalez, ; Volkow & Baler, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The association between executive functioning and parental stress and psychological distress is mediated by parental reflective functioning in mothers with substance use disorder

et al. 2019

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Mothers with a substance use disorder (SUD) have been found to exhibit heightened experience of stress and deficits in executive functioning (EF) and in parental reflective functioning (PRF). Although experiences of stress, EF and PRF are important for caregiving capacities; no studies have explored associations between the phenomena in mothers with SUD. This study aimed to examine the association between EF (working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility) and different forms of stress (parental stress, general life stress, and psychological distress) in 43 mothers with SUD with infants. We further aimed to investigate whether PRF had a mediating function between EF and the experience of stress. The mothers completed selfreport questionnaires regarding experiences of different types of stress, and we also used neuropsychological tests to assess EF and a semistructured interview to assess PRF. Results identified problems in EF were associated with higher parental stress and psychological distress but not with general life stress. Cognitive flexibility contributed uniquely to variance in parental stress, whereas working memory was a unique contributor to variance in psychological distress. PRF had a mediating function between EF and parental stress and between EF and psychological distress. Findings highlight the importance of considering individual differences in PRF when targeting EF in interventions trying to reduce the experience of parental stress and psychological distress in mothers with SUD.

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“…Parenting practices, including MR, depend in great extent of cognitive control, subserved by executive functions with a limited capacity (Crandall et al, 2015 ). Cognitive control can be decreased due to executive dysfunction associated with maternal attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) or due to stressful situations (Crandall et al, 2015 ; Sturge-Apple et al, 2017 ). The presence of multiple young children at the same time is a source of stress due to limited resources and also a significant challenge to cognitive control abilities (Salmon, 2005 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Socio-Communicative Development of Preterm Infants Is Resistant to the Negative Effects of Parity on Maternal Responsiveness

et al. 2018

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Humans are born completely dependent on adult care for survival. To get the necessary support, newborns rely on socio-communicative abilities which have both innate and learned components. Maternal responsiveness (MR), as a critical aspect of mother-infant interaction, is a robust predictor of the acquisition of socio-communicative abilities. However, maternal responsiveness (MR) is influenced by parity, since mothers rely on a limited capacity of cognitive control for efficient attachment with their offspring. This fact is of particular concern for preterms, whose developing brain already faces many challenges due to their premature emergence from the womb's controlled environment and may still have to compete with siblings for mother's attention. Thus, in the present work, we aimed to understand how parity interferes with MR and whether it affects the development of socio-communicative abilities of preterm infants. We used the Social Interaction Rating Scale (SIRS) and the mother-child observation protocol in 18 dyads with gestational age <36 weeks. Dyads were separated into three groups: primiparous with twin pregnancy (TPM), primiparous (PM), and multiparous (MP). Dyadic behavior was evaluated at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Our results show that offspring size affects MR, but not the socio-communicative development of preterm infants during the first year, suggesting a level of resilience of brain systems supporting the attachment to caregivers.

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When stress gets into your head: Socioeconomic risk, executive functions, and maternal sensitivity across childrearing contexts.

Cited by 38 publications

References 70 publications

The Relations Among Stress, Executive Functions, and Harsh Parenting in Mothers

The Relations Among Stress, Executive Functions, and Harsh Parenting in Mothers

The association between executive functioning and parental stress and psychological distress is mediated by parental reflective functioning in mothers with substance use disorder

The Socio-Communicative Development of Preterm Infants Is Resistant to the Negative Effects of Parity on Maternal Responsiveness

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