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Transactional processes in children born preterm: Influences of mother–child interactions and parenting stress.
Author(s) -
Emily D. Gerstein,
Julie Poehlmann
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of family psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.138
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1939-1293
pISSN - 0893-3200
DOI - 10.1037/fam0000119
Subject(s) - psychology , transactional leadership , developmental psychology , maternal sensitivity , observational study , neonatal intensive care unit , longitudinal study , child rearing , medicine , psychiatry , social psychology , pathology
This prospective, longitudinal study examined the transactional relations among perceived maternal parenting stress, maternal insensitivity, and child behavior across toddlerhood through age 6 within families of a child born preterm. A sample of 173 mother-child dyads were followed from just before the infant was discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit to 6 years of age, with observational measurements of maternal insensitivity and child noncompliance (24 and 36 months), maternal self-reports of perceived parenting stress (24 months, 36 months, 6 years), and maternal reports of child externalizing behavior at 6 years. Results indicated that maternal insensitivity at 36 months significantly mediated the relation between parenting stress at 24 months and externalizing behaviors at 6 years. Parenting stress was also directly associated with child noncompliance at 36 months and with child externalizing behavior at 6 years. Neonatal risk was associated with increased maternal insensitivity at 24 months, but also decreased parenting stress at 24 months. No significant "child effects" from child behavior to either maternal insensitivity or parenting stress were found. Parenting stress appears to play a critical role for children born preterm, and it is associated with children's behavior both directly and through its influence on parenting. The role of neonatal risk needs continued investigation, as families traditionally considered to be at lower risk may still face significant challenges.

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