Infants enter this world relying on caregivers to nurture and protect them. Through this reliance, infants develop an attachment to their caregivers, thus setting the stage for how a child comes to view the world and the people in it. This study sought to further explore attachment behaviors through observation of a voluntary parent education course offered through the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County. Data were collected three times over the course of the nine week program on four mother-infant dyads. Across the three mothers who were present for at least two observations, negative behaviors decreased between the first and final observations; however, positive behaviors were observed, but less conclusive. The results of this study can be used to improve the current early intervention program, as well as those in the future.

Previous research examining the link between parenting and identity have either indirectly assessed a single dimension of parenting or explored the degree of achievement rather than the process of identity development. The present study examines the influence of maternal and paternal parenting behaviors on the identity formation process in late adolescence. Participants (N = 1134), ranging in age from 18 to 25, completed questionnaires to assess their perceptions of parental behaviors and their current identity status. The results indicate an association between maternal acceptance and identity achievement, and moratorium was correlated with lax control and psychological control. Parental acceptance and psychological control were linked with foreclosure, and all three dimensions of parenting were found to be associated with identity diffusion. The findings are discussed from an intervention standpoint as to which specific parental behaviors can protect against the unachieved identity statuses and facilitate the identity formation process. / Master of Science

Maternal psychological well-being is one of many factors that shape the interactions a woman has with her infant. According to Belsky's (1984) Determinants of Parenting Process Model, he suggests that maternal personality and psychological well-being play a significant role in the observation of parenting behaviors. This model was utilized as the overarching framework for this dissertation. The dissertation, in the form of three manuscripts, outlines important factors within the marital relationship that impact postpartum depression, then exploring the moderation of depression by knowledge of infant development in four behavioral scales observed during a mother-infant interaction. Finally, two maternal behaviors that impact child outcomes were utilized as predictors of infant social-emotional and cognitive outcome, while testing for moderation by infant age.Results. In study one, women were more likely to report postpartum depression when they experienced more arguments with family and lower relationship depth. The second study found that knowledge of infant development moderated maternal reports of postpartum depression, thus allowing women with higher knowledge to maintain positive behaviors compared to women with low or average knowledge. The third study indicated that verbal stimulation resulted in higher scores for infant social-emotional and cognitive development, whereas maternal sensitivity was the only variable impacting social-emotional development. The test of moderation by infant age found mothers of older infants did speak more to their older infants, but the differences were minimal.Conclusion. Marital relationships play a significant role in promoting healthy maternal psychological well-being during motherhood. When psychological well-being is compromised via postpartum depression, decreases in maternal behaviors result in lower scores during maternal-child interactions. Maternal sensitivity and verbal stimulation uniquely contributed to infant outcomes. In addition, infant age may impact the observance of these two maternal behaviors resulting in increased or decreased observances based on the infant's age.Thus, use of Belsky's Determinants of Parenting Process Model within this dissertation confirmed the importance of maternal personality and psychological well-being in parenting behaviors. Mothers impacted by postpartum depression suffered a reduction in parenting behaviors, though higher knowledge appeared to buffer these negative effects. Implications for interventions and future work are discussed within each study.

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L'une des influences les mieux documentées dans la prédiction des problèmes de comportements externalisés et internalisés des enfants est la qualité de la relation mère-enfant, souvent opérationnalisée par la sécurité d’attachement et la qualité des comportements maternels. Cependant, bien que ces deux variables soient reliées empiriquement et théoriquement, elles n’ont pas été examinées simultanément dans la prédiction des problèmes de comportements des enfants. Ce mémoire visait à examiner les contributions uniques de deux mesures de sécurité d’attachement ainsi que des comportements maternels (mesurés par la sensibilité maternelle et le soutien maternel à l’autonomie) dans la prédiction des problèmes de comportements des enfants. L’échantillon comprenait 73 dyades mère-enfant. Les comportements maternels ont été mesurés lorsque les enfants étaient âgés entre 15 mois et 2 ans. Les problèmes de comportements internalisés et externalisés des enfants ont été rapportés par leurs professeurs en maternelle et en première année d’école. Les résultats montrent que les deux mesures d’attachement ainsi que les comportements maternels expliquent une portion comparable de la variance des problèmes de comportements anxieux/dépressifs des enfants. Ensemble, ils prédisent trois fois plus de variance que les variables considérées séparément. Les recherches futures devraient considérer une approche multi-méthodes pour mesurer la qualité de la relation mère-enfant, du moins lorsqu’elles tentent d’expliquer le développement des comportements internalisés des enfants. / One of the best-documented predictors of young children’s externalizing and internalizing behavior problems is the quality of mother-child relationships, often operationalized through attachment security and the quality of maternal behaviors. However, although empirically and theoretically interrelated, these aspects of mother-child relationships have not been considered simultaneously in the prediction of children's behavior problems. In addition, attachment is often measured once only, despite its modest stability. This paper aimed to examine the contributions of two assessments of attachment security along with assessments of maternal behaviors (sensitivity and autonomy support) to the prediction of children’s behavior problems. The sample included 73 mother-child dyads. Maternal behaviors and mother-child attachment were assessed when children were between 15 months and 2 years old. Children's internalizing and externalizing problems were reported by their teachers in kindergarten and first grade. The results indicated that each assessment of attachment security and maternal behaviors explained a comparable portion of the variance in children’s anxious/depressed behaviors, together predicting more than three times the variance that would have been explained by either measure of attachment alone. Researchers should consider a multidimensional approach to the assessment of the quality of mother-child relationships, at least when attempting to explain the development of child internalizing problems.