Parent Adaptive Doll Play, a technique in an early stage of development, is designed for use by parents in assisting their young children to cope with the stresses of parental separation/divorce. The effects of technique implementation by parents of three- through six-year-old children were investigated. Data was collected before and after parents received training and implemented the technique over an eight-week period. Parents completed the Child Behavior Rating Scale, Burks' Behavior Rating Scales, the Parenting Stress Index, and the Parental Attitude Scale. Twenty-two parents, reporting marital separation through separation and/or divorce, within 18 months prior to the beginning of the study, and reporting more than 50 percent physical custody of a three- through six-year-old child qualified for participation. Twelve children were experimental subjects and ten were control subjects. To determine differences between groups, a one-way analysis of covariance was performed on each post test variable. Positive differences were calculated in several areas of child behavior by parents of subjects in the experimental group. No significant differences between groups were found in any area of child behavior. The score which most closely approached significance, however, was found in the Burks' Behavior Rating Scale area of poor anger control.

Stress resilience in parenting depends on the parent's capacity to understand subjective experiences in self and child, namely intersubjectivity, which is intimately related to mimicking other's affective expressions (i. e., mirroring). Stress can worsen parenting by potentiating problems that can impair intersubjectivity, e.g., problems of “over-mentalizing” (misattribution of the child's behaviors) and “under-coupling” (inadequate child-oriented mirroring). Previously we have developed Mom Power (MP) parenting intervention to promote maternal intersubjectivity and reduce parenting stress. This study aimed to elucidate neural mechanisms underlying the effects of MP with a novel Child Face Mirroring Task (CFMT) in functional magnetic-resonance-imaging settings. In CFMT, the participants responded to own and other's child's facial pictures in three task conditions: (1) empathic mirroring (Join), (2) non-mirroring observing (Observe), and (3) voluntary responding (React). In each condition, each child's neutral, ambiguous, distressed, and joyful expressions were repeatedly displayed. We examined the CFMT-related neural responses in a sample of healthy mothers (n = 45) in Study 1, and MP effects on CFMT with a pre-intervention (T1) and post-intervention (T2) design in two groups, MP (n = 19) and Control (n = 17), in Study 2. We found that, from T1 to T2, MP (vs. Control) decreased parenting stress, decreased dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) during own-child-specific voluntary responding (React to Own vs. Other's Child), and increased activity in the frontoparietal cortices, midbrain, nucleus accumbens, and amygdala during own-child-specific empathic mirroring (Join vs. Observe of Own vs. Other's Child). We identified that MP effects on parenting stress were potentially mediated by T1-to-T2 changes in: (1) the left superior-temporal-gyrus differential responses in the contrast of Join vs. Observe of own (vs. other's) child, (2) the dmPFC-PAG (periaqueductal gray) differential functional connectivity in the same contrast, and (3) the left amygdala differential responses in the contrast of Join vs. Observe of own (vs. other's) child's joyful vs. distressed expressions. We discussed these results in support of the notion that MP reduces parenting stress via changing neural activities related to the problems of “over-mentalizing” and “under-coupling.” Additionally, we discussed theoretical relationships between parenting stress and intersubjectivity in a novel dyadic active inference framework in a two-agent system to guide future research.

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Parenting stress has been closely studied largely in relation to implications for the parent and implications for children. Emotion regulation refers to the processes in which one interprets and experiences emotions. Little has been done examining how parenting stress and mother emotion regulation relates to dyadic interaction between mother and child. Because of the compounding nature of stress as identified in the ABCX model of family stress and resilience theory, understanding parenting stress in its entirety and how mothers experience and deal with said parenting stress is crucial to understanding family processes, as it is not possible to partition the mother and child into separate spheres, per family systems theory. Maternal parenting behaviors cannot be conceptualized in isolation of the mother-child dyad; therefore, it is important to understand maternal processes and behaviors that relate to parenting and also the dyad. The current study examined the moderating impact of maternal emotion regulation on the relation between maternal parenting stress and three facets of dyadic interaction, including conflict, cooperation, and reciprocity. Mothers and their 4-5.5-year-old children (n=116) participated in a teaching task wherein mothers instructed their child to build figures with interlocking blocks based on provided images. Six hypotheses were examined. Regression analyses revealed that neither maternal cognitive reappraisal nor maternal emotion suppression moderated the relation of total parenting stress to parent-child dyadic interaction. However, preliminary correlation analyses revealed that dyads with boys experienced higher scores of dyadic conflict. Boys in the sample were also younger than girls. Considerations for lack of significant findings are explored including the role of maternal characteristics, child characteristics, and goodness-of-fit. Future exploration is necessary to examine how parent characteristics like maternal emotion regulation and parenting stress may relate to dyadic interactions with children. / M.S. / Most of the research on parenting stress, which is the stress that parents may feel related to their roles as parents, examines how it is related to parenting behavior or directly to their children’s behavior. There is little research on how parenting stress and maternal emotion regulation, which how mothers control their emotions, relate to dyadic interactions between mothers and children. Theories of family stress suggest that stress builds over time; therefore, it is important to understand all aspects of parenting stress. When any family member experiences stress, theories suggest that their stress can affect other family members. Maternal parenting behaviors, however, cannot be viewed separately from patterns of dyadic interaction between mothers and children; it is important to understand how maternal characteristics, including parenting stress and emotion regulation, relate to patterns of dyadic mother-child interaction. The current study examined how maternal parenting stress related to three types of dyadic interaction, including conflict, cooperation, and reciprocity. It was expected that how parenting stress would relate to dyadic interaction would be different depending on how mothers reported regulating their emotions. Mothers and their 4-5.5-year-old children (n=116) participated in a building task where mothers taught children how to make figures out of interlocking blocks based on pictures provided to mothers. Findings showed that maternal emotion regulation did not increase or decrease how maternal parenting stress related to dyadic interaction between mothers and children. Dyads with boys, however, experienced higher scores of dyadic conflict, and boys in the sample were also younger than girls. Future exploration is needed to examine how parent characteristics like maternal emotion regulation and parenting stress may relate to dyadic interactions between mothers and children.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Judy Hughey / Assessment of parenting stress and child acting-out behavior was measured via pretest and posttest over the length of a seven-session parenting program, the Becoming a Love and Logic Parent program (BLLP). All participants (n=86) were randomly placed in either a seven-session BLLP program group (n=56) or placed on a waitlist (n=30) and offered the BLLP program following the completion of the posttest. The BLLP program is a widely used parenting program with limited data available as to the effectiveness of the program. The data that are available utilizes the Becoming a Love and Logic Parent Before and After Questionnaire. A measurement tool designed specifically to measure the BLLP program. This study utilized two measurement tools widely used to evaluate parenting programs, the Parenting Stress Index/Short Form (PSI/SF) and the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI), in hopes of providing data that can be compared to other parenting programs. Levels of parenting stress were measured with a widely used index, the PSI/SF. The PSI/SF provides a Total Stress (TS) score and scores from three scales measuring different aspects of parenting stress: Parental Distress (PD), Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction (P-CDI), and Difficult Child (DC). Child acting-out behavior was measured with the ECBI. The ECBI measures disruptive child behavior using two scales: Intensity scale and a Problem scale. The intensity scale provides information regarding the frequency of certain acting-out behaviors, and the problem scale provides information as to whether or not parents view that particular behavior as problematic. All participants were parents or caregivers of elementary school students from a large suburban school district near Kansas City, Missouri. The group was homogenous in nature and had higher income and education levels than the average for the district and state, making it difficult to generalize finding from the study. Due to time and space limitations and attrition, the sample size of the study was small (n=86), which likely contributed to the outcome of the study. The six hypotheses were not supported in this study. Though a decrease in parenting stress occurred for both treatment group and control group participants, there was not a statistically significant difference between the two groups on any of the PSI/SF scales. Child acting-out behavior also decreased for both the treatment group and the control group; however, there was not a statistically significant difference between the two groups. Further study on the effectiveness of the BLLP program is recommended.

Paternal support is often linked to lower levels of maternal distress. However, this link is less established among the increasing numbers of Mexican-American families with a romantic partner social (RPS) father, that is, mothers' partners who are not formally identified as stepfathers. This study applied a bioecological systems framework to test linkages between RPS father support and maternal depression and parenting stress above and beyond ecological stressors, and to consider whether nonresident biological father support and general instrumental support moderate this link. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we analyze a subsample of Mexican-American mothers (N = 76) with three-year-olds, who are involved in a relationship with a RPS father and maintain contact with the nonresident biological father. Findings indicate that mothers who reported greater support from RPS fathers also reported lower depressive symptomatology when they also reported greater support from nonresident biological fathers or reported being in a recent relationship with the RPS father; mothers from more established relationships reported more depressive symptoms. However, mothers with lower perceived instrumental social support reported high maternal depressive symptoms, even while receiving support from RPS fathers. Neither source of support significantly predicted maternal parenting stress. Overall, our results reveal complex, interactive associations between these combined sources of support and maternal mental health in these increasingly common family structures.

This study compared perceived levels of parenting stress between mothers and fathers of children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), children with developmental disabilities, and normally developing children. The relationship of certain demographic variables, such as Socio-economic Status (SES), number of children, years married, parent age, and child age, as well as social support with parenting stress was also examined for mothers and fathers of these three groups. Identification of factors related to parenting stress in fathers was of particular importance for this study, as fathers are often an underrepresented group within parenting research. Identifying effective methods for predicting high levels of parenting stress is important, as stress has been linked to psychological well-being, potential for abuse, and a greater likelihood of poor adjustment for both parent and child. Results from the present study comparing reported stress levels between groups of parents were supportive of previous studies indicating that parents of children with ADHD and developmentally disabilities experience significantly greater parenting stress, specifically with respect to child characteristics. Significant gender differences were also found between mothers and fathers in terms of parent characteristics related to stress. Fathers reported greater stress in the areas of attachment, while mothers reported more parent role restrictions. Additionally, significant negative relationships were found between parents' perceived helpfulness of informal social support and parenting stress scores in both mothers and fathers, affirming positive effects of social support on stress. Helpfulness of informal social support was also significantly predictive of parenting stress in both mothers and fathers across both the child and parent domains of the PSI, although, it had more predictive power with regard to parent related contributors to parenting stress. Family demographic factors, including age of the child and SES demonstrated some predictive power of parenting stress in mothers. Mothers with younger children and lower SES were more likely to report greater parenting stress. Implications of these results and future directions for research are also discussed.

The present study examined how acculturation, mental health problems, and parenting stress are associated with two dimensions of father involvement longitudinally for Latino and Chinese immigrant fathers using a nationally representative sample of young children and their resident fathers from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). After controlling for a variety of individual and demographic characteristics and previous levels of father involvement, results from multiple group structural equation modeling revealed that immigrant fathers' English proficiency is negatively associated with care-taking involvement at 2 years, but positively associated with care-taking involvement at 4 years. Interestingly, mothers' English proficiency is also positively associated with fathers' care-taking involvement at 2 years. In addition, fathers' US citizenship is positively associated with care-taking involvement at 2 years. Finally, mothers' US citizenship is negatively associated with fathers' literacy or language involvement at 2 years. In contrast with the hypotheses, no significant differences between Latino and Chinese immigrant fathers were found. Findings suggest that some dimensions of acculturation affect different dimensions of father involvement across different groups of immigrants, and the impacts may remain significant even four years after the child birth.

Background: Second to Finland, Sweden has the world’s highest incidence of type 1 diabetes. Experiences of serious life events have retrospectively been shown to constitute a risk factor for the development of this disease, probably via the biological stress response. Parenting stress and maternal attachment insecurity are other important sources of stress in early childhood. Psychological stress increases the need for insulin and may induce insulin resistance, which might add extra pressure on the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas (beta-cell stress). The aim of the current thesis was to propose and start investigating a stress hypothesis – namely that psychological stress may induce insulin resistance leading to beta-cell stress, which could trigger an autoimmune reaction towards beta-cells in genetically predisposed children. When all the beta cells have been destroyed, insulin can no longer be produced in the body and type 1 diabetes becomes manifest. Methods: Families from the prospective population-based ABIS-project, which follows approximately 17 000 children, participated in the empirical studies of the current thesis. The mothers completed questionnaires, including various measures of psychological stress (e.g. parenting stress and experiences of serious life events) and socio-demographic background, at the birth of the child and when the child was 1 as well as 2.5 years of age. Maternal attachment insecurity was assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview. Blood samples drawn from the children at 1 and 2.5 years of age were analyzed for type 1 diabetes-related autoantibodies towards Tyrosine phosphatase (IA-2) and Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase (GAD). Findings and Conclusions: Parenting stress and experiences of serious life events like divorce and maternal exposure to violence were associated with the induction of diabetes-related autoimmunity in early childhood, possibly via insulin resistance and beta-cell stress. The risk of developing diabetesrelated autoimmunity after parental divorce or mothers’ exposure to violence was about threefold. None of the results were explained by any of the potential confounding factors analyzed. These results support and strengthen the stress hypothesis, which warrants further investigation. Mothers’ attachment insecurity was not associated with the induction of diabetes-related autoimmunity in their infants. However, this lack of association was perhaps due to methodological constraints. The vast majority of the parents were calmed or unaffected concerning their participation in the ABIS-project, suggesting that large-scale medical screening-projects in the general population are not in themselves a cause for worry and can be performed without causing increased anxiety. / On the day of the public defence the working title of article III was: Psychosocial correlates of parenting stress, lack of support and lack of confidence – A study of all babies in Southeast Sweden (ABIS). The status of article IV was: Manuscript to be submitted shortly; the status of article V was: Manuscript in preparation.