The purpose of these studies was to examine mediation and moderation processes for the influence of early adversity and current stressful circumstances on maternal sensitivity. Evidence of mediation was found in Study 1 where maternal depression and mothers’ negative appraisal of their infant mediated the influence of early adversity and low family income on maternal sensitivity. Study 1 also examined the influence of the neighborhood. A moderate-mediation model was tested where the mediating influence afore-stated was hypothesized to vary across levels of neighborhood quality. Partial evidence of moderation was found. In the context of a high quality neighborhood, mothers’ early adversity was not associated with maternal depression. Across levels of neighborhood quality, complex relationships emerged between the variables low family income, maternal depression and mothers’ appraisal of infant temperament. In a context of low neighborhood quality, there was no evidence of a direct association between low family income and maternal sensitivity, rather, low family income operated indirectly through maternal depression. In a context of high neighborhood quality, there was evidence for a direct and indirect association between low family income and maternal sensitivity. Study 2 examined associations between variation in the Arginine Vasopressin 1a receptor gene (AVPR1a) and maternal sensitivity, and whether variation in this gene moderated the influence of mothers’ early adversity on sensitivity. Mothers homozygous for the long alleles of the RS3 microsatellite were significantly less sensitive than mothers heterozygous for the long alleles and those homozygous for the short alleles. Homozygosity for the RS3 long alleles moderated the influence of mothers’ early adversity on their sensitivity; the influence of early adversity on maternal sensitivity was most pronounced for mothers with the RS3 long/long genotype. These results suggest that variation in the AVPR1a gene may be important not only for human maternal behavior, but also for stress reactivity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/29665 |
| Date | 29 August 2011 |
| Creators | Bisceglia, Rossana |
| Contributors | Jenkins, Jennifer M. |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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