Maternal perception in infancy Maternal perception in infancy and and

the quality of boys’ relationships the quality of boys’ relationships with mothers and teachers in 1st with mothers and teachers in 1st

gradegrade

Mark A. Biernbaum, PhDCalifornia State University, Sacramento

Daniel Shaw, PhDUniversity of Pittsburgh

The Pitt Mother & Child ProjectA longitudinal study of child development

® Begun in 1991 by Drs. Daniel Shaw and J oan Vondra at theUniversity of Pittsburgh

o The NIMH has since provided continuous funding thro ugh2004

o Over 300 families recruited fro m WIC program sites havenow participated in lab and home assessments when thetarget child was 1.5, 2, 3.5, 5, 5.5, 6, 8, 10, and 11.

Primary Goal:

To identify the factors associated with bothvulnerability and resilience in the development

of at- risk children.

Current Analysis

o …the story of this analysis…

o Outcome measure :Pianta and Steinberg's Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS), whichwas also adapted for mothers (Adult Child Relationship Scale - ACRS).

o Measure of relationship quality with BOTH mothers and teachers - -the primary re lationships in a 6 year old child's two primaryenvironments.

o Hypothesis- generating NOT hypothesis- confirming

Research Question 1:

Could I identify a grou p of boys who had poorrelations with both mothers and teachers, andconversely, a gro up of boys who had excellent

relations with both mothers and teachers?

Creation of Subscales

o The STRS/ACRS is a 30-item, likert scale measure

Reliability scaling analyses produced two subscales :Conflict : 10 items. Alphas: .92 (teachers), .86 (mothers)Dealing with this child drains my energyThis child feels I am unfair

Positive : 7 items. Alphas: .83 (teachers), .76 (mothers)If upset, this child seeks comfort from meDealing with this child makes me feel good about how Ihandle things

Correlations :

STRS- Conflict STRS- Positive ACRS-Positive ACRS-Conflict .225** - .146* - .463**

ACRS-Positive .019 .032

STRS- Positive - .439**

Identification of Groups

o Tabulated scores on Conflict and Positive subscalesfor teacher and mother

o Summed Conflict and Positive scores from mothersand teachers, then took their average.

o Divided both the Conflict and Positive subscaledistributions into 5 equal- sized parts (eachcontaining 20% of the scores).

Group Status and Vulnerability/Resiliency

Conflict GroupHigh ConflictLow Positive

n = 34

Most At-R isk Most Vulnerable

Middle Groupn = 64

Positive GroupLow ConflictHigh Positive

n = 36

Least At-R isk Most Resilient

Success of Grou ping Proc eduresExamination of Group Demographics

Variable Sample Conflict Middle Positiven = 311 n = 34 n = 64 n = 36Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD)

Education 12.7 (1.8) 12.3 (2.8) 12.6 (1.3) 13.1 (1.4)

Occupation 1.3 (1.9) 1.7 (2.1) 1.1 (1.7) 1.3 (2.0)

Age 25.1 (9.8) 25.0 (8.8) 26.0 (9.6) 24.0 (11.1)

Race 52% 56% 59% 70%

Income 1100 (600) 1000 (700) 1000 (500) 1300 (600)

Research Question 2

Could I use data collected in infancy (18 and 24months) to predict the quality of a boy's relationship

with his mother and teacher in 1st grade?

o Large number of variables available including:1. Maternal self- report measures2. Observer- coded ratings of maternal and child behavior

in the lab at 18 months.3. Observer- coded ratings of maternal and child behavior

in the home at 24 months.4. Observer- coded ratings of the home and neighborhood.

o Examined the cor relations between all 18 and 24-monthvariables and both the mother's and teacher's ratings onboth the Conflict and Positive subscales

o 5 variables emerged that showed significant cor relations

Daily Parenting Stress

Parent Daily Hassles (PDH) at both 18- and 24-months. The totalscore (frequency of hassle by intensity) was used here. Scoresfrom the two assessments were averaged.

o Daily parenting stress proved to be a more potent predictorof the quality of parent - child interaction than were majorlife events.

o Parenting hassles have been shown to be potent predictors oflater child behavior problems.

o Maternal and paternal reports of parenting hassles have beenstrongly associated with teacher reports of problematicclassro om behavior.

Externalizing Behavior

Child Behavior Checklist Ages 2-3 (CBCL) at 24 months. TheExternalizing bro adband score was used here.

o Research has indicated that externalizing problemsidentified early, often persist.

o Children eventually diagnosed with disruptive behaviorpro blems are often first referr ed based on externalizingsymptoms in the classroom.

o In large surveys of nonclinic parents, parents reporttoddler ir ritating behaviors to be the most difficult aspectof parenting.

Maternal Depression

Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) at both 18- and 24- months.Scores were averaged

o Depressed adults show: lower rates of behavior, lowerlevels of speech, less direct gaze in interaction, slowerresponsiveness, greater hostility and irr itability, andappear sadder.

o Interactions with young children, when exaggeratedvocal and emotional tone and tolerance for some aversivebehavior is required, has been shown to be very difficultfor depressed mothers.

o Depressed mothers have shown more rejecting behaviortowards their children and less satisfaction with, andconfidence in, their role as a parent.

Maternal Social Support

Maternal Social Support Index (MSSI) at both 18- and 24-month. Scores were summed and averaged.

o Lower scores on depression and general distress areassociated with higher levels of social support.

o Social support has been shown to moderate the impact ofstress and depression on parenting.

o Mother's self- reported social support has been shown tobe a significant predictor of the quality of interactionswith their infant as well as their attitudes towardsparenting.

o Higher social suppor t is associated with lower levels ofHPA axis and SNS activity during tasks in the lab and incommunity settings.

Temperament

Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ) at both 18- and24-months. Scores wer e averaged; the difficulty subscalewas used.

o Research has shown a strong predictive relationshipbetween teacher- rated temperament and schoolachievement, grade retention, and teachers' views of astudent's "teachablitiy".

o In particular, temperament measures of activity level,task persistence, and distractablity are most stronglyrelated to achievement measures, including grades andstandardize test, as well as appropriate classroombehavior.

o Parents of children with "difficult" temperaments reportmore stress and show lower levels of parental functioning.

Group Means on Predictor Variables

Sample Conflict Middle Positiven = 311 n = 34 n = 64 n = 36Mean(SD) Mean(SD) Mean(SD) Mean(SD)

BDI 8.8 (5.9) 11.0 (5.0) 8.7 (6.6) 6.9 (4.6)

MSSI 24.1 (4.7) 23.6 (4.0) 23.9 (4.8) 24.9 (5.0)

PDH 86.9 (15.7) 98.8 (14.2) 85.7 (15.2) 78.8 (11.3)

ICQ 34.9 (7.4) 40.2 (7.8) 33.3 (5.9) 33.0 (7.3)

CBCL 53.9 (9.2) 58.3 (10.3) 53.9 (8.3) 49.9 (8.2)

Testing of Group Differenceso MANOVA using 1st grade groups to further reduce the

number of variables in the model. Multivariate test highly significant.

Univariate test results

Measure F df p eta- squaredMSSI (Social Support) 1.05 2 .353 .017

ICQ (temperament) 10.75 2 <.001 .153

PDH (daily hassles) 14.95 2 <.001 .201

CBCL (Externalizing) 8.35 2 <.001 .123

BDI (depression) 3.48 2 .034 .055

Prediction of 1st Grade Groupso Logistic regression to predict group membership for the

Conflict and Positive groups. The final solution was highly significant

Logistic Regression Results

95% CI for Exp (ß) ß (S.E.) Wald df Sig Exp (B) Low High

PDH 2.462 (.78) 9.914 1 .0016 11.73 2.53 54.32

BDI 1.00 (.55) 3.35 1 .0674 2.72 .93 7.96

ICQ .784 (.48) 2.704 1 .1001 2.19 .86 5.57

CBCL .098 (.50) .039 1 .8433 1.10 .42 2.92

Classification Table

Observed Predicted Positive Conflict Percent Correct

Positive 28 5 84.9%Conflict 4 24 86.2%

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Preliminary Conclusions

® Maternal perception of daily parenting hassles in infancy was a robust predictor of later relationship quality as reported by mothers and teachers in 1st grade.

® Why was the PDH so successful?It is a multifaceted measure, likely tapping several constructs, including:1. distress tolerance2. frequency of parenting stressors3. parenting efficacy4. difficult child behaviors

® Other measures did differentiate the Conflict and PositiveGro ups. During infancy, mothers of boys who would laterbe in the Conflict group reported that they:1. felt significantly more depressed2. perceived their toddlers as temperamentally difficult3. perceived their toddlers as significantly more

externalizing

Limitations

® All questionnaire measures/Self-r epor t. Observational measures considered more robust, less "biased".

® Multicollinearity in predictor variables1. Factor analysis2. Item analysis

® Informant bias in the outcome measure. Part of outcomescore is determined by mother, and all of predictor scores are determined by mother.

Behavioral Observation MeasuresCorrelations with outcomes

Variable ACRS- P ACRS- C STRS- P STRS- C POS CON

Noncom - .068 .052 .009 .026 - .029 .022

Forceful .043 .062 .058 .034 .101 .043

Permissive - .022 .039 - .123 .073 - .138 .038

Rejecting - .059 .119 .114 .023 .072 .076

Preliminary Perception Framewor k

MaternalPerception

MaternalBehavior

Child'sPhenomenolog ical

Reality

Perception of :HerselfHer lifeHer worl dHer child

Child'sdeveloping

self-p ercetion

Child's behavior

The Study of Perception

PhilosophyAre our sense perceptions accurate representations of whatis actually there?

Psychology1. Gestalt psychology and perceptual organization2. Social psychology and the study attributions3. Cognitive psychology and the ideas of mental set and

selective attention, perceptual defense4. Investigation of personality and motivational factor s

in perception

PhysicsQuantum mechanics and the impact the observer has on theobserved.

EducationImpact of teacher perceptions and expectations on studentacademic achievement and social success

What is the impact of being perceived?

® Children do not come into the world with self- concepts

® In general, their experiential worlds are small

® In general, their interpersonal worlds contain very few influential adults

® The impor tant people in children's lives form anexus of perceptions within which children grow.

® The perceptions that others hold of them have strong influence on the self- perceptions children develop

Self- report, with its "Informant bias", is vital tounderstanding the phenomenological worlds of children

Interventions = Changing Perceptions

® Most mental illnesses involve distor tion in self-perception. Treatment involves changing those distorted perceptions.

® Assisting students who are struggling acadmically involves altering an often negative academic self-perception.

® Prevention programs like Head Start attempt to change negative maternal perceptions of themselves and their children

® Public Service Announcements often focus on changing public perception