Community Sample Of Mothers Research Articles

Anxiety and Interpretation of Ambiguous Events in the Postnatal Period: An Exploratory Study

There is now considerable evidence that anxiety disorders aggregate in families. Whilst genetic heritability plays a part, environmental factors are another factor explaining this aggregation. However, little is known about the cognitive mechanisms involved. This study examined maternal attentional focus as a possible mechanism in a community sample of mothers of young infants, using an ambiguous scenarios paradigm. In particular, we examined whether more anxious mothers were more likely to interpret everyday scenarios concerning their young children as more threatening and whether this affected their predictions of their own reactions to the situations. Anxiety scores were associated with a greater likelihood of anxious interpretation in first-time mothers but not in the whole sample. Mothers who scored higher on state and trait anxiety were found to perceive ambiguous scenarios involving infants as more threatening than mothers scoring lower on anxiety and were more likely to indicate that they would seek external reassurance. These relationships were stronger when data were only analysed for the sub-group of first-time mothers. This suggests that anxious interpretations by the mother may ultimately influence the child's assessment of and response to threat. However, direct observational research is needed to examine this issue.

Childhood adversity and poor mothering: consequences of polydrug abuse use as a moderator

Drug abuse consequences have been typically examined as a direct or main effect on various later outcomes. Drug abuse may also serve as a consequence that alters (moderates) critical developmental trajectories. This study examined the relationship between childhood adversity factors (parent alcohol and drug-related problems, childhood maltreatment) and future parenting practices through an analysis of the moderating effects of polydrug problems. Data from a community sample of mothers was divided into two groups based on the median split level of polydrug problems (alcohol, marijuana, cocaine) that they reported (low, N=123; high, N=114). Confirmatory factor models (CFAs) were developed for the two groups and compared with multiple group analyses (MGAs). Results revealed that mothers who had parents with alcohol or drug-related problems were more likely to become poor parents, if they themselves used drugs and had problems related to drug use.

Associations among emotionality, self-regulation, adjustment problems, and positive adjustment in middle childhood

The combined effects of emotionality and self-regulation in predicting child adjustment problems and positive adjustment were examined using cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a community sample of mothers and children grades 3–5 ( n = 89). Specificity in the associations of emotionality and self-regulation with adjustment was examined. Emotionality and self-regulation each predicted children's adjustment controlling for the other. Irritability was related to higher internalizing and externalizing problems and lower social competence; positive emotionality predicted higher well-being and social competence. Attention regulation was related to lower depression and higher social competence and well-being; inhibitory control was related to lower internalizing and externalizing problems and higher social competence. Impulsivity was unrelated to adjustment after the other emotionality and self-regulation variables were accounted. The findings support separate dimensions of emotionality and self-regulation and their unique contributions to child adjustment.

The course of postpartum psychiatric disorders in women and their partners.

This study examined the course of postpartum psychiatric disorders in a community sample of mothers and their partners to determine whether sociodemographic variables, life stress, and psychiatric history were related to persistence of mental health problems. At 6 months postpartum, 48 index couples where the wife had a psychiatric disorder at 2 months postpartum and 50 control couples with no such diagnosis underwent diagnostic interviews and completed questionnaires on psychological symptoms, life stress, and treatment history. The results indicate that at follow-up, 54% of the index mothers still had a psychiatric diagnosis, as did 60% of their partners who had had a psychiatric diagnosis at 2 months postpartum. Socioeconomic status, country of origin, and life stress were related to persistence, as were diagnosis and timing of onset of the disorder. About a third of the parents were referred for treatment. It is concluded that for many families, postpartum psychiatric disorders are not a transient phenomenon.

Depression and eating disorders following abuse in childhood in two generations of women

The relation of sexual and physical abuse in childhood to subsequent depression and eating disorders was explored in a community sample of mothers and their teenage and young adult daughters respectively. It was hypothesized that age would be a moderating influence on diagnosis following abuse in that depression would be more common in the mothers and eating disorders more common in the daughters. Depression was more common in mothers than daughters, using Bedford College caseness criteria (Finlay-Jones, et al., 1980), but the difference decreased when Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC: Spitzer, Endicott & Robbins, 1978) were used. Bulimia was more common in the daughters using DSM-III criteria. Both physical and sexual abuse were associated with chronic and recurrent depression but not with single short episodes of depression in the mothers. However, the relationship of depression to abuse showed only a weak trend in the daughter sample. Both physical and sexual abuse were related to bulimia in the daughters, but not in the mothers, as only one mother had such a disorder.

Parental beliefs and help seeking in mothers' use of a community-based family support program

This study examined mothers' help seeking from a family support program. The mothers' participation in the parenting program was examined within an attributional and social support framework as a function of four factors: (a) the mother's level of child-related stresses, (b) the mother's expressed need for social support in parenting, (c) the mother's attribution of the child's behavior problems to her own efforts, and (d) the mother's belief in her competence as a parent. Mothers participating in a community-based family support program (N = 79) were compared to mothers (N = 56) not using a family support program in a Midwestern town with a manufacturing economic base, high unemployment, and an increasing rate of confirmed child abuse. The mothers using the family support program reported significantly higher child behavior stresses than did a community sample of mothers with similar-aged children. The mothers seeking help also attributed child behavior problems to their own behavior as a parent. Though the mothers seeking help were not depressed, they believed they lacked competence and expressed more need for social support in parenting than did the comparison mothers not using the program.