Maternal Intrusiveness Research Articles

Language development of pre‐school children born to teenage mothers

AbstractAn Erratum has been published for this article in Infant and Child Development 10(4) 2001, 241.This paper compares the language development of pre‐school children born to teenage (n=22) and comparison mothers (n=20) and examines the extent to which differences in language development can be explained by social background, child and parenting factors. Mothers and children were assessed at home using a range of measures, including a structured interview, the language scales of the Child Development Inventory, the HOME Inventory, and videotaped mother‐child interaction. Results showed that children of teenage mothers perform significantly poorer than children of comparison mothers on measures of expressive language and language comprehension. Subsequent analyses showed that these differences are largely explained by differences in the parenting behaviour of teenage and comparison mothers. Specifically, maternal verbal stimulation and intrusiveness accounted for the relationship between teenage motherhood and children's poorer language comprehension, while maternal intrusiveness and involvement with the child account for the relationship between teenage motherhood and children's poorer expressive language development. These findings highlight the importance of early mother–child interaction for children's language development. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Relation‐based intervention with at‐risk mothers: Outcome in the second year of life

AbstractIt has been shown that the UCLA home visiting/mother–infant group intervention made a significant positive impact during the child's first 2 years of life on two indices of the mother's support and on three areas of mother–child and child development: (1) The mother's responsiveness to the needs of her child and the related development of his or her security of attachment; (2) the mother's encouragement of her child's autonomy and the related development of his or her autonomy; and (3) the mother's encouragement of her child's task involvement and the related development of his or her task orientation. By child age 2 years, the mothers experiencing the intervention, in comparison with those that did not, also used verbally persuasive as opposed to coercive intrusive methods of control and their children responded more positively to these controls. Mothers who did not experience the help of the intervention had significantly more difficulty controlling their child if it was a boy as opposed to a girl. They used the least appropriate methods of control, and the boys responded more negatively to these controls.The nature of the development of the mother's use of appropriate controls and the child's response to that control was elucidated by determining on the total sample where 12‐month antecedents influenced the indices of control either independently of or in interaction with the intervention status. The child's endurance in the test situation was an independent predictor of mother‐appropriate control and the child's positive response to that control, while the absence of maternal intrusiveness further enhanced the impact of the intervention on that control. ©2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

Maternal Parenting Characteristics and School Involvement: Predictors of Kindergarten Cognitive Competence Among Head Start Children

While early childhood theorists emphasize the importance of the parent-child relationship to school performance, research findings on the relationship between parenting characteristics and child cognitive competence vary in their results. Differing results are found in samples of Head Start and non-Head Start families. One hundred fourteen Head Start children and mothers participated in this study. The authors examined the contribution of four separate maternal parenting factors (warmth, punitiveness, intrusiveness, and involvement in school activities). The authors related these factors to child kindergarten competence, as measured by PPVT-R and teacher-rated child's memory of teacher instructions. Correlational analyses indicated that maternal intrusiveness consistently predicted child cognitive competence while children were in Head Start; maternal school involvement predicted cognitive competence while children were in kindergarten. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that when child gender, maternal PPVT-R scores, and child Head Start cognitive competence were controlled, maternal school involvement related positively to kindergarten child memory for instructions; and maternal punitiveness related negatively to kindergarten child PPVT-R scores. Measuring positive and negative emotional involvement separately revealed significant findings on maternal intrusiveness and punitiveness that may have been obscured had these maternal characteristics been measured on the low end of a scale of maternal warmth. Implications for involving Head Start parents in schools are discussed.

Atitudes maternas diferenciais para com meninos e meninas de quatro e cinco anos

Foram examinados os efeitos do sexo e da idade da criança pré-escolar sobre três atitudes maternas consideradas psicopatogênicas na literatura: irritabilidade, rejeição e intrusão. A amostra contou com 53 mães e suas crianças pré-escolares de 51 a 70 meses de idade, de níveis sócio-econômicos (NSE) médio e baixo. As mães preencheram uma versão em Português do Parent Attitude Research Instrument-PARI. Correlações de ordem zero e regressões múltiplas indicaram que as mães tendem a relatar menor irritabilidade e rejeição quanto maior for a idade da criança; contudo, o mesmo não ocorreu para a intrusão materna. Independentemente da idade da criança, as mães dos meninos relataram maior intrusão do que as mães das meninas. Esses resultados se mantiveram mesmo após a inclusão do NSE na equação de regressão. Análises bivariadas também mostraram uma tendência marginal para as mães dos meninos relatarem maior rejeição do que as mães das meninas. Os resultados são discutidos à luz da literatura vigente sobre a socialização da criança pré-escolar, ressaltando elementos cognitivos e interacionais.

Watch, wait, and wonder: Testing the effectiveness of a new approach to mother-infant psychotherapy

This research compared two forms of psychodynamic psychotherapeutic interventions for 67 clinically referred infants and their mothers. One was an infant-led psychotherapy delivered through a program called Watch, Wait, and Wonder (WWW). The other was a mother–infant psychotherapy (PPT). Infants ranged in age from 10 to 30 months at the outset of treatment, which took place in weekly sessions over approximately 5 months. A broad range of measures of attachment, qualities of the mother–infant relationship, maternal perception of parenting stress, parenting competence and satisfaction, depression, and infant cognition and emotion regulation were used. The WWW group showed a greater shift toward a more organized or secure attachment relationship and a greater improvement in cognitive development and emotion regulation than infants in the PPT group. Moreover, mothers in the WWW group reported a larger increase in parenting satisfaction and competence and decrease in depression compared to mothers receiving PPT. Both WWW and PPT were successful in reducing infant -presenting problems, decreasing parenting stress, and reducing maternal intrusiveness and mother–infant conflict. Some potential reasons for the differential treatment effects and the theoretical, clinical, and methodological implications from the findings are discussed. ©1999 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

Parental Care and Intrusiveness as Predictors of the Abilities‐Achievement Gap in Adolescence

In this study we examined relations between adolescents' perception of parental care and intrusiveness and the abilities-achievement gap. Cognitive abilities and academic achievement were assessed for 200 Israeli 10th graders. Representations of maternal and paternal care and intrusiveness and externalizing and internalizing symptoms were self-reported. Gender differences were found for the abilities-achievement gap. Boys' achievement in mathematics and language was significantly lower than could be expected from abilities in these domains. Representations of maternal care predicted achievement while aptitude and socioemotional symptoms were controlled and moderated the relations of abilities and achievement. Paternal representations were unrelated to abilities or achievement. Among boys, maternal intrusiveness had a unique contribution to the prediction of achievement, above and beyond abilities, socioemotional symptoms, and maternal care. The relevance of the findings to cognitive and attachment perspectives on adolescent achievement is discussed.

Boundaries of Self and Subject

The paper considers the efforts of two artist patients—one productive and the other not—to manage engulfment and separation anxiety through manipulations of virtual and literal spaces. The patients assumed characteristic emotional distances from their objects, subjects, products, audiences, and culture. More concretely, they developed artistic styles that, through formal structure and narrative content, signified a compromise between isolation and merger. Further investigation revealed that the productive patient's mother suffered a protracted post-partum depression that estranged her emotionally and physically from the patient in infancy. The tension between early maternal deprivation and later reaction-formed intrusiveness promoted the patient's aesthetic compromise between communication and concealment, permitting successful delivery of fantasy material. Although the unproductive patient portrayed repellent scenes which alienated her audience, she curiously never attempted stylistic corrections. Her press for merger was countered by a dread of contact conditioned by paternal abuse. Further exploration suggested that her artworks were not self objects, but rather close relations competing with her for audience attention.

Change in mother-infant interactive behavior: Relations to change in the mother, the infant, and the social context

This study examines relations between change in mother-infant interaction and change in parental and infant traits. Forty-seven mother-infant dyads were observed at 3 months in face-to-face interaction and at 9 months in two play situations, face-to-face social play and exploratory play interaction. Following Belsky's (1984) “determinants of parenting” model, changes in maternal anxiety, infant temperament, and spousal support were assessed. Decreases in maternal trait anxiety and in infant difficult temperament from 3 to 9 months predicted an increase in mother sensitivity in the two play situations. A decrease in infant difficulty and an increase in father involvement were related to a reduction in maternal intrusiveness during social play. Finally, decreases in maternal anxiety and in infant difficulty and an increase in father involvement predicted an increase in infant exploratory play. The data suggest the importance of change in paternal, maternal, and infant traits as additional dimensions to be included in ecological theories of infant development.

Mother–infant interaction and contingency learning in pre-term infants

Contingency learning was assessed in 12-month-old pre-term infants and related to neonatal factors, and mother-infant interaction. Measures of speed of contingency detection and motivation to control stimulus-feedback were derived from behavioural observation and individual response patterns. The findings indicated that speed of contingency detection was related negatively to neonatal risk factors. Furthermore, motivation to control stimulus-feedback was related to maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness and the infant's positive behaviour and responsiveness. The results of this study demonstrate the usefulness of distinguishing between perception of the contingent relationship and motivation to control reinforcement. Further research is needed to examine the generalization of our results to samples of normal and healthy infants. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Maternal intrusiveness in infancy and child maladaptation in early school years

AbstractUsing longitudinal data, a subsample of 37 high-risk children whose mothers were observed to be intrusive in their interactions with their 6-month-old infants in feeding and play situations were compared to 145 children from the same environmental risk sample. The children of mothers judged to be intrusive were doing poorly academically, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally in first and second grades. The findings were robust even after covarying out the effects of a maternal social/affective interaction factor, IQ, and stressful life events experienced by the family. The relation between an intrusive style of caretaking in infancy and child maladaptation in the early school years is viewed as support for a mutual regulation model of social engagement.

Maternal style at the early one-word stage: re-evaluating the stereotype of the directive mother

Since Nelson's original (1973) study there has been a tendency in the literature to view maternal directiveness in an essentially negative way, equating it with maternal intrusiveness or insensitivity (e.g. Nelson 1973, McDonald & Pien 1982). The present study attempts to re-evaluate this negative characterization of maternal directiveness by examining the interactive behaviour of 8 mothers at the early one-word stage of development. The results show that, in contrast to McDonald & Pien's behaviour-oriented/conversation-eliciting dimension, based on the relative proportion of directives and real questions in mothers' speech, the major dimension of variation in the present sample was the relative proportion of behavioural directives and tutorial prompts or test questions. Furthermore this dimension was unrelated either to maternal sensitivity, defined in terms of responsiveness to the child's utterances, or to mothers' use of attentional directives. These findings raise doubts, not only about the tendency to equate directiveness with maternal intrusiveness or insensitivity, but also about the assumption that directiveness reflects a single unitary dimension of mother's interactional behaviour. This suggests that current views of maternal directiveness are based on a negative stereotype of the directive mother and implies the need to analyse maternal speech effects much more carefully than has been done hitherto if we are to understand the mechanisms by which they are actually mediated.

Correlates of maternal directiveness with children who are developmentally delayed.

Interactions between 25 mothers and their children with developmental delays were correlated to determine the relationships between maternal directiveness and a) maternal behavior regarded as developmentally facilitative, b) maternal intrusiveness, and c) child developmental competence and behavioral engagement. The findings, many of which challenge common conceptions about the nature and role of maternal directiveness, are discussed in relation to these conceptions and to the potential role of directiveness in the development of children with handicaps.

The transmission of mother-child boundary disturbances across three generations

AbstractAttachment theory and family systems perspectives were used to explore the intergenerational origins of an overinvolved, symbiotic parenting pattern that hampers children's emerging autonomy. Consistent with principles of developmental psychopathology, the same underlying relationship disturbance was expected to manifest differently at different times in the developmental process. Specifically, links among maternal intrusiveness during infancy, overprotection during childhood, and mother-child role-reversal during young adulthood were explored. Forty-nine maternal grandmothers, mothers, and firstborn infants were visited in the mothers' homes when the infants were 6 and 9 months old. Grandmothers' memories of overprotection were related to observational ratings of high boundary dissolution and low positive affectivity with the mothers. No significant relationships were found between mothers' past and current relationships with the grandmothers. Yet, mothers' memories of overprotection during childhood or their current participation in unaffectionate, enmeshed, and role-reversed relationships with their mothers forecast their intrusive care with their own infants. Moreover, mothers' memories of overprotection related to their beliefs that others cannot be trusted and these beliefs were related, in turn, to observations of their intrusive care at 9 months. The implications of understanding the origins of maternal intrusiveness for developing prevention programs are discussed.

Interactional Synchrony and the Origins of Infant-Mother Attachment: A Replication Study

This study sought to replicate previous work in testing the hypothesis that interactions of dyads developing secure attachment relationships would be characterized by disproportionately synchronous and those of dyads developing insecure relationships by disproportionately asynchronous exchanges. Additionally, a priori hypotheses were tested regarding expected differences in the interactional histories of dyads developing insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant attachments. Results supported the study's predictions in all cases. Dyads developing secure attachments were observed at 3 and 9 months to interact in a disproportionately well-timed, reciprocal, and mutually rewarding manner; dyads developing insecure relationships were disproportionately characterized by interactions in which mothers were minimally involved, unresponsive to infant signals, or intrusive. Within the insecure group, as predicted, 3- and 9-month interactions of avoidant dyads were characterized by maternal intrusiveness and overstimulation; resistant dyads were characterized at both ages by poorly coordinated interactions in which mothers were underinvolved and inconsistent. These findings are discussed as they lend to a growing body of evidence concerning associations between differential interactional histories and attachment quality.

Playful Relationships: A Contextual Analysis of Mother-Toddler Interaction and Symbolic Play

The relation between social interaction and complexity of toddler's symbolic play was investigated. 57 toddlers between 15 and 24 months of age were observed under 4 conditions: (1) child play alone, (2) child play with mother, (3) child modeling mother, and (4) child play with mother following the modeling condition. Each subject was rated on complexity of play, maternal attention directing, reciprocity, and maternal intrusiveness. Significant condition effects were found in which more complex forms of play were observed when the children were playing with their mothers than when playing by themselves. Maternal intrusions and questioning were negatively related to symbolic play. Turn-taking was negatively related to simple exploratory play. Results of a sequential analysis demonstrated that turn-taking was more likely to precede symbolic play, and maternal intrusiveness was more likely to precede simple exploratory play. The role of active partnership in symbolic play development is discussed.

The use of multitreatment modalities in early intervention: A quantitative case study

A quantitative single case study is presented to illustrate how an early intervention program used two therapeutic modalities to treat a depressed mother and her 2-month-old son. Drawing upon an ecological, transactional model of development, the case study utilized a multimethod, longitudinal approach to assess the infant's developmental competence and attachment status, the mother's history and current psychosocial functioning, patterns of mother-infant interaction, and components of the family's social ecology. Measures were administered during a baseline period to assess pre-intervention functioning and were systematically repeated throughout the 2-year period of intervention. The treatment modalities included psychodynamically oriented individual therapy and Parent-Infant Relationship Treatment (PIRT) in which the dyad was also seen by a second therapist to foster more adaptive mother-infant transactional patterns. The findings indicated increased infant developmental competence and a shift from an insecure to a secure attachment classification, improved maternal psychosocial functioning, and a decline in the dyadic interactional pattern of maternal intrusiveness and infant withdrawal. The advantages of using two treatment modalities and a single case approach to evaluation are discussed.

Avoidant and resistant reunion behaviors as predicted by maternal interactive behavior and infant temperament

The study concerned predictive relationships from maternal behavior and infant temperament, studied at infant age 4 months, to infant resistant and avoidant reunion behaviors at 12 months. Subjects were 116 mother-infant pairs. Maternal interactive behaviors were observed in both face-to-face and diaper change situations, and infant 12-month behaviors were observed in a separation-reunion series, tailored after the laboratory Strange Situation, performed at home. Significant predictive relationships were found from measures related to the maternal sensitivity construct. Stepwise regression analyses showed differential predictions to hold for three variables a priori defined as components of sensitivity-insensitivity. Avoidant infant behavior was predicted by a combination of maternal responsiveness and physical contact, whereas infant resistant behavior was predicted by maternal intrusiveness. With forced entry of the Ainsworth global rating of sensitivity after the three components, the global rating was found to contribute significantly to the prediction of resistant, but not avoidant, reunion behavior. None of the dimensions of infant temperament correlated significantly with later infant avoidant or resistant behavior, but the interaction between maternal physical contact and infant intensity/activity contributed significantly to the prediction of infant avoidant behavior.

Mother—Infant Interactions in Infantile Anorexia Nervosa

Abstract Forty-two infants with infantile anorexia nervosa and 30 control subjects, matched by age, sex, and race, and their mothers were videotaped from behind a one-way mirror during a 20-minute feeding period followed by a 10-minute play period. Two observers who were blind to the diagnosis of the infant rated the interactions of mother and infant with the Feeding Scale and the Play Scale developed by Chatoor et al. On both Scales, statistically significant differences were observed between the two groups. The feeding disordered group demonstrated less dyadic reciprocity, less maternal contingency, more dyadic conflict, and more struggle for control. This group's play was also characterized by less dyadic reciprocity, more dyadic conflict, less maternal responsiveness to the infant's needs, and more maternal intrusiveness.