1. Improvements in the Child-Rearing Attitudes of Latina Mothers Exposed to Interpersonal Trauma Predict Greater Maternal Sensitivity Toward Their 6-Month-Old Infants.
- Author
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Waters SF, Hagan MJ, Rivera L, and Lieberman AF
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Child Rearing ethnology, Counseling methods, Female, Hispanic or Latino education, Humans, Infant, Intimate Partner Violence ethnology, Intimate Partner Violence prevention & control, Linear Models, Mother-Child Relations ethnology, Mothers education, Postnatal Care methods, Postnatal Care psychology, Pregnancy, Prenatal Care methods, Prenatal Care psychology, San Francisco, Socioeconomic Factors, Young Adult, Child Rearing psychology, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ethnology, Hispanic or Latino psychology, Intimate Partner Violence psychology, Mother-Child Relations psychology, Mothers psychology, Object Attachment
- Abstract
The current study investigated maternal sensitivity in a treatment-seeking sample of predominately Latina, low-income pregnant women with histories of interpersonal trauma exposure. Pregnant women (N = 52; M = 27.08 years, SD = 5.66) who enrolled in a study of a perinatal adaptation of child-parent psychotherapy reported on their posttraumatic stress symptoms and child-rearing attitudes at baseline and again at 6-months postpartum. Maternal sensitivity was measured via observational coding of a free-play episode at 6-months postpartum. Two thirds of mothers exhibited healthy levels of maternal sensitivity, M > 4.0 (range = 2.5-7.0). The results of multiple linear regression predicting maternal sensitivity, R(2) = .26, indicated that greater improvements in child-rearing attitudes over the course of treatment predicted higher levels of maternal sensitivity, β = .33, whereas improvements in posttraumatic stress symptoms over the course of treatment did not, β = -.10. Mothers' attitudes regarding parenting during the perinatal period may be a mechanism by which intervention fosters healthy mother-infant relationship dynamics. Thus, parenting attitudes are a worthy target of intervention in vulnerable families., (Copyright © 2015 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.)
- Published
- 2015
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