The Role of Parenting in Reciprocal Influences of Maternal Distress and Children's Externalizing Behavior

Introduction:  Maternal depression, anxiety, and parenting distress are known to be serious concerns linked to a variety of negative outcomes in children.  Parenting practices are also associated with child outcomes. While previous research has shown that infants and toddlers exhibit socio-emotional and behavioral problems that tend to persist well into childhood, relatively little is known about how self-reported maternal distress and parenting behaviors (e.g., laxness and over-reactivity), and early behavioral problems develop together over time.  The purpose of the current study is to use longitudinal data to model reciprocal relations among these three constructs over time.

Methods:   Participants were 606 mother-child dyads who took part in a larger epidemiological study.   Mothers answered questionnaires at 3 time points annually, with the children between 11–28 months old in year 1, 22-42 months old in year 2, and 31-51 months in year 3.   

Maternal distress was measured with the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the Parental Distress subscale of the Parenting Stress Index.  Child externalizing behaviors were assessed using the three subscales (aggression/defiance, peer aggression, and activity/impulsivity) that comprise the Externalizing domain of the Infant-Toddler Social Emotional Assessment.  Parenting behavior was measured using the O’Leary Parenting Scales (Over-reactivity and Laxness subscales).

Results:  To test the mediational role of parenting behavior in the relation between maternal distress and externalizing behavior, structural equation modeling was used to construct a panel model including cross-lagged paths between the latent constructs of maternal distress, parenting behavior, and child externalizing behavior.  While this model provided good fit compared to a baseline correlational model (χ²_{(190, n=605)}=464.982 RMSEA=.049_(.043-055), TLI/NNFI=.940, CFI=.955Δχ²_{(9, n=605)}=20.817, p>.05.), careful decomposition of the model revealed that the parenting and maternal distress constructs exhibited correlations approaching 1.0, a dependency that did not allow for testing of mediational paths.   A model including only maternal distress and externalizing behaviors provided the best model fit, and indicated significant reciprocal relationships between the constructs over time (χ²_{(97, n=605)}=270.33, RMSEA=.054_(.047-062), TLI/NNFI=.951, CFI=.965Δχ²_{(2, n=605)}=1.59, p>.05.) 

Conclusion:                

These findings have significant implications for the treatment of behavioral problems in children and maternal distress.  Early intervention efforts targeting maternal distress may be beneficial in preventing the progression of externalizing behavior from infancy and toddlerhood into later childhood as well as in increasing maternal and family well-being.  Moreover, given the strong associations between maternal distress and parenting, mediation may be better examined with observations of parenting behavior as opposed to parent-report.