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Child Psychopathology in Context I Parental Transmission Models

Child Psychopathology in Context I Parental Transmission Models. Effects of maternal psychopathology on birth outcomes and later psychopathology Effects of adolescent status and states of mind on child attachment and maternal sensitivity

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Child Psychopathology in Context I Parental Transmission Models

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  1. Child Psychopathology in Context IParental Transmission Models • Effects of maternal psychopathology on birth outcomes and later psychopathology • Effects of adolescent status and states of mind on child attachment and maternal sensitivity • Effects of children’s attachment and maternal depression on behavioral outcomes

  2. Presence of maternal psychopathology places neonates at risk for complications, which could result in later psychopathological outcomes (Zax) • Mothers categorized into four groups • Schizophrenics • Neurotic depressives • Personality disorders • Controls (nonpathologized) • Mothers also categorized by two other variables • Chronicity of mental illness • No mental illness • Low chronicity • Medium chronicity • High chronicity

  3. Severity of mental illness • Low severity • Moderate severity • High severity Findings • Mentally ill women differed from controls on four variables • Anxiety level • Social incompetency • Depression • Severity of mental illness

  4. Mentally disordered women have infants with more medical complications than controls on seven variables • ROS infant score • ROS total score • APGAR score (1’+ 5’) • Induced labor • Low birthweight • Resuscitation • Fetal death (4/56 (7%) for neurotic depressives)

  5. Chronicity in women distinguished four women’s and infants’ characteristics (consisting largely of schizophrenics) • Anxiety • Social incompetency • Depression • Low birthweight • Severity in women distinguished five women’s and infants’ characteristics (based on current anxiety and depression) • Anxiety • Social incompetency • Depression • Low birthweight • APGAR scores (1’+ 5’)

  6. Infant mortality and adoption • Neurotic depressives responsible for all but one death (4/56 (7%)) • Schizophrenics responsible for all but two separations (6/29 (21%)) • Adopted low birthweight infants carry potential for negative interactions with caregivers

  7. Adolescent Mothers’ States of Mind with Respect to Attachment Influence Maternal Sensitivity and Infant Attachment (Ward)

  8. Concordance between mothers’ attachment assessments (AAI’s) and infant attachment assessments (Strange Situation) • AAI’s administered during third trimester • Strange situations administered at 15 months • AAI classification distributions with SS distributions (68% agreement) • 32% F – 44% B (86% concordance) • 36% Ds – 34% A (73% concordance) • 6% E – 4% C (60% concordance) • 26% U – 18% D (only 43% concordance)

  9. Concordance between AAI’s and mothers’ sensitivity (as measured by Crittenden) assessed at 3 and 9 months • No relation between maternal sensitivity and infant attachment • Multiple caregivers involved (related) • Significant intervening life events (not related) • At 9 months among future anxious infants, mothers who were primary caregivers were less sensitive than mothers who were not primary caregivers • At 9 months among future secure infants, mothers who were primary caregivers did not differ in sensitivity from those who were not • Perhaps behaviors of primary caregiver have more influence on infant attachment than behaviors of mother

  10. Conclusions • Predictive validity of AAI for sensitivity, infant attachment • Meaning of sensitivity must be examined in the context of multiple caregivers

  11. Quality Of Preschool Children’s Attachment And Maternal Depression Both Influence Children’s Externalizing Behaviors (Hubbs-Tait)

  12. Distribution of children’s attachment patterns (at 44 months) • 6 D (18%) • 9 A (26%) • 15 mild A (44%) • 4 fairly secure (12%) • O secure • O resistant • Principal components analysis of story-completion responses (p. 422) • Departure factor (threat)  lack of empathy, antisocial responses? • Reunion factor (comfort)  empathy, prosocial responses?

  13. Departure factor, maternal depression measured at 44 months predicted CBCL externalizing behaviors at 54 months • Only maternal depression measured at 44 and 54 months predicted CBCL internalizing behaviors at 54 months • Clinically externalizing children had higher departure scores than nonclinical children ( T<63)

  14. Conclusions • Responses to departure but not reunion predict future behavior problems (contrary to results in SS) • Disorganized kids could have been resistant in infancy ( cf. also Bretherton et al.’s (1990) article) • Maternal depression related to both externalizing and internalizing behaviors • 5 of 6 clinical children had disorganized departure responses (83%) • Frightening, violent experiences during parental absence, or • Irreconcilable conflict in representations of departures from parents

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