Introduction & Hypotheses• Parenting behavior during infancy has implications for
later childhood development.
– Negative parenting behaviors (e.g., harshness)
have been associated with poorer child outcomes
(e.g., increased aggression).4
– Positive parenting behaviors (e.g., sensitivity) have
been associated with better child outcomes such as
decreased externalizing behaviors and increased
social competence.10
• Aspects of maternal executive functioning (EF) may
influence parenting behaviors.
– Mothers with poorer working memory (WM) have
shown higher levels of negative reactivity to their
children.6
– Mothers with higher effortful control (EC) have been
shown to spend more time in caregiving interactions
with their infants than mothers with lower EC.3
• No identified studies have examined the relationship
between multiple aspects of EF (i.e., attention shifting,
WM, inhibition) and both negative and positive parenting
behaviors in mother-infant dyads.
• Hypothesis 1: Better maternal EF will be associated
with more positive parenting behaviors (i.e., sensitivity
and displays of positive affect/behavior).
• Hypothesis 2: Poorer maternal EF will be associated
with more negative parenting behaviors (i.e.,
insensitivity/intrusiveness and displays of negative
affect/behavior).
Maternal Executive Functioning and Parenting Behavior During Interactions with 8-Month Old InfantsRobert W. Miller, Lauren M. Laake, Rachel S. Schultz, Lauren E. Boddy, Nicole M. Burt, Mary C. Nasca, & David J. BridgettNorthern Illinois University, Department of Psychology, Emotion Regulation and Temperament Lab
References1.Abidin, R. R. (1995). Parenting Stress Index, Third Edition: Professional Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.
2.Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.
3.Bridgett, D. J., Gartstein, M. A., Putnam, S. P., Lance, K. O., Iddins, E., Waits, R., VanVleet, J., & Lee, L. (2011). Emerging effortful control
in toddlerhood: The role of infant orienting/regulation, maternal effortful control, and maternal time spent in caregiving activities. Infant
Behavior & Development, 34, 189-199.
4.Chang, L., Schwartz, D., Dodge, K.A., & McBride-Chang, C. (2003). Harsh parenting in relation to child emotion regulation and
aggression. Journal of Family Psychology, 17, 598–606.
5.Clark, R. (1985). The Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment: Instrument and manual. Madison: University of Wisconsin Medical
School, Department of Psychiatry.
6.Deater-Deckard, K., Sewell, M. D., Petrill, S. A., & Thompson, L. A. (2010). Maternal working memory and reactive negativity in parenting.
Psychological Science, 21(1), 75-79.
7.Delis, D., Kaplan, E., & Kramer, J. (2001). Delis-Kaplan Executive Function Scale. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.
8.Gartstein, M. A., & Rothbart, M. K. (2003). Studying infant temperament via the revised infant behavior questionnaire. Infant Behavior &
Development, 26(1), 64-86. doi:10.1016/S0163-6383(02)00169-8
9.Heaton, S. K., Chelune, G. J., Talley, J. L., Kay, G. G., & Curtiss, G. (1993). Wisconsin Card Sorting Test manual: xRevised and expanded.
Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
10.Spinrad, T. L., Eisenberg, N., Gaertner, B., Popp, T., Smith, C. L., Kupfer, A., Greving, K., Liew, J., & Hofer, C. (2007). Relations of
maternal socialization and toddlers’ effortful control to children’s adjustment and social competence. Developmental Psychology, 43(5),
1170–1186.
11.Teti D., & Gelfand, D. (1991) Behavioral competence among mothers of infants in the first year: The mediational role of maternal self-
efficacy. Child Development, 62(5):918–929.
12.Wechsler, D. (2008). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, fourth edition: Technical and interpretive manual. San Antonio, TX: Pearson.
Discussion
• Better maternal WM predicted less negative
affect/behavior during parent-infant interactions.
• Better maternal inhibition predicted less negative
maternal affect/behavior during parent-infant
interactions.
• A trend was found between better maternal inhibition
and more positive maternal affect/behavior.
• Maternal EF seems to be particularly salient for negative
parenting behaviors.
– Parental EF could be used as a screening
measure for potentially problematic parent-child
interactions.
• Future studies could examine the effects of EF training
(e.g., WM training) on parenting for mothers with lower
EF.
• Future studies will also need to consider that parenting
behavior may mediate the link between parental EF and
child outcomes.
Method - Measures & Procedures• At four months postpartum, mothers completed measures
of various aspects of EF:
– Wisconsin Card Sorting Task9 (Attention Shifting)
– Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System7
• Color-Word Interference (Inhibition)
• Verbal Fluency (Working Memory)
– Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale IV,12 Letter-
Number Sequencing (Working Memory)
• At eight months postpartum, mother-infant interactions
were video recorded during a five-minute play/interaction
task wherein no toys/props were provided.
• The Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment (PCERA)5
was used to code maternal positive affect, negative
affect/behavior, and intrusiveness/insensitivity during
parent-infant interactions.
• Cumulative risk and other constructs were controlled for
in regression analysis:
– Infant frustration (IBQ-R)8
– Maternal depression (BDI-II)2 and maternal self-
efficacy (MSES)11
– Parenting stress in the context of the mother-child
relationship (PSI)1
Table 2. Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses Predicting Maternal
Parenting Behavior during an Unstructured Parent-Child Interaction
Dependent Variable Predictor β ΔR2
Parenting PA/B
Step 1 .139**
Cumulative Risk -.226**
Step 2 .111
Infant Frustration -.164†
Parenting Stress .070
Maternal Self Efficacy -.309
Maternal Depression .085
Step 3
Inhibition .154† .045†
Attention Shifting -.010 .010
Working Memory .132 .030
Parenting NA/B
Step 1 .017
Cumulative Risk .016
Step 2 .089
Infant Frustration .037
Parenting Stress -.012
Maternal Self Efficacy .063
Maternal Depression .000
Step 3
Inhibition -.063** .140**
Attention Shifting -.018 .019
Working Memory -.042* .058*
Intrusiveness/Insensitivity
Step 1 .120**
Cumulative Risk .054**
Step 2 .889
Infant Frustration .030
Parenting Stress -.061
Maternal Self Efficacy -.106
Maternal Depression .008
Step 3
Inhibition -.028 .030
Attention Shifting .012 .006
Working Memory -.031 .032Note. NA/B = negative affect/behavior during parenting interaction; PA/B = positive affect/behavior
during parenting interaction; each predictor in Step 3 was run in separate analyses to reduce
suppression effects.†p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01
ResultsTable 1. Correlations between Study Variables
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Working M. --
2. Inhibition .596** --
3. Attention S. .192 .220* --
4. Parenting PA/B .324* .273* .133 --
5. Parenting NA/B -.340**-.405** .017 -.483** --
6. Intrusiveness -.359**-.275* -.227† -.698** .505** --
Note. PA/B = positive affect/behavior during parenting interaction; NA/B =
negative affect/behavior during parenting interaction†p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01
Method - Participants• 85 mother-infant dyads participated (41.7% of infants were
male).
• Mothers ranged in age from 17 to 42 years (M = 27.67) and
came from diverse ethnic backgrounds (30% minorities).
• Income-to-needs ratios ranged from 0.3 to 9.01 (M = 2.44),
and maternal education ranged from 9 to 20 years (M =
14.53, SD = 2.78).
Correspondence• Corresponding Authors:
– David J. Bridgett ([email protected])
– Robert W. Miller ([email protected])
• Copies may be obtained online at
http://www.niu.edu/emotionreg/presentations/index.html
