Citation

Sokolowski MS, Hans SL, Bernstein VJ, Cox SM. Infant Ment. Health J. 2007; 28(3): 344-365.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/imhj.20140

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Associations between mothers' psychological distress, experiences of verbal and violent relational conflict, representations of the relationships with their infants, and parenting behavior were examined in 100 African American mothers of 17- to 20-month-old infants. Maternal representations of infants were assessed via the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI; Zeanah, Benoit, Hirshberg, & Barton, 1986). Results showed that mothers who experienced more conflict with their own mothers had increased odds of having disengaged representations of the relationship with their infants. Mothers who experienced more conflict with their infants' fathers had increased odds of having distorted views of their infants. Mothers who reported more hostile psychological symptomalogy had greater odds of not having a balanced representation of their infants (distorted or disengaged). Additionally, mothers with disengaged representations were less sensitive, more passive, and used less encouragement and guidance with their children. Maternal hostility and conflict were directly related to parenting and were not mediated by representations. Results show that representations and parenting behavior are linked and multiply determined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)