Citation

Paschall KW, Mastergeorge AM, Ayoub CC. Infant Ment. Health J. 2019; 40(2): 169-185.

Affiliation

Harvard Medical School and Brazelton Touchpoints Center, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/imhj.21767

PMID

30659632

Abstract

Clinicians working with Early Head Start (EHS) families consider family well-being and positive parent-child relationships as foundational to school readiness. Understanding the links between risk factors and these dimensions of family engagement can inform clinical decision-making, as risk assessments are used to tailoring program services. The current study examined the associations between high risk, or potential, for child physical abuse and both parenting quality and children's emotion regulation (ER) during toddlerhood; EHS participation was examined as a buffer. The sample included EHS-eligible mothers of infants (N = 80) drawn from one site of the EHS Research and Evaluation Project. Associations were tested between mothers' potential for child physical abuse, measured during infancy, and observed maternal sensitivity, positive regard, harshness, and children's ER skills at child ages 1 and 2 years.

RESULTS indicated that high potential for child physical abuse was associated with lower positive regard at age 1 and lower ER skills at age 2. EHS participation operated as a buffer on each of these associations. Implications for screening for child physical abuse potential and the constructs it represents in clinical settings as well as how EHS can promote family engagement are discussed.

© 2019 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

Language: en

Keywords

Early Head Start; child abuse potential; emotion regulation; parenting