2015-07-31
Expressed Emotion During Pregnancy Predicts Observed Sensitivity of Mothers and Fathers in Early Childhood
Publication
Publication
Parenting , Volume 15 - Issue 3 p. 158- 165
Objective Relations between maternal and paternal expressed emotion during pregnancy and
observed sensitive parenting behavior of mothers (N = 553) and fathers (N = 518) in early childhood
were examined.
Design Expressed emotion, represented by emotional overinvolvement
and criticism, was measured around the 34th week of gestation using an adapted version of
the Five-Minute Speech Sample. Maternal and paternal sensitivity, indexed by supportiveness
and intrusiveness, was observed in a semi-structured interaction between parent and child
at age 4. Multilevel analyses were conducted to account for shared variance among the
families. Associations between expressed emotion and sensitive parenting behavior were subsequently
stratified by parent gender.
Results Emotional overinvolvement during pregnancy
was associated with lower levels of sensitive parenting. More specifically, mothers’ emotional
overinvolvement was related to lower levels of supportive parenting, and fathers’ overinvolvement
was related to higher levels of intrusiveness. Criticism during pregnancy was not
associated with dimensions of sensitivity.
Conclusions Mothers’ and fathers’ emotional overinvolvement
before the birth of their child was differently related to supportive and intrusive
parenting 4 years later, suggesting gender-specific effects of parental expressed emotion.
Additional Metadata | |
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doi.org/10.1080/15295192.2015.1053316, hdl.handle.net/1765/91016 | |
Parenting | |
Organisation | Erasmus University Rotterdam |
Lucassen, N, Tiemeier, H.W, Luijk, P.C.M, Linting, M, Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J, van IJzendoorn, M.H, … Lambregtse-van den Berg, M.P. (2015). Expressed Emotion During Pregnancy Predicts Observed Sensitivity of Mothers and Fathers in Early Childhood. Parenting, 15(3), 158–165. doi:10.1080/15295192.2015.1053316
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