Pathways to Maternal and Child Well-Being: Stability and Transaction Across Toddlerhood

Overview

Journal Parent Sci Pract

Publisher Routledge

Date 2021 May 17

PMID 33994868

Citations 9

Authors

Laura K Winstone

Sarah G Curci

Keith A Crnic

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: This study examines the development of minor parenting stress, parenting satisfaction, and dyadic dysregulation across early childhood and evaluates their roles in predicting maternal and child well-being one year later.

Design: Data was collected from 322 low-income, Mexican American mother-child dyads at child ages 12, 18, 24, and 36 months. Mothers responded to questionnaires during structured interviews, and mother-child dyadic interactions were observed during structured teaching tasks and later coded for global displays of emotional, attentional, and behavioral dysregulation.

Results: Cross-lag path analyses revealed negative concurrent relations between minor parenting stress and parenting satisfaction at every time point and stability in constructs across time. Parenting stress predicted greater subsequent dyadic dysregulation. Greater dyadic dysregulation and stress related to parenting predicted more maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems, whereas greater parenting satisfaction predicted less maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems.

Conclusion: In this minority at-risk population, there was substantial stability in and a lack of transactional relations between minor parenting stresses, parenting satisfaction, and dyadic dysregulation across toddlerhood. These factors are important determinants of maternal and child well-being, with minor parenting stress emerging as particularly powerful.

Citing Articles

Leveraging the interpersonal context of child development to promote family resilience: A universal prevention approach from preconception through early childhood.

Somers J, Winstone-Weide L, Rinne G, Curci S, Barclay M Ment Health Prev. 2025; 33.

PMID: 39917367 PMC: 11800894. DOI: 10.1016/j.mhp.2024.200331.

Mothers' recollections of parenting by their own mothers and fathers and maternal and infant outcomes.

Huffhines L, Bailes L, Coe J, Leerkes E, Parade S Fam Relat. 2024; 73(3):1949-1967.

PMID: 39545098 PMC: 11562778. DOI: 10.1111/fare.12988.

A dynamic perspective on depressive symptoms during the first year postpartum.

Winstone-Weide L, Somers J, Curci S, Luecken L J Psychopathol Clin Sci. 2023; 132(8):949-960.

PMID: 38010771 PMC: 10683862. DOI: 10.1037/abn0000878.

Meta-Analyses of the Relationships between Family Systems Practices, Parents' Psychological Health, and Parenting Quality.

Dunst C Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023; 20(18).

PMID: 37754583 PMC: 10530758. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20186723.

Is the Predisposition to Have More Children Beneficial among Parents with Only One Child? Evidence from Spanish Parents.

Gomez-Ortiz O, Sanchez-Sanchez C Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022; 19(13).

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