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Examining Associations Between Mothers' Early Adversity, Depression And Maternal Sensitivity, Rossana Bisceglia, Greg Moran, Jennifer Jenkins

Psychology Presentations

This study tested two models for the indirect influence of mothers’ early adversity on maternal sensitivity:

Model A:

• Mothers’ appraisal of infant temperament was hypothesized to mediate the influence of mothers’ early adversity and depression on maternal sensitivity
• There would be no direct influence of maternal depression

Model B:

• Mothers’ depression was hypothesized to have a direct influence on maternal sensitivity
• Mothers’ perception of infant temperament would not mediate the influence of maternal depression on maternal sensitivity

The Continuity Of Attachment Development From Infancy To Toddlerhood: The Role Of Maternal Sensitivity, Ya F. Xue, Greg Moran, David R. Pederson, Sandi Bento

Psychology Presentations

The patterns of attachment between infants and mothers have far-reaching consequences for infants’ development; infants with secure attachments fare better socially and emotionally than those with non-secure attachments (Deklyen & Greenberg,2008).

Theory suggests that differences in attachment quality result from differences in mother-child interactions: secure attachment results from a history of sensitive interactions and non-secure attachment from insensitive interaction.

Since the attachment security is held to be a product of the quality of interactions; a change in the quality of interactions should theoretically lead to a change in attachment quality. Thus, a child in a secure relationship later encountering insensitive …

Psychometric Properties Of A Short Version Of The Maternal Behavior Q-Sort: What You Need To Know Before Analyzing The Data, Heidi N. Bailey, Rossana Bisceglia, Jacqueline Roche, Jennifer Jenkins, Greg Moran

Psychology Presentations

OVERVIEW • N =116 mother-infant dyads (2 months old) • Coders completed the MBQS-mini 2 ways—forced vs. unforced q-sort distributions—to determine whether psychometric properties differed.

SENSITIVITY SCORES: • were virtually identical:r= .99.

BEHAVIORAL DOMAINS: • Attachment related domains: esponsiveness, Non-Interference, Affective Communication. • For all 3 (but not the Teaching domain) forced and unforced were highly correlated, and high internal consistency.

CONCLUSIONS: • Results support the use of forced q-sort data, but show no benefits associated with using forced over unforced distributions. Internal consistency was higher for the unforced teaching domain.

Maternal Sensitivity: From Child To The Neighborhood, Rossana Bisceglia, Heidi N. Bailey, Jennifer Jenkins, Greg Moran

Psychology Presentations

The purpose of this study was to explore the possible association between maternal sensitivity and distal factors such as neighborhood quality.

480 mother-child dyads were videotaped during a naturalistic interaction. Maternal sensitivity was assessed from video-tapes using the Maternal Behavior Q-sort (MBQS; Pederson & Moran, 1995).

Results of a hierarchical regression showed that maternal sensitivity was associated with: child characteristics (e.g. infant weight), maternal characteristics (e.g. age and depression) and family attributes (e.g. household income).

Interviewers’ ratings of neighborhood challenge and mothers’ report of neighborhood quality were found to significantly relate to maternal sensitivity and explained additional variance.

Results indicate …

Both Maternal Sensitivity And Atypical Maternal Behavior Independently Predict Attachment Security And Disorganization In Adolescent Mother–Infant Dyads, Greg Moran, Lindsey M. Forbes, Elspeth Evans, George M. Tarabulsy, Sheri Madigan

Psychology Presentations

On the basis of these findings, at odds with current models of the origins of secure vs disorganized attachment, the current study examined the association between distinct qualities of maternal interaction and attachment in a single study.

The participants in the current study were adolescent mothers and their infants, a population that has been shown to be at substantial developmental risk and to exhibit a range of markedly atypical interactions with their infants (Jaffee, Caspi, Moffitt, Belsky, and Silva, 2001).

Assessing Maternal Sensitivity From Videotaped Recordings: Validity And Practical Applications, Elspeth M. Evans, Greg Moran, Sandi Bento, David R. Pederson

Psychology Presentations

This study examined the use of short, videotaped, mother-infant laboratory interactions instead of longer home visits to assess maternal sensitivity. Scores generated when toddlers were 24-months were found to be correlated with assessments of maternal sensitivity and attachment security from previous home visits The results suggest that coding from appropriate samples of recorded interactions may provide valid assessments of maternal sensitivity and attachment security but a number of important caveats must still be resolved.