Relationship between maternal anxiety and infants' temperament: The mediating role of mindful parenting.

Research has indicated that maternal anxiety does have an effect on infant temperament. Therefore, it is important to study the variables that could play a role in this relationship. In this study, we propose that mindful parenting could act as a mediator in this relationship. Thus, the main objective was to evaluate the relationship between maternal anxiety and child temperament (i.e., negative affectivity, surgency, and effortful control) through the mindful parenting of mothers. Mothers (N = 225) self-reported their anxiety, mindful parenting use, and the temperament of their old infants (aged 4-18 months). First, the reliability and validity results showed that the infant version of the Interpersonal Mindful Parenting questionnaire was a good tool for the assessment of mindful parenting among parents with infants. The five-factor structure of the questionnaire was confirmed; it involved self-regulation in the parenting relationship, listening with full attention, emotional awareness of the child, compassion for the child, and non-judgmental acceptance of parenting behavior. Correlational analyses showed that maternal anxiety was related to negative affectivity and effortful control in infants. Furthermore, mediational analyses indicated that the relation between maternal anxiety and infant negative affectivity was mediated by self-regulation in parenting and the emotional awareness of the child. In addition, the relation between maternal anxiety and infant effortful control was mediated by compassion for the child and listening with full attention. These results contribute to knowledge about the relation between maternal anxiety and child temperament, which may increase the risk of psychological symptoms. The results of this study suggest that promoting mindful parenting skills may be beneficial for affectivity and effortful control in infants.

Psychological Symptoms in Parents Who Experience Child-to-Parent Violence: The Role of Self-Efficacy Beliefs.

Previous research suggests that parents involved in child-to-parent violence (CPV) experience shame, judgment, and a lack of social support, often accompanied by feelings of self-blame and helplessness as well as a deterioration in their perception of self-efficacy and their parenting skills. All of these factors may impact parents' mental health. However, there is a research gap concerning the consequences of CPV among parents. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the relationship between CPV and psychological symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, hostility, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, and somatization) in parents based on their perceptions of self-efficacy. The sample was composed of 354 participants: 177 parents (83.1% mothers) and their 177 children (53.4% boys; Mage = 13.27). CPV was reported by both parents and their children. In addition, parents reported their self-efficacy beliefs and psychological symptoms. The results showed that CPV was negatively associated with parents' psychological symptomatology, except for somatization. Moreover, self-efficacy beliefs explain part of the indirect association between CPV behaviors and psychological symptoms in parents. Overall, our findings provide evidence for the potential impact of CPV on mental health in parents and suggest the relevance of reinforcing their self-efficacy beliefs.

Interaction of Parental Discipline Strategies and Adolescents’ Personality Traits in the Prediction of Child-to-Parent Violence / Interacción entre estrategias de disciplina parental y rasgos de personalidad de los adolescentes en la predicción de la violencia filioparental

Background: Child-to-parent violence is a family issue that needs a systemic and integral approach for its evaluation. The main objective of this longitudinal study was to assess the moderating effects of adolescents’ borderline personality and psychopathic traits (grandiose-manipulative, callous-unemotional, and impulsive-irresponsible dimensions) in the predictive association between inadequate parental strategies (psychological aggression, corporal punishment, and ignoring misbehavior) and child-to-parent violence. Sex differences were analyzed. Method: The community sample comprised 671 adolescents aged from 12 to 17 years old (Mage = 13.39, SD = 1.15; 50.8% girls, 47.7% boys, and 1.5% non-binary), assessed twice, six months apart from each other. Results: Results showed slightly different patterns of violence towards fathers and mothers – ignoring misbehavior predicted aggression toward mothers, while psychological aggression predicted aggression toward fathers. Moderation analyses showed that the predictive association from ignoring misbehavior to both child-to-father violence (CFV) and child-to-mother violence (CMV) was only significant for adolescents who were high in the psychopathic trait of callous-unemotional, and the predictive association from psychological aggression to CFV was only significant in those adolescents who scored low in the borderline personality trait. Some sex specificities emerged. Conclusions: These findings support the relevance of working on parents’ discipline strategies and add the need to work on adolescents’ emotional regulation to prevent or deal with child-to-parent violence. (AU)

Antecedentes: La violencia filioparental (VFP) es una problemática familiar cuya evaluación requiere una perspectiva sistémica e integral. El objetivo principal de este estudio longitudinal fue evaluar los efectos moderadores de los rasgos límite y psicopáticos (dimensiones grandiosa-manipulativa, fría-insensible e impulsiva-irresponsable) en adolescentes en la relación predictiva entre estrategias inadecuadas parentales (agresión psicológica, castigo físico e ignorar el mal comportamiento) y la VFP. Se analizaron diferencias por sexo de los adolescentes. Método: La muestra comunitaria estuvo compuesta por 671 adolescentes, de edades comprendidas entre 12 y 17 años (Medad = 13.39, SD = 1.15; 50.8% chicas, 47.7% chicos y 1.5% no binarios), evaluadas en dos momentos con seis meses de diferencia. Resultados: Los resultados mostraron patrones ligeramente diferentes en la violencia hacia padres y madres: ignorar el mal comportamiento predijo la violencia hacia los madres, mientras que la agresión psicológica predijo la la violencia hacia los padres. Los análisis de moderación mostraron que la asociación predictiva entre ignorar el mal comportamiento y la violencia hacia ambos progenitores era significativa solo en adolescentes con rasgos elevados de frialdad emocional y que la relación predictiva entre agresión psicológica y violencia hacia el padre fue significativa solamente en adolescentes con bajos niveles de rasgos límite. Se observaron algunas especificidades según el sexo de los adolescentes. Conclusiones: Estos resultados abundan en la importancia de trabajar en las estrategias de disciplina parentales y en la regulación emocional de los adolescentes en la prevención de la VFP o en su intervención. (AU)

Child-to-Parent Violence: An Exploratory Study of the Roles of Family Violence and Parental Discipline Through the Stories Told by Spanish Children and Their Parents.

The aim of this study was to identify the role of exposure to family violence and parental discipline in the development of child-to-parent violence (CPV). A qualitative in-depth interview design was used. Fifteen adolescents (10 boys) who have perpetrated CPV (Mage=16 years; SDage=1.33 years) and their parents or foster parents took part in the study. Individually, they answered questions about exposure to violence and parenting practices. Results suggest that adolescents were frequently direct victims and also witnesses of violence. Furthermore, emotional neglect in the parent-child relationship was frequent and families were characterized by rules that are not consistently implemented. Different forms of violence seem to coexist in these families, and CPV should also be a target in the interventions.