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Sunday, November 1, 2009
Learning Objective 1: The learner will be introduced to the hypothesis that parental reflective functioning may mediate the relationship between parenting and child behavior.
Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to examine initial results from an ongoing RCT of a parenting home visiting program.
Purpose: The proposed study will consist of a prospective longitudinal design. Participants will be mothers and their infants who participated in a randomized clinical trial of a home visiting intervention. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the intermediate term (1-3 years after trial) effects of the intervention on the relationship between mothers’ reflective functioning (RF) and child behavior and adaptation. There is a gap in the literature regarding how parental attributes are translated to the child. One possible mechanism of translation may be RF. This study proposes to evaluate the relationship among RF, parenting, and child behavior outcomes.
Theoretical Framework: Transition to parenting, attachment theory, and reflective functioning.
Methods: This proposed study includes previously collected data from the primary study as well as follow-up data to be collected 1-3 years after subjects complete the primary study. Assuming data collection will take one year and begin in June 2009, there will be 60 eligible dyads (mothers and children age 3-5 years old) for the proposed study. The setting of the study includes a federally funded community-based health center (CHC) located in New Haven, CT. Measures include Maternal Self-Report Inventory, maternal Sense of Mastery, CES-D, Strange Situation Procedure, and Child Behavior Checklist/1.5-5, and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Survey. Data analyses will include univariate analyses as well as repeated measures (ANOVA or mixed model) and linear regression.
Results: Data collection to begin June 2009. Results to be reported January 2011.
Conclusions and Implications: Multiple studies have shown a relationship between early parenting and child behavior. This study may potentially demonstrate the intermediate effects of a preventive program to enhance parental reflective functioning and the parent-child relationship and thereby help to diminish child behavior problems among at-risk families.
Theoretical Framework: Transition to parenting, attachment theory, and reflective functioning.
Methods: This proposed study includes previously collected data from the primary study as well as follow-up data to be collected 1-3 years after subjects complete the primary study. Assuming data collection will take one year and begin in June 2009, there will be 60 eligible dyads (mothers and children age 3-5 years old) for the proposed study. The setting of the study includes a federally funded community-based health center (CHC) located in New Haven, CT. Measures include Maternal Self-Report Inventory, maternal Sense of Mastery, CES-D, Strange Situation Procedure, and Child Behavior Checklist/1.5-5, and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Survey. Data analyses will include univariate analyses as well as repeated measures (ANOVA or mixed model) and linear regression.
Results: Data collection to begin June 2009. Results to be reported January 2011.
Conclusions and Implications: Multiple studies have shown a relationship between early parenting and child behavior. This study may potentially demonstrate the intermediate effects of a preventive program to enhance parental reflective functioning and the parent-child relationship and thereby help to diminish child behavior problems among at-risk families.