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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Mar 22.
Published in final edited form as: J Exp Psychopathol. 2016;7(1):129–142. doi: 10.5127/jep.046214

Factors Influencing Maternal Behavioral Adaptability: Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Child Negative Affect

Alexandra C Hummel 1, Elizabeth J Kiel 1
PMCID: PMC5863917  NIHMSID: NIHMS905464  PMID: 29576864

Abstract

In early childhood, parents play an important role in children’s socioemotional development. As such, parent training is a central component of many psychological interventions for young children (Reyno & McGrath, 2006). Maternal depressive symptoms have consistently been linked to maladaptive parenting behaviors (e.g., disengagement, intrusiveness), as well as to lower parent training efficacy in the context of child psychological intervention, suggesting that mothers with higher symptomatology may be less able to be adapt their behavior according to situational demands. The goal of the current study was to examine both maternal and child factors that may influence maternal behavioral adaptability. Ninety-one mothers and their toddlers (M =23.93 months, 59% male) participated in a laboratory visit during which children engaged in a variety of novelty episodes designed to elicit individual differences in fear/withdrawal behaviors. Mothers also completed a questionnaire battery. Maternal behavioral adaptability was operationalized as the difference in scores for maternal involvement, comforting, and protective behavior between episodes in which mothers were instructed to refrain from interaction and those in which they were instructed to act naturally. Results indicated that when children displayed high levels of negative affect in the restricted episodes, mothers with higher levels of depressive symptoms were less able to adapt their involved behavior because they exhibited low rates of involvement across episodes regardless of instruction given. The current study serves as an intermediary step in understanding how maternal depressive symptoms may influence daily interactions with their children as well as treatment implementation and outcomes, and provides initial evidence that maternal internalizing symptoms may contribute to lower behavioral adaptability in the context of certain child behaviors due to consistent low involvement.

Keywords: maternal depression, parenting, negative affect, toddlerhood, adaptability

In early childhood, parents play an important role in children’s socioemotional development by shaping children’s environments, facilitating their interactions, and serving as models for apposite goals and behaviors (Calkins, 2007). As such, parent training is a central component of many psychological interventions for young children (Reyno & McGrath, 2006). This type of intervention often requires what we will refer to as “parental adaptability,” or the ability of parents to modify or adapt their behavior in response to their child; for example, parents may need to learn when to increase their positive behavior (e.g., praise) or when to refrain from interacting with their child (e.g., ignoring) in order to promote better outcomes for the child (Kazdin, 1997). Previous research has found that parental rigidity, or lack of adaptability, during interactions with their child has been linked with the development of child psychopathology (Hollenstein, Granic, Stoolmiller, & Snyder, 2004). Because parental participation in children’s behavior therapy often requires adaptability of parenting behavior, it is important to examine factors that may hinder parents’ abilities to alter their behavior given situational demands. Understanding parents’ potential difficulties in adapting their behavior and the factors that affect these difficulties would inform how and when to intervene to increase adaptability. The goal of the current study, therefore, was to examine both maternal and child factors that may inhibit parental adaptability given contextual demands.

Parenting in Early Childhood

In early childhood, parents play a vital role in helping children navigate important developmental issues as they begin to become aware of their own abilities to regulate the arousal and expression of their emotions (Brownell & Kopp, 2007). Generally, parents deliver external support that helps their young children develop an appropriate understanding of social and emotional situations by helping manipulate children’s environments and act as models for goals and behaviors (Calkins, 2007). As such, it is important for parents to display appropriate warmth and effectively communicate with affective signals thought to be important to children’s emotional development. However, it is also important for parents to be able refrain from interaction when children experience mild challenge in order to allow children to develop appropriate independent coping strategies (Rubin et al., 1997; van der Bruggen, Stams, Bogels, & Paulussen-Hoogeboom, 2010). Failure to do this due to parental rigidity, which could be conceptualized as lack of adaptability of behavior in parent-child interactions, has been shown to relate to the development of child psychopathology (Hollenstein et al., 2004), suggesting that parental adaptability may be important for children’s socioemotional development.

Given the important influence of parental behaviors on children’s behaviors and outcomes, parent training is a central component of many psychological interventions for young children, particularly for those with externalizing behavior problems (Reyno & McGrath, 2006). This training typically involves teaching parents to use positive parenting practices and to learn alternative ways of conceptualizing children’s behavior problems (Kazdin, 1997). Broadly, research on parent training has shown that it is effective in modifying children’s behavior, and research on parenting interventions during the early childhood period in particular has illustrated that such programs can help prevent the development of later psychopathology for at-risk children (Rapee, 2002). Because parental involvement in youth treatment is often essential, it is important to examine factors that may limit parents’ abilities to change their behavior as prescribed by treatment protocols. However, prior to examining mechanisms of treatment outcomes, it may be useful to understand parental adaptability in a more typical developmental context. Because the sample in the current study consisted solely of mothers, and because much of the previous research has also focused on mothers, the following review of the literature will center around the role of mothers as well.

Maternal Depressive Symptoms

There is evidence to suggest that maternal psychopathology, and depressive symptoms specifically, may contribute to less effective outcomes in parent training interventions (Kazdin, 1995; Reyno & McGrath, 2006; Webster-Stratton & Hammond, 1990), although there is some mixed literature on the effect of parental distress on treatment outcomes (e.g., Gardner, Hutchings, Bywater, & Whitaker, 2009; McTaggart & Sanders, 2007). Examining the effects of depressive symptoms, in particular, is important because depression is among the most common mental health issues among mothers (McLennan, Kotelchuck, & Cho, 2001). Because toddlers of depressed mothers already are at early developmental risk for negative socioemotional outcomes related to their mothers’ symptoms (Goodman et al., 2011), even in non-clinical samples (Hummel & Kiel, 2015; West & Newman, 2003), it is particularly important to understand circumstances that may influence these mothers’ behaviors during this period.

Previous research suggests that maternal depression relates to maladaptive parenting behaviors, including disengagement or low warmth, or, conversely, more intrusiveness and overinvolvement (e.g., Goodman & Gotlib, 1999). Disengaged behaviors often include speaking less, maintaining gaze less frequently, and responding more slowly and less contingently (Downey & Coyne, 1990). On the other hand, intrusive behaviors can include overwhelming the child with a bombardment of stimulation, changing the focus of play without considering the child’s current interest, using assertive verbal directives, physically manipulating the child or the child’s actions, and intervening with the child when intervention is not solicited (Gaertner, Spinrad, & Eisenberg, 2008; Rubin, Hastings, Stewart, Henderson, & Chen, 1997). Both disengaged and intrusive behaviors may contribute to higher rates of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in children (Goodman, Rouse, Connell, Hall, & Heyward 2011; Lovejoy, Graczyk, O’Hare, & Neuman, 2000). Consequently, it is important to examine factors that may influence the parenting of mothers with depressive symptoms.

Given that disengagement and intrusiveness are two of the most common parenting behaviors found in depressed mothers, it seems possible that depression could influence mothers’ adaptability in two ways. First, it is possible that depressed mothers are less effective in adapting their behavior because they are generally disengaged from their child. On the other hand, it is possible that depressed mothers have difficulty adapting their behavior because they are over-involved and cannot restrict their behavior when necessary. The current study will investigate factors that may influence early developmental risk and prevention efficacy by investigating mothers’ abilities to restrict their behaviors versus display involvement according to direct instructions for situations in which their children may experience challenge or distress.

Child Negative Affect

In addition to parental characteristics, it is also important to consider child factors that may play a role in parental adaptability, as increasing research has focused on transactional models emphasizing how children may elicit certain behaviors from their parents (e.g., Keenan & Shaw, 1997; Morris, Silk, Steinberg, Sessa, Avenevoli, & Essex, 2002). Because parenting is a function of a mother’s psychological characteristics as well as the characteristics of her child (Belsky & Jaffee, 2006), it is also important to consider qualities in the child that may affect particular behaviors from mothers. Empirical evidence for transactional models of parent-child interactions suggests that mothers with internalizing symptoms may behave differently depending on the characteristics of their children (e.g., Morris et al., 2002; Rubin & Mills, 1991). The current study investigates child negative affect as a potential moderating variable.

Children’s expression of negative emotions may influence the parenting they receive. For example, previous research suggests that intrusive or overprotective mothers may take control of situations in which they expect their children may experience negative emotions (Rubin et al., 1997). Additionally, there is evidence that mothers with depressive symptoms may be unable to tolerate negative emotions in their children (e.g., Shea & Coyne, 2011), and may attempt to assuage those feelings by becoming overinvolved in a manner that diminishes the child’s ability to develop skills necessary to cope with stress (e.g., Rubin et al., 1997). Conversely, mothers of children more susceptible to distress tend to display lower levels of warmth (Mangelsdorf, Gunnar, Kestenbaum, Lang, & Andreas, 1990). Patterns of disengagement associated with maternal depression may exacerbate children’s negative affect, as children often respond to these patterns with reduced activity, dysphoria, and social withdrawal (Cummings & Davies, 1994). Taken together, previous research suggests that mothers experiencing depressive symptoms may experience more difficulty adapting their behavior, either because they are uniformly disengaged or because they are uniformly overinvolved. This effect may be enhanced in situations when their children experience distress. Therefore, as an intermediary step in understanding potential barriers to treatment, the goal of the current study was to examine the interaction between maternal depressive symptoms and child negative affect in predicting mothers’ behavioral adaptability for mothers’ involved, comforting, and protective behavior.

Current Study

The current study examined whether maternal depressive symptoms predicted mothers’ abilities to adapt their involved, comforting, and protective behaviors according to situational demands in the context of child negative affect. We hypothesized that mothers with higher levels of depressive symptoms would be less adaptable with these behaviors when their children displayed higher levels of negative affect. Specifically, we predicted that maternal depressive symptoms will relate to lower adaptability of involvement, comforting, and protective behavior when children display high levels of negative affect. Given that mothers with depressive symptoms tend to display patterns of either disengagement or intrusiveness, it is possible that low adaptability could result from two different patterns of behavior: (1) mothers are consistently exhibiting low levels of behavior (i.e., are uniformly disengaged) or (2) mothers are consistently exhibiting high levels of behavior (i.e., are uniformly more involved). Due to the lack of previous research on behavioral adaptability, no specific hypothesis regarding the reason for low adaptability was made.

Methods

Participants

All procedures were approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Midwestern university at which the study took place. Participants were 91 (37 female, 54 male) toddlers and their mothers who participated in a laboratory visit and questionnaire completion when toddlers were approximately 24-months-old (M = 23.93 months, SD = 0.70 months). Eligibility criteria for mothers to participate in the study included having a child between 24 and 26 months of age who was considered “typically developing,” being 18 years of age or older, and having sufficient English language ability to complete study measures and understand task directions. Mothers were recruited through the mail according to birth announcements published in local newspapers (n = 82) and in person at local meetings of the Woman, Infants, and Children (WIC) program (n = 9). Children were 81% European American, 7% African American, 8% Asian American, 1% American Indian, 2% biracial, and 1% “other.” Socioeconomic status was measured using the Hollingshead’s four factor index (Hollingshead, 1975), which is a composite of weighted scale scores of the occupation and educational attainment of both parents, if available. Scores can range from 8 to 66, with higher scores indicating higher SES. The current sample was primarily middle class (M = 49.74, SD = 11.93). Generally, mothers had a college education, and ranged in years of education from 11 to 20+ years (M = 16.35 years, SD = 2.36 years). Families’ gross annual incomes ranged from less than $16,000 (n = 8) to more than $60,000 (n = 59), with the majority (67.8%) reporting at least $41,000.

Measures

Maternal depressive symptomatology

Mothers reported on their depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977). This 20-item measure is designed to assess depressive symptomatology in the general population. Mothers rated how often they experienced various symptoms of depression (e.g., “I felt sad”) using a 4-point scale ranging from 0 (rarely to none of the time) to 3 (most or all of the time). Previous studies have determined this instrument has acceptable internal consistency, and validity has been supported by associations with similar measures of depression (Radloff, 1977). A sum of the 20 items (α = .80) yielded an overall depressive symptom score. Scores of 15 or above are thought to indicate the presence of clinically-relevant levels of depressive symptoms (Berkman, Berkman, Kasl, Freeman, Leo, Ostfeld, et al., 1986). Although the current study will utilize the CESD as a continuous measure of mothers’ depressive symptoms, according to the aforementioned published standards of severity, the majority of mothers in the current sample reported none to low levels of symptoms (n = 71), with a smaller subset reporting medium to high levels of symptoms (n = 20). Within this latter group, two of these mothers reported severe depressive symptomatology.

Child negative affect

Child negative affect was coded for each of the five episodes on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (no negative affect) to 5 (high intensity negative affect). Each toddler received one rating for each episode. Coders received 20 hours of training from a master coder, with whom they established minimum reliability (interclass correlation [ICC] = .80). Trained coders maintained reliability with the master coder, assessed on approximately 20% of cases, throughout coding (ICC = .84).

Maternal behavioral adaptability

Mothers participated in five novelty episodes (Stranger Approach, Robot, Clown, Puppet Show, Spider), which were modified from the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB; Buss & Goldsmith, 2000) and other previous studies assessing children’s responses to novelty (e.g., Nachmias, Gunnar, Mangelsdorf, Parritz, & Buss, 1996), such that mothers were told to interact naturally for some of the episodes and to restrict their behaviors for others. In all five novelty episodes, maternal comforting, protective, and involved behaviors were coded in 10 second epochs across the entirety of the episode. Coders received 20 hours of training from a master coder, with whom they established minimum reliability (interclass correlation [ICC] = .80). Trained coders maintained reliability with the master coder, assessed on approximately 20% of cases (reliabilities presented in parentheses next to the relevant behavior). Maternal comforting behavior (ICC = .93) was coded on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (no comforting behavior) to 3 (caregiver hugs or embraces child). Maternal protective behavior (ICC = .84) was coded on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (no protective behavior) to 3 (obvious, higher intensity or longer duration protective behavior, e.g., caregiver physically prevents child from approaching stimulus). Maternal involvement (ICC = .88) was coded on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (no involved behavior) to 3 (caregiver is highly involved in activity; caregiver has central role in child’s play). Behaviors were averaged across the epochs for each episode.

Procedure

Upon expressing interest in joining the study (by returning a postcard through the mail or signing up at a WIC meeting), a laboratory staff member called the mother to schedule a laboratory visit and sent her a packet containing a consent form and questionnaires. This packet also contained an introductory letter, which included information regarding the questionnaires mothers were asked to complete and the tasks they and their child would participate in at the laboratory. They were also given contact information for the primary investigator and the university’s IRB. At the laboratory, an experimenter explained that the child would engage in a series of five novelty episodes designed to elicit individual differences in fear/withdrawal behaviors. For the first two novelty episodes, called restricted episodes, mothers were instructed to remain neutral or uninvolved (i.e., avoid spontaneously interacting) while still in the room. These included the Stranger Approach, in which an unfamiliar male experimenter attempted to engage the child in a 1-minute conversation, and the Robot, in which a 1-foot-tall remote-controlled robot toy stood on a 1-inch high wooden platform, moving and making noises randomly for 1 min. During the last three of the episodes, called natural episodes, mothers were instructed to interact naturally or “however you normally would.” These episodes included the Clown, in which the female experimenter, dressed in a clown costume (clown outfit, red nose, and colorful wig), attempted to engage the child in three activities; the Puppet Show, during which the child watched two puppets (controlled by a female experimenter behind a small stage) engage in three activities and invite the child to play; and the Spider, in which a large stuffed animal spider secured to the top of a hidden remote controlled car and controlled from behind the room’s one-way mirror, approached and withdrew from the mother and child twice, with a 10-second pause in between each movement. After the experimenter explained each of the episodes and the accompanying instructions for mothers, toddlers participated in the episodes, which were video recorded for later coding of behavior.

Results

Data Reduction

Maternal behavioral adaptability was calculated as the difference score between the average score of a behavior (i.e., involvement, comforting, or protective) across the natural episodes and the average score across the restricted episodes. Behavioral adaptability scores were calculated for maternal comforting, protective, and involved behaviors.

Correlational analyses examined child negative affect across the different episodes. Not surprisingly, negative affect within each of the restricted episodes was related (r = .22, p < .05), as was negative affect within each of the natural episodes (rs = .29, .28, .25; ps < .01). Given these correlations and conceptual reasons related to comparing natural versus restricted episodes, composites of negative affect were created within episode type (restricted, natural). Examining relations among these composites revealed that negative affect across the natural episodes was significantly related to negative affect across the restricted episodes (r = 0.50, p < .01), indicating that children who expressed high negative affect in the natural episodes also tended to express high negative affect during the restricted episodes. However, this may be driven by one correlation among the individual episodes (spider and robot, r = .48), as the other correlations between episodes were more moderate (rs = .25 – .29). Given these correlations and recent work demonstrating a loss of information when compositing negative affect too broadly (e.g., Buss, 2011), composites within conceptually similar episodes seemed appropriate.

Preliminary Analyses

Descriptive statistics are presented in Table 1 and bivariate relations are presented in Table 2. Primary variables showed reasonable adherence to normality (skew < 1.00). There was a marginal negative association between maternal depressive symptoms and adaptability of involved behavior (r = −0.18, p < .10), indicating that mothers with higher depressive symptoms may be less adaptable with their involvement, but this effect should be interpreted with caution given its marginal nature. Maternal depressive symptoms were not significantly related to adaptability of other parenting behaviors (i.e., comforting or protective behavior). Additionally, socioeconomic status, recruitment method, and mothers’ years of education were related to behavioral adaptability variables and maternal depressive symptoms.

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics

Variable Mean SD Range
Maternal Depressive Symptoms 9.28 6.02 0–27
Child NA (Restricted Composite) 1.70 0.73 1–4.5
 Child NA (Robot) 2.07 1.18 1–5
 Child NA (Stranger) 1.32 0.64 1–4
Child NA (Natural Composite) 1.75 0.66 1–4
 Child NA (Clown) 1.47 0.85 1–5
 Child NA (Puppet Show) 1.31 0.56 1–3
 Child NA (Spider) 2.47 1.28 1–5
Involvement Adaptability 1.06 0.46 0.04–1.88
Comforting Adaptability 0.15 0.25 −0.60–0.80
Protective Adaptability 0.04 0.11 −0.41–0.40
Socioeconomic Status 51.02 10.78 17–66
Mothers’ #Years Education 16.31 2.43 11–20
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Table 2.

Bivariate Relations

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1. Maternal Depressive Symptoms -- −0.13 −0.05 −0.18† −0.08 −0.08 −0.27* 0.21* −0.29**
2. Child NA (Restricted) -- .50 0.06 −0.12 −0.08 0.05 −0.05 0.17†
3. Child NA (Natural) -- 0.20* 0.13 −0.02 0.13 −0.13 0.16
4. Involvement Adaptability -- 0.18† −0.16† 0.15† −0.22* 0.21*
5. Comforting Adaptability -- 0.42* 0.18* −0.06 0.40
6. Protective Adaptability -- 0.06 0.05 −0.05
7. Socioeconomic Status -- −0.47** 0.60**
8. Recruitment Method -- −0.31**
9. Mothers’ #Years Education --
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Note. Recruitment Method was dummy coded with non-WIC = 0.

†

p < .10,

*

p < .05,

**

p <.01

Overall, mothers did appear to exhibit more comforting, protective, and involved behavior in the natural than the restricted episodes (Figure 1; ts > 2.94, ps < .01), suggesting that mothers were generally able to limit their behaviors when instructed to do so and then become more engaged when instructions changed. Additional analyses addressed individual differences in maternal behavioral adaptability.

Figure 1.

Figure 1

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Average comforting, protective, and involved behavior for the natural and restricted episodes. Overall, mothers did exhibit more comforting, protective, and involved behavior in the natural than the restricted episodes

* p < .01

Analysis Plan

A series of regression analyses for moderation were conducted in order to assess the interaction between maternal and child variables in predicting maternal behavioral adaptability. These analyses were conducted by examining the two-way interactions between maternal depressive symptoms and each of the two measures of child negative affect. Continuous variables were centered at their means prior to analyses, and interaction terms were created by calculating the cross-product of the centered variables. Significant interactions were probed for simple effects by re-centering continuous variables at standard values (i.e., ± 1 SD in addition to their means). Regions of significance were also calculated for significant interactions using the PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2013; Preacher & Hayes, 2008) to determine at what precise value of the moderator the simple effect reached significance. Finally, recruitment method, socioeconomic status, and maternal education were included in analyses as covariates, as they were related to the outcome variables (Table 2).

Moderation Analyses

There were no significant interactions between child negative affect in the natural episodes and maternal depressive symptoms for adaptability of any maternal behaviors. Regression analyses for child negative affect in the restricted episodes are presented in Table 3. For the restricted episodes, there were no significant interactions between maternal depressive symptoms and child negative affect for maternal adaptability of comforting or protective behavior, nor were there any significant main effects of mothers’ depressive symptoms or child negative affect. However, regression analyses revealed a significant interaction between maternal depressive symptoms and child negative affect in the restricted episodes (β = −0.22, t[88] = −2.01, p < .05) in predicting mothers’ adaptability of level of involvement (Table 3). Probing this interaction revealed that the simple effect of maternal depressive symptoms was significant and in a negative direction at high levels (i.e., +1 SD) of child negative affect (β = −0.30, t[88] = −2.01, p < .05), but was not significant at mean (β = −0.10, t[88] = −0.93, p = .36) or low levels (i.e., −1 SD) (β = 0.10, t[88] = 0.65, p = .52) of child negative affect in the restricted episodes (Figure 2). In other words, maternal depressive symptoms predicted lower adaptability of involvement when toddlers displayed higher negative affect in the restricted episodes. The region of significance for this interaction indicated that the effect of child negative affect became significant at a value of 0.44. (+ 0.60 SD above the mean).

Table 3.

Multiple Regression Model Predicting Maternal Behavioral Adaptability from Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Child Negative Affect in the Restricted Episodes

Variable Involvement (R2 = .16) Comforting (R2 = .08) Protective (R2 = .06)
b (SE) β t-test b (SE) β t-test b (SE) β t-test
Constant 0.94 (0.37) 2.55* 0.12 (0.22) 0.54 0.01 (0.09) 0.11
Socioeconomic status −0.01 (0.01) −0.24 −1.85† 0.00 (0.00) 0.16 1.16 0.00 (0.00) 0.24 1.77†
Recruitment method −0.33 (0.18) −0.21 −1.82† −0.04 (0.11) −0.04 −0.36 −0.01 (0.05) −0.03 −0.23
Maternal Education 0.04 (0.02) 0.24 1.88† −0.01 (0.01) −0.10 −0.74 −0.01 (0.01) −0.11 −0.83
Depressive Symptoms −0.14 (0.17) −0.10 −0.87 −0.01 (0.01) −0.12 −0.98 −0.00 (0.00) −0.05 −0.40
Child NA Restricted (NA) 0.00 (0.06) 0.00 0.03 −0.06 (0.04) −0.00 −1.57 −0.00 (0.02) −0.02 −0.16
Depressive Symptoms X NA −0.40 (0.20) −0.22 −2.01* −0.00 (0.01) −0.07 −0.63 0.00 (0.00) −0.02 −0.17
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Note. Continuous variables were centered at their mean. Recruitment method was dummy coded with non-WIC = 0

†

p < .10,

*

p < .05

Figure 2.

Figure 2

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Interaction between maternal depressive symptoms and toddler negative affect in the restricted episodes. Maternal depressive symptoms and toddler negative affect were mean-centered prior to analyses. Probing this interaction revealed that the simple effect of maternal depressive symptoms was significant at high levels (i.e., +1 SD) of toddler negative affect, but was not significant at mean or low levels (i.e., −1 SD) of toddler negative affect.

* p < .05

Post-Hoc Analyses

In order to understand the nature of low adaptability of involvement, post-hoc descriptive statistics examined the difference between mothers low in adaptability (−1 SD) compared to mothers with moderate and high adaptability (Figure 3). This analysis aimed to determine whether the mothers who are low in adaptability are consistently high in their involvement compared to other mothers, or consistently low in this behavior. Results indicate that mothers who are low in adaptability of involvement exhibit relatively low rates of involvement across both the natural (M =0.56) and restricted episodes (M = 0.20) compared to mothers who were moderate to high in involvement adaptability (Ms = 1.33 and 0.11, respectively). These results suggest that the problem for low adaptability mothers may not be refraining from interaction with their child, but rather not interacting with their child when they have the opportunity to do so.

Figure 3.

Figure 3

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Difference in mean involvement from mothers low (−1SD) in behavioral adaptability versus those moderate to high in behavioral adaptability

Discussion

Overall, maternal depressive symptoms, in addition to characteristics of the child, may impact the extent to which mothers adapt their parenting behavior to the situation, which has implications for day-to-day parent-child interactions as well as parental involvement in behavioral treatment. Results of the current study illustrated that children’s expressions of negative affect influenced behavioral adaptability of mothers with higher levels of depressive symptoms. More specifically, consistent with hypotheses, it was found that depressive symptoms related to lower adaptability of involvement when children displayed more negative affect in restricted episodes. In other words, when children displayed high levels of negative affect in episodes during which mothers were told to refrain from interaction, mothers with higher levels of depressive symptoms exhibited lower rates of change in their involvement. Post-hoc analysis suggested that this lower adaptability did not result from difficulties refraining from interaction when told not to do so, but rather appeared to stem from a relative lack of interaction with their children when they had the opportunity to do so. This finding is consistent with previous literature suggesting that mothers with elevated depressive symptomatology exhibit more disengagement during interactions with their children and do not respond contingently to their child’s needs (Downey & Coyne, 1990; Goodman 2007). This suggests that mothers with depressive symptoms may be less able to adapt their behavior in situations in which their children experience negative emotions, which may increase children’s risk for social withdrawal and dysphoria (Cummings & Davies, 1994).

It is important to note that child negative affect in the natural episodes did not predict maternal behavioral adaptability. It is possible that when mothers are told to restrict their behavior, they may process their child’s negative emotions differently than when they interact naturally. For mothers with elevated depressive symptoms, this may be particularly important given the cognitive biases associated with depressive symptoms. Therefore, the restricted episodes may grant mothers the opportunity to observe their child without interacting as they normally would, which may activate biases in thinking that influence their behavior. Alternatively, it is also possible that the order of the episodes may have influenced mothers’ behavior. The restricted episodes preceded the natural episodes, making it possible that the negative affect children displayed in the restricted episodes influenced mothers’ subsequent reactions in the natural episodes.

Inconsistent with hypotheses, there were no significant interactions or main effects of maternal depressive symptoms and child negative affect for maternal comforting or protective behavior. Though these behaviors may be components of intrusive behavior often related to maternal depression (e.g., Rubin et al., 1997), specific protective and comforting behaviors are more commonly associated with maternal anxiety symptoms (e.g., Whaley, Pinto, & Sigman 1999; Woodruff-Borden, Morrow, Bourland, & Cambron, 2002) than maternal depressive symptoms. Further, some research suggests that children’s fearful reactions elicit protective behaviors from mothers (e.g., Dadds & Roth, 2001), but the current study examined negative affect more broadly. Thus, examining more specific fear-related behaviors as a moderator rather than broad negative affect may yield stronger effects for mothers’ adaptability of protective and comforting behaviors.

Although treatment outcomes were not directly examined in the current study, results of the current study suggest that mothers with higher depressive symptoms may be less able to adapt their behavior even in the early stages of their child’s life, potentially because they are generally disengaged with their child, which may have negative implications for treatment.. For example, in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), parents are asked to increase positive interactions with their child by emphasizing parental responsiveness and improving the quality of the parent-child relationship (Querido, Bearss, & Eyberg, 2002). However, if mothers with depressive symptoms are consistently disengaged with their child, they may have difficulty increasing their responsiveness in their interactions with their child.

Results of the current study are consistent with the developmental psychopathology perspective and transactional models emphasizing the importance of considering children’s active role in the extent to which the environment shapes both parent and child outcomes (e.g., Morris et al., 2002), as depression was only related to lower adaptability in the context of child negative affect. It is possible that children of mothers with higher depressive symptoms may share a genetic predisposition to negative emotionality, which may help explain why mothers with elevated depressive symptomatology exhibit lower adaptability when their children displayed high levels of negative affect. However, previous studies illustrate that environmental factors also have an important influence on children’s emotional development outside of the contribution of heritable vulnerabilities (Lewis, Rice, Harold, Collishaw, & Thapar, 2011). Further, in the current study, the relation between mothers’ depressive symptoms and toddlers’ negative affect was not significant (Table 1). These results highlight the important role of the child as an active participant in shaping their caregiving environment, and emphasize the need to take into account both mother and child characteristics when investigating parenting behavior and child outcomes.

Limitations and Future Directions

Results of the current study should be considered in the context of several limitations. First, the sample consisted primarily of middle-class, European American mothers and children, potentially limiting the ability to generalize the results to the population at large, as parenting behaviors are thought to differ between eastern and western cultures and across SES (e.g., Belsky & Jaffee, 2006). In the current sample, bivariate analyses indicated a negative association between depressive symptoms and SES, suggesting that lower SES mothers tended to exhibit higher depressive symptoms. Thus, examining the current model in more diverse populations would elucidate the influence of cultural and socioeconomic factors.

Related to this issue, the current study utilized a community sample with limited severity in mothers’ depressive symptoms. Examining this model in a clinical sample or in a non-clinical sample that oversamples for more severe depressive symptoms would provide additional and important insight into how clinical levels of depressive symptomatology influence mothers’ abilities to adapt their behavior. Utilizing a clinical sample also could potentially yield stronger effects, as oversampling extreme cases improves statistical power for moderation analyses (Cohen, Cohen, West, & Aiken, 2003). However, subclinical symptomatology is more common among mothers than clinical levels of depression (e.g., McLennan, Kotelchuck, & Cho, 2001), and previous research has highlighted the importance of exploring how processes operate in subclinical, low-risk populations (e.g., Sroufe & Rutter, 1984). Therefore, we believe that the use of a community sample could also be viewed as a possible strength of the current study, as employing a continuous measure of depressive symptoms in a non-clinical sample allows for investigation of these effects across the spectrum of depressive symptomatology. Nevertheless, replicating these results in a more distressed sample would complement the current findings.

Results of the current study suggest that it may be important for clinicians to assess maternal depressive symptomatology before beginning a parent training intervention or prevention program, and to understand specific challenges that these mothers may have when asked to modify their behavior. Specifically, because the results of the current study suggest that mothers with elevated depressive symptoms appear to be disengaged with their children regardless of the situation, it may be important for clinicians to be innovative in promoting mothers’ engagement in parent-child interactions. However, although this research serves as an important intermediary step in understanding why maternal psychopathology may hinder positive parent training outcomes, results of the current study cannot conclusively determine that low behavioral adaptability due to consistent low involvement is the cause of less effective treatment outcomes. Examining whether maternal behavioral adaptability is a mechanism through which maternal depressive symptoms contribute to negative treatment outcomes is an important next step in this line of research. Thus, future research should be geared toward further investigating these effects and how they relate to child outcomes, both in the laboratory as well as in treatment settings.

Extending this research to other forms of maternal psychopathology (e.g., anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, substance abuse) would further elucidate how the range of maternal psychopathology influences behavioral adaptability and intervention outcomes. Additionally, extending this research to older child populations is another important future direction, as parent training interventions are often implemented with school-age children. Finally, because paternal parenting behavior has also been associated with child outcomes (e.g., van der Bruggen et al., 2010), extending this research to include fathers is an important next step in determining how parental psychopathology more broadly influences parenting behavior and child outcomes, which may have important implications for intervention.

Conclusion

The purpose of the current study was to examine whether maternal depressive symptoms hinder mothers’ abilities to adapt their behavior according to situational demands in a laboratory setting. Results provide initial evidence that maternal depressive symptoms may contribute to lower behavioral adaptability in the context of certain child behaviors due to consistent low involvement, and highlights the important interaction between maternal and child characteristics in understanding parenting behavior.

Acknowledgments

The project from which these data were derived was supported, in part, by a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (F31 MH077385) and a University of Missouri Department of Psychology Sciences Dissertation Grant granted to the second author, and a grant to Kristin Buss from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH075750). Portions of this project were presented at the annual conference for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies in Nashville, TN (November, 2013). We express our appreciation to the families who participated in this project.

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