Skip to main content
NCBI home page
UKPMC Funders Author Manuscripts logoLink to UKPMC Funders Author Manuscripts
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Jul 31.
Published in final edited form as: J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2018 Jun 12;47(SUP1):S569–S577. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2018.1477050

Maternal attributions of infant behavior and parenting in toddlerhood predict teacher-rated internalizing problems in childhood

Nicholas J Wagner 1, Noa Gueron-Sela 2, Rachael Bedford 3, Cathi Propper 4
PMCID: PMC6669045  EMSID: EMS83811  PMID: 29893582

Abstract

Objective

Social information processing theories of parenting posit that parents’ beliefs and attributions about their children’s behaviors contribute to how parents interact with their children. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between negative parenting attributions in infancy, harsh-intrusive parenting in toddlerhood, and children’s internalizing problems in early childhood.

Method

Using data from a diverse longitudinal study (n = 206), the current study used a structural equation modeling approach to test if mothers’ negative attributions measured at 6 months predicted teacher-ratings of children’s internalizing problems in first grade, as well as the extent to which observed harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors measured at ages 1, 2, and 3 years mediated this link.

Results

Maternal negative attributions in infancy predict more internalizing problems in first grade, but this link becomes non-significant when observed harsh-intrusive parenting is included as a mediator. A significant indirect effect suggests that harsh-intrusive parenting mediates the association between early negative attributions and eventual internalizing problems.

Conclusions

Findings from this study identify harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors as one potential mechanism through which the effects of early attributions are carried forward to influence children’s internalizing problems. The developmental and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Children's internalizing problems (IPs) are associated with multiple aspects of maladaptive psychosocial functioning (Rubin & Mills, 1991), underscoring the need to better understand the factors that are associated with their development. Extant research shows that highly controlling, harsh, and intrusive parenting behaviors contribute to the emergence and stability of IPs (Hastings, 2015; Rubin, Burgess, & Hastings, 2002; Wagner, Propper, Gueron-Sela, & Mills-Koonce, 2015), and increase the risk of clinical presentations such as social anxiety disorder later in development (Rapee, 2012). Thus, a better understanding of the influences that contribute to harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors would help to elucidate the processes that may lead to the development of IPs and potentially inform the development of critical intervention and prevention programs (Chronis-Tuscano et al., 2015).

Social information processing theories of parenting posit that social-cognitive constructs, such as parents’ beliefs and attributions about their children’s behaviors, contribute to how parents interact with their children, and influence the ways in which parents establish broader aspects of the child-rearing environment (Azar, Okado, Stevenson, & Robinson, 2013; Bugental & Grusec, 2006; Dix, Ruble, Grusec, & Nixon, 1986; Leerkes et al., 2015; Rubin & Mills, 1992). Drawing from this perspective, in the current study we will focus on one aspect of social information processing, namely maternal attributions of child behaviors, that has important implications for both parenting behaviors and the emergence of children's behavior problems (Johnston, Hommersen, & Seipp, 2009; Park, Johnston, Colalillo, & Williamson, 2016; Wang, Deater-Deckard, & Bell, 2013). We will specifically examine whether maternal negative attributions during infancy are related to children's later IPs, and whether harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors in early childhood partially explain this link. While the relations between maternal negative attributions of child behaviors and children's behavior problems during middle childhood have been established (Bornstein, Putnick, & Lansford, 2011; Johnston et al., 2009), this study is the first to examine this link in infancy. A better understanding of the relations between negative parental attribution styles in infancy and children’s IPs is an important step toward preventing the maladaptive cascade of coercive interactions these attributions often initiate (Patterson, 2002).

Decades of research have shown that children’s internalizing problems and many of the concomitants and consequences are reinforced and exacerbated by children’s interactions with their parents (Rubin et al., 2002; Rubin et al., 1989; Rubin & Mills, 1992). Specifically, parental behaviors such as intrusion, over-involvement, low autonomy granting, and low warmth are associated with higher levels of children’s IPs in both clinical and non-clinical samples during early and middle childhood (Burgess, Rubin, Cheah, & Nelson, 2005; Rubin, Nelson, Hastings, & Asendorpf, 1999; Rubin & Coplan, 2004; Wagner et al., 2015). Parents’ hostility and negative affect likely contribute to the development of negative social cognitions such as a perception of social relationships as untrustworthy and dangerous, and lead to a negative view of the self, thus increasing child anxiety and depression (Bayer, Sanson, & Hemphill, 2006). Further, parental over-involvement and intrusive parenting behaviors may increase a child's threat perception, reduce children's perceived control over threat, and restrict the acquisition of adaptive coping skills with stressful events, which may evoke and increase anxiety among children (van der Bruggen, Stams, & Bögels, 2008).

Research shows that parents’ beliefs and attributions about their children’s behaviors influence how parents interact with their children (Dix et al., 1986; Mills & Rubin, 1990). Parental attributions reflect the interpretations and causal explanations that parents ascribe to their children’s behaviors, and negative parental attributions are those in which parents see their child’s problem behavior as intentional, pervasive, and stable (Williamson & Johnston, 2015). Negative attributions are theorized to emerge, in part, due to parent's dysfunctional cognitions regarding children's behavior (Burgess et al., 2005; Hastings, Kahle, & Nuselovici, 2014). For example, if parental expectations of child behavior are not age appropriate, the parent may be more likely to ascribe negative intent to a child's behavior, particularly if it is challenging or difficult in nature. Negative parental attributions can evoke negative emotionality towards the child and restrict the consideration of alternative explanations and adaptive problem solving, thus contributing to negative parenting behaviors (Azar, McGuier, Miller, Hernandez-Mekonnen, & Johnson, 2017; Bugental & Grusec, 2006; Rubin et al., 1989).

Indeed, research has shown that maternal negative attributions of children's problem behaviors are related to several aspects of parenting behaviors, such as harsh discipline practices, high levels of coercion, less positive affect and lower mother-child reciprocity during mother-child interaction (Bugental & Grusec, 2006; Park et al., 2016; Wang, Christ, Mills-Koonce, Garrett-Peters, & Cox, 2013). Parents of very young children may be particularly vulnerable to parental negative attributions, given the potential ambiguity of the causes of their behaviors (Azar et al., 2013). For example, negative processing of infant cry cues (i.e., more negative and minimizing causal attributions about infant crying) presented via video during the prenatal period negatively predicted observed maternal sensitivity with their own infants when they were 6 months old (Leerkes et al., 2015). Further, parents’ prenatal hostile negative attributions regarding children’s behavior were associated with more parent-child aggression and higher risk for maltreatment (as measured by county records of abuse and neglect) during infancy and toddlerhood (Berlin, Dodge, & Reznick, 2013; Rodriguez, Silvia, & Gaskin, 2017). Finally, a study by Slep and O’Leary (Slep & O’Leary, 1998) that experimentally manipulated maternal attributions showed that mothers who were told that their toddlers would misbehave with negative intent were rated as angrier and more overreactive in a consecutive parent-child interaction than mothers who were told that that their toddlers were not to blame for misbehaving (Slep & O’Leary, 1998). The findings above suggest that the link between negative attributions and parenting behavior is at least partially independent of children’s behavior.

The associations between negative parental attributions and children's behavior problems in middle childhood have been well established in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. However, most of this research has focused on externalizing behavior problems (see Nix et al., 1999), and less is known about the links between parental attributions and IPs. One study found that of parents’ negative intent attributions were positively related to children's IPs during middle childhood (Colalillo, Miller, & Johnston, 2015). Similarly, in two other studies negative parent attributions were linked to children’s elevated depressive symptomology during adolescence (Chen, Johnston, Sheeber, & Leve, 2009; Sheeber et al., 2009). Although this research provides an important first step toward understanding the links between parental attributions and IPs, the cross-sectional nature of this study limited the ability to draw conclusion regarding the temporal and causal relations across time. When taken together, existing research suggests that one mechanism through which maternal attributions may contribute children’s IPs are through their influence on harsh and intrusive parenting behaviors. Maternal negative attributions are related to harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors (Bugental & Grusec, 2006; Park et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2013) which, in turn, are consistently associated with children's IPs (Muhtadie, Zhou, Eisenberg, & Wang, 2013; Valiente et al., 2006; Wagner et al., 2015).

The Current Study

The current study aimed to expand the literature in three main ways. First, the current study examines the links between maternal attributions during infancy (age 6 months) and children's later IPs via their influence on harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors in toddlerhood. Second, we extend previous research by including observed measures of harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors across toddlerhood and early childhood (ages 12, 24 and 36 months). Finally, the current study will be one of the first to longitudinally examine the links between maternal attributions in infancy and later IPs. Children's IPs were assessed using teacher reports at age 6 years for two reasons. First, the use of teacher report can mitigate potential biases associated with having mothers report on both predictors and outcomes. For example, mothers who report negative attributions regarding their children’s behaviors are also most likely to report more child behavior problems. Second, the social and academic challenges that are associated with the start of formal schooling make the classroom context a particularly vulnerable setting for the emergence of IPs (Arbeau, Coplan, & Weeks, 2010). We hypothesize that mothers’ negative attributions of infants' behavior at age 6 months predict increased harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors in toddlerhood which will, in turn, predict elevated teacher-reported IPs at age 6 years.

Methods

Participants

The current study used participants from the Durham Child Health and Development Study (DCHDS), a prospective longitudinal study of 206 full-term infants and their families who were recruited in 2002 and 2003 when their children were 3 months old. The study included only infants who were healthy, full-term, and born without significant complications. Families were recruited from a largely urban community with fliers and postings at birth and parenting classes, as well as through phone contact via birth records. Participants were recruited in accordance with a stratified sampling plan to ensure that there was approximately equal representation across racial categories and income distribution. Mothers reported on their child’s race, and the sample was 57% African American and 43% European American, and approximately 53% of families were low income (below 200% of the poverty level). Participants were compensated for their participation at each time point and transportation was provided for families as needed.

Procedures and Measures

The current study used data collected from the 6-month and 1-, 2-, 3-, and 6-year time points. All ratings and observations occurred in a laboratory setting except for the observation of parent-child interactions during free play, which were conducted at the participants’ homes. At each visit, infants and their mothers participated in several joint and individual activities and mothers completed a standardized interview and demographic questionnaires. Transportation was provided to families who required assistance getting to and from the laboratory.

Internalizing Problems

Teacher reports of children’s internalizing behaviors were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist Teacher’s Report Form (CBCL-TRF; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) that was obtained by mail at age 6. The CBCL-TRF is a list of 112 items that includes a broad range of children’s behavioral/emotional problems. For each item, the teacher is asked to determine how well that item describes the target child currently or within the last two months on a 3-point likert scale ranging from not true to very/often true. The CBCL-TRF has been widely used in community studies, and has been validated in samples of low income African American children (e.g., Smith, 2001), and published in the sample used in the current study (Gueron-Sela, Bedford, Wagner, & Propper, 2017). The internalizing scale (α = 0.78) included the items from the withdrawn, somatic complaints, and anxious/depressed scales.

Harsh-Intrusive Parenting

Mothers and their children were observed during a free play task as part of the home visit completed when the children were 6-months and 1-, 2-, and 3-years of age. At the 1-year visit, a set of standard toys were arranged on a blanket and the mothers were asked to play with their children for 10 minutes as they normally would on a typical day. The mothers and their children were observed in a puzzle completion task at ages 2- and 3-years. All interactions were videotaped and later viewed by trained and reliable coders who rated the interactions using 5-point subscales to measure several parental behaviors including maternal intrusiveness and negative regard. The rating scales used in the current study were adapted from those used by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, 1999). Coders underwent training until acceptable reliability was achieved and maintained. Reliabilities across each pair of coders were determined by maintaining intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.80 or greater on all subscales and composite measures (intraclass correlation range = 0.80–0.96). To assess reliability, both coders coded a random selection of 33% of interactions. Coders met biweekly to reconcile scoring discrepancies, and the final scores arrived at by consensus were used included in the final data set. Previous factor analysis with this sample has confirmed the creation of a harsh-intrusive parenting composite using the intrusiveness and negative regard subscales (e.g., Wagner et al., 2015). The current study uses a saturated latent factor of maternal harsh-intrusion at 1-, 2-, and 3-years, with standardized factor loadings ranging from λ = .645 to .891.

Maternal Attributions

Maternal attributions were assessed at the 6-month lab visit using the Infant Intentionality Questionnaire (IIQ; Reznick, 1999), which is a 23-item measure that assesses parents’ attributions of infants’ intentionality on a 1 (never/not at all) to 5 (often/definitely) scale. Guided by other research studies using this measure (e.g., Feldman & Reznick, 1996; Reznick & Schwartz, 2001), a composite of mothers’ negative attributions (α = .81) was used in the current study (e.g., is annoying on purpose; refuses to eat to be difficult; tries to get ‘even’ ignores you to be annoying; soils fresh diaper to be difficult; throws things on floor; misbehaves to be spiteful; does things to be mean).

Additional Covariates

Additional covariates were selected a priori based on their theoretical relations with the primary predictors and outcome to account for confounding contributions to the processes of interest. Demographic and income variables were included to control for the documented associations between these characteristics, parenting behaviors and children’s behavior problems (e.g., Barnett & Scaramella, 2015; Clincy & Mills-Koonce, 2013). Information on children’s sex and race was collected upon entry into the study. Family income-to-needs ratio was calculated as a ratio of total family income and the federal poverty threshold for the appropriate family size using income data provided by parents at the 6-year visit (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2009). Infant difficult temperament at age 6 months was included as a covariate for the following reasons. First, the covariance between maternal-rated difficult temperament and maternal-rated negative attributions partially accounts for the variance in the attributions measure that might be attributed to the extent to which mothers simply have negative feelings or views towards their infants in general. Thus, including temperament as a covariate supports the examination of the unique relations between mothers’ attribution of intentionality and their parenting behaviors. Second, the inclusion of a measure of difficult temperament also helps account for the possibility that the child’s difficult behaviors (as viewed by the mother) elicit harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors, something for which there is much support in the literature (e.g., Patterson, 1982; Lengua & Kovacs, 2005). Difficult temperament was assessed using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (Goldsmith & Rothbart, 1991) which mothers completed at the 6-month lab visit. The items on the questionnaire ask caregivers to rate the frequency of specific temperament-related behaviors that may have occurred in a variety of everyday situations and that were observed over the past 1–2 weeks. Items were rated on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = never, 4 = half of the time, 7 = always). The current study includes a measure of difficult temperament (α = .81) at 6-months as a covariate to account for the influences of children’s difficult temperament on parenting behaviors, as well as potential responder bias (16 items; e.g., baby seems angry when you left her/him in the crib; fussy or cry when washed; or protests when placed in confining place like car seat).

Analytic Strategy

The proposed hypotheses were addressed using structural equation modeling (SEM) methods. First, a preliminary model was estimated to examine the extent to which mothers’ negative attributions at 6 months directly predicted children’s internalizing problems at age 6 years above and beyond model covariates. Second, an SEM model was used to test whether the link between maternal attributions at 6 months and children’s later internalizing problems was mediated by harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors in early childhood. The SEM approach allowed a harsh-intrusion latent parenting factor to be included in the model, as well as the simultaneous estimate of direct and indirect effects. All models were fit using Mplus 7.11 (Muthén & Muthén, 2017). Model covariates included child’s sex, child’s ethnicity, maternal harsh-intrusion at 6 months, family income-to-needs ratio, and maternal report of child’s difficult temperament at 6 months. All exogenous variables covaried and model covariates were included in the final structural model. Overall model fit was determined using root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), standardized root mean square residual (SRMR), and comparative fit index (CFI). Good fit was defined as CFI values ≥ 0.95, RMSEA values ≤ 0.06, and SRMR values ≤ 0.08 (Hu & Bentler, 1999). Missing data were considered missing at random and were handled using the full information maximum likelihood (FIML) methods (Enders & Bandalos, 2001). FIML is recognized as an effective method for analyzing longitudinal data with missing data and has been demonstrated to provide less biased parameter estimates than other techniques, such as listwise deletion (Enders, 2013; Widaman, 2006). The standard errors of specific indirect effects were estimated using the delta method in Mplus 7.11.

Results

Table 1 presents the bivariate correlations, means, and standard deviations for the model covariates and variable of interests. Income-to-needs was negatively correlated with internalizing behavior problems at 6 years. Harsh-intrusion at 2- and 3-years, and maternal negative attributions at 6 months were positively correlated with internalizing behavior problems at 6 years. Each measure of harsh-intrusion was significantly positively correlated, and infant difficult temperament was positively correlated with maternal negative attributions at 6 months. A preliminary regression model showed that maternal negative attributions at 6 months positively predicted children’s internalizing problems at age 6 years, β = 0.21, p = 0.04.

Table 1. Zero-order Bivariate Correlations Between Model Outcomes.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1. Sex (1=Female) -
2. Race (1=African American) .082 -
3. Income-to-Needs (6yr) .007 -.345** -
4. Difficult Temperament (6m) .155* .114 -.200* -
5. Harsh-Intrusion (6m) .055 .317** -.353** .048 -
6. Harsh-Intrusion (1yr) -.044 .463** -.346** .024 .383** -
7. Harsh-Intrusion (2yr) -.079 .405** -.393** .066 .379** .571** -
8. Harsh-Intrusion (3yr) -.140 .406** -.451** .034 .424** .418** .590** -
9. Negative Attributions (6m) -.018 .287** -.215* .153* .110 .290** .271** .315** -
10. Internalizing Problems (6yr) -.103 .115 -.244* .111 .021 .266* .432** .385** .298** -
Number 206 206 141 181 175 154 164 163 171 86
Mean .49 .57 4.83 -1.02 2.58 2.55 2.88 2.65 1.32 3.09
Standard Deviation .50 .49 3.69 .83 .91 .85 1.43 1.35 .50 3.60
Open in a new tab

Notes: p ≤ .05*, p ≤ .01**

A structural equation model was estimated to test if negative maternal attributions at 6 months predicted internalizing problems at 6 years, as well as to examine the extent to which harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors mediated these associations. All standardized and unstandardized parameter estimates and confidence intervals, including parameter estimates between the model covariates and variables of interest, are shown in Table 2. The final model demonstrated good fit to the data, X2(14) = 13.93, p = 0.45; RMSEA = 0.001; CFI = 1.0; SRMR = 0.023. In this model, maternal attributions at 6 months did not directly predict internalizing problems at age 6 years, β = 0.021, ns. However, maternal negative attributions at 6 months predicted increased maternal harsh-intrusion in toddlerhood, β = 0.23, p = 0.001, and indirect effects suggest that the relationship between negative maternal attributions at 6 months and internalizing problems at age 6 years is fully mediated by the effects of mothers’ negative attributions on their harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors in toddlerhood, β = 0.19, p = 0.009.1 Figure 1 presents the standardized path coefficients for the associations between maternal attributions, harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors, and children’s internalizing behavior problems.

Table 2. Parameter Estimates and Unstandardized Confidence Intervals for the Full SEM.

B (β) CI
Sex → Harsh-Intrusion (η) -0.16 (-0.13) * (-0.32 to -0.09)
Race→ Harsh-Intrusion (η) 0.38 (0.32) ** (0.19 to 0.57)
Income-to-Needs (6yr)→ Harsh-Intrusion (η) -0.04 (-0.25) ** (-0.06 to -0.01)
Harsh-Intrusion (6m)→ Harsh-Intrusion (η) 0.23 (0.34) ** (0.12 to 0.33)
Difficult Temperament (6m)→ Harsh-Intrusion (η) -0.03 (-0.05) (-0.13 to 0.05)
Negative Attributions (6m)→ Harsh-Intrusion (η) 0.27 (0.23) ** (0.11 to 0.44)
Sex→Internalizing Problems (6yrs) 0.52 (0.07) (-0.97 to 2.01)
Race→Internalizing Problems (6yrs) -1.83 (-0.25) (-3.68 to 0.06)
Income-to-Needs (6yr)→Internalizing Problems (6yrs) -0.02 (-0.03) (-0.25 to 0.19)
Harsh-Intrusion (6m)→Internalizing Problems (6yrs) -1.49 (-0.38) ** (-2.53 to -0.46)
Difficult Temperament (6m)→Internalizing Problems (6yrs) -0.03 (-0.01) (-1.08 to 1.00)
Negative Attributions (6m)→Internalizing Problems (6yrs) 0.13 (0.02) (-1.37 to 1.65)
Harsh-Intrusion (η)→Internalizing Problems (6yrs) 4.81 (0.81) ** (2.25 to 7.36)
Negative Attributions → Harsh-Intrusion→ Internalizing Problems
Total 1.47 (0.21) * (0.12 to 2.81)
Direct 0.14 (0.02) ( -1.37 to 1.65)
Indirect 1.33 (0.19) ** (0.28 to 2.38)
Open in a new tab

Notes: * p < .05, ** p < .01.

graphic file with name EMS83811-f001.jpg

Open in a new tab

Discussion

Negative maternal attributions, characterized by child-oriented beliefs that behavior is intentionally provocative and under a high level of control by the child, have important implications for harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors (Sturge-Apple, Suor, & Skibo, 2014), and harsh-intrusive parenting is a known contributor to the emergence and stability of children’s internalizing problems (Rubin & Burgess, 2002). Although researchers have focused on explicating the determinants of harsh and intrusive parenting practices for decades, including work showing that parents’ beliefs about their infant’s behaviors, including crying, are associated with observed parenting behaviors (Haltigan et al., 2012; Leerkes et al., 2015), no research has examined the extent to which negative maternal attributions in infancy constitute risk for eventual internalizing problems, and if harsh-intrusive behaviors play a role in carrying forward the negative influences of early negative attributions. To address this gap in the literature, this study tested the extent to which negative maternal attributions in infancy predict teacher-reported internalizing problems in early childhood. Furthermore, this study further advances our understanding of the associations between maternal attributions and internalizing problems by examining the extent to which observed maternal harsh-intrusion across toddlerhood mediates these links.

As expected, observed harsh-intrusive parenting across toddlerhood predicted greater teacher-reported internalizing problems in early childhood. This is consistent with research suggesting that negative and intrusive parenting may be particularly detrimental for children’s internalizing problems (van der Bruggen et al., 2008) given the likelihood that they increase the perceptions of threat and reducing perceived control over threat (Chorpita & Barlow, 1998). Harsh and intrusive parenting behaviors may also contribute to the exacerbation and maintenance of children’s internalizing and anxiety problems by denying opportunities for exploration, stifling the growth of autonomy, and restricting the acquisition of skills to cope with stressful events (Barlow, 1988). The current findings contribute to this large literature base by demonstrating links between harsh-intrusion and children’s internalizing problems using observational methods and without relying on maternal reports of child internalizing problems.

Maternal negative attributions in infancy predicted more teacher-rated internalizing problems in early childhood, but this direct link became non-significant when observed maternal harsh-intrusion was included as a mediator. A significant indirect effect in the mediation analysis indicated that maternal negative attributions in infancy contribute to more internalizing problems in early childhood through their influence on harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors in toddlerhood. This is controlling for infants’ difficult temperament and harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors in infancy. Research shows that parents who hold dysfunctional child-oriented attributions are more likely to engage in punitive and overreactive parenting behaviors (Dix et al., 1986; Sturge-Apple et al., 2014), and the current study contributes to this literature by demonstrating the influences of maternal attributions in infancy on harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors using observational methods. Moreover, we provide evidence that harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors are one mechanism through which mothers’ early negative attributions exert influence on children’s later IPs.

This research contributes to our understanding of the early determinants of harsh and intrusive parenting behaviors, an important endeavor given research highlighting the extent to which parenting contributes to the emergence and maintenance of anxiety and internalizing problems. For example, research shows that early behavioral inhibition, a risk factor for eventual anxiety internalizing problems, predicts adolescent anxiety disorder, but only in the presence of observed maternal overcontrol in early childhood (Lewis-Morrarty et al., 2014). Also, behavioral inhibition increases over time when mothers are less autonomy-granting and more restrictive (Booth-LaForce et al., 2012). The consequences of maternal attributions infancy are understudied, and the current findings start to address this gap by showing that what mothers think regarding the intentionality and control of their infants’ behaviors has cascading influences across toddlerhood and early childhood.

Although the current study provides initial longitudinal evidence for the processes through which maternal negative attributions influence child internalizing problems, future research should work to elucidate the factors that contribute to the formation of dysfunctional attributions and beliefs. Research with preschool aged children provides strong evidence that children’s own behaviors also contribute to parents’ beliefs and attributions. For example, expressions of social fearfulness in the peer group may evoke parental feelings of worry, guilt or embarrassment, and perhaps, with increasing child age, a growing sense of frustration (Mills & Rubin, 1990; Rubin & Mills, 1992). Parents’ perceptions of their children’ as being vulnerable may motivate intrusive and controlling behaviors in an attempt protect them from interactions or situations deemed risky (Burgess et al., 2005). The current study controls for infants’ temperament, but future studies should examine the extent to which infant behaviors are bidirectionally associated with parents’ attributions across time and contexts. Furthermore, examining the extent to which parents’ negative attributions influence trajectories of harsh and intrusive parenting across infancy and toddlerhood would be an important next step. Additionally, parental emotional awareness, beliefs about emotions, and emotion socialization have all been shown to play an important role in the emergence of psychopathology (Gottman, Katz, & Hooven, 1996; Havighurst, Wilson, Harley, Prior, & Kehoe, 2010; Wagner, Mills-Koonce, Willoughby, & Cox, 2017), including anxiety and internalizing problems (Hurrell, Houwing, & Hudson, 2017; Suveg, Shaffer, & Davis, 2015). Future research should incorporate measures of parents’ beliefs about emotions and emotion socialization practices when investigating the longitudinal links between parents’ attributions, behaviors, and children’s internalizing problems.

The current study has many strengths including a longitudinal design, observational measurement of parenting behaviors across toddlerhood, teacher-rated internalizing problems and the use of a diverse sample. However, limitations in measurement allow us to only provide a snapshot of maternal negative attributions in infancy despite research showing their influence across development, and even prenatally. We are unable to speak to the various factors that are likely to contribute to mothers’ negative attributions, something that will be necessary in future research if these processes are to be fully understood. Relatedly, while the use of teacher-rated internalizing problems is considered a strength, the current study does not inform our understanding of children’s internalizing problems in contexts outside of the classroom. An additional limitation of note is the presence of a considerable amount of missing data, particularly in the teachers’ report of children’s internalizing problems. Although we employed appropriate statistical approaches for accounting for the missing data, including the use of FIML estimation and the inclusion of demographic covariates, it is possible that other characteristics may have precluded teachers from completing questionnaires such as burnout or fatigue. Finally, although the use of a community sample contributes to the generalizability of findings, it restricts the extent to which internalizing problems are predicted at clinically relevant levels. It also limits our ability to directly compare and integrate these findings with studies using clinical samples of older children. Although maternal attributions significantly predicted children’s internalizing problems when observed parenting was not included as a mediator, this link accounted for less than ten percent of the total variance; this is compared to observed harsh-intrusion which accounted for about half of the variance in children’s internalizing problems. A better understanding of how maternal attributions predict the emergence of children’s internalizing problems apart from their influence on parenting behaviors may require either a multi-informant approach to measuring internalizing behaviors, the use of a clinical sample, or both.

Despite these limitations, the current study contributes to the literature by identifying observed harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors in toddlerhood as one potential mechanism linking maternal negative attributions in infancy and children’s teacher-rated internalizing problems. These findings have clinical implications insofar as they suggest that interventions addressing mothers’ negative attributions as early as infancy may be beneficial for protecting against eventual internalizing problems. Pilot data from an attachment-based parenting intervention showed that helping mothers of toddlers (ages 12-36 months) to have a more balanced representation of their children and a recognition of the intentional nature of children’s behaviors contributed to improvements in maternal behavior with toddlers, including increased sensitivity and responsiveness (Suchman, DeCoste, Castiglioni, Legow, & Mayes, 2008; also see Suchman et al., 2017). Taken together with the findings of the current study, interventions focused on addressing parents’ negative attributions in infancy may help to protect against the emergence of internalizing behavior problems in early childhood.

Supplementary Material

Supplementary File 1
Supplementary File 2

Footnotes

1

Substantive findings remained unchanged when infant difficult temperament was excluded from the analyses. Parameter estimates for externalizing and maternal-rated internalizing outcomes can be found in supplemental Tables 1 and 2, respectively.

Contributor Information

Nicholas J. Wagner, Boston University, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 64 Cummington Mall Boston MA, 252-290-7444

Noa Gueron-Sela, Ben-Gurion University.

Rachael Bedford, Biostatistics and Health Informatics Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London.

Cathi Propper, The Center for Developmental Science.

References

  1. Arbeau KA, Coplan RJ, Weeks M. Shyness, teacher-child relationships, and socio-emotional adjustment in grade 1. International Journal of Behavioral Development. 2010;34(3):259–269. doi: 10.1177/0165025409350959. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  2. Azar ST, McGuier DJ, Miller EA, Hernandez-Mekonnen R, Johnson DR. Child neglect and maternal cross-relational social cognitive and neurocognitive disturbances. Journal of Family Psychology. 2017;31(1):8–18. doi: 10.1037/fam0000268. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Azar ST, Okado Y, Stevenson MT, Robinson LR. A preliminary test of a social information processing model of parenting risk in adolescent males at risk for later physical child abuse in adulthood. Child Abuse Review. 2013;22(4):268–286. doi: 10.1002/car.2244. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  4. Barlow DH. Anxiety and Its Disorders The Nature and Treatment of Anxiety and Panic. 1988. Anxiety and its disorders: The nature and treatment of anxiety and panic. [Google Scholar]
  5. Barnett MA, Scaramella LV. Child fear reactivity and sex as moderators of links between parenting and preschool behavior problems. Development and psychopathology. 2015;27(4pt1):1179–1190. doi: 10.1017/S0954579415000759. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Bayer JK, Sanson AV, Hemphill Sa. Parent influences on early childhood internalizing difficulties. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 2006;27(6):542–559. doi: 10.1016/j.appdev.2006.08.002. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  7. Berlin LJ, Dodge KA, Reznick JS. Examining pregnant women’s hostile attributions about infants as a predictor of offspring maltreatment. JAMA Pediatrics. 2013;167(6):549. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.1212. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Booth-LaForce C, Oh W, Kennedy AE, Rubin KH, Rose-Krasnor L, Laursen B. Parent and peer links to trajectories of anxious withdrawal from grades 5 to 8. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology. 2012;41(2):138–149. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2012.651995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Bornstein MH, Putnick DL, Lansford JE. Parenting attributions and attitudes in cross-cultural perspective. Parenting, Science and Practice. 2011;11(2–3):214–237. doi: 10.1080/15295192.2011.585568. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Bugental DB, Grusec JE. Handbook of Child Psychology Vol 3 Social Emotional and Personality Development (6th Ed.) 2006. Socialization processes. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  11. Burgess KB, Rubin KH, Cheah CSL, Nelson LJ. The Essential Handbook of Social Anxiety for Clinicians. 2005. Behavioral inhibition, social withdrawal, and parenting. [Google Scholar]
  12. Chen M, Johnston C, Sheeber L, Leve C. Parent and adolescent depressive symptoms: The role of parental attributions. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 2009;37(1):119–130. doi: 10.1007/s10802-008-9264-2. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Chorpita BF, Barlow DH. Perceived control as a mediator of Family environment in etiological models of childhood anxiety. 1998:457–476. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2016.08.008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Chronis-Tuscano A, Rubin KH, O’Brien KA, Coplan RJ, Thomas SR, Dougherty LR, et al. Wimsatt M. Preliminary evaluation of a multimodal early intervention program for behaviorally inhibited preschoolers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2015 doi: 10.1037/a0039043. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Clincy AR, Mills-Koonce WR. Trajectories of intrusive parenting during infancy and toddlerhood as predictors of rural, low-income African American boys' school-related outcomes. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 2013;83:194–206. doi: 10.1111/ajop.12028. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Colalillo S, Miller NV, Johnston C. Mother and father attributions for child misbehavior: Relations to child internalizing and externalizing problems. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. 2015;34(9):788–808. doi: 10.1521/jscp.2015.34.9.788. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  17. Dix T, Ruble DN, Grusec JE, Nixon S. Social cognition in parents: inferential and affective reactions to children of three age levels. Child Development. 1986;57(4):879–94. doi: 10.2307/1130365. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Enders CK. Dealing with missing data in developmental research. Child Development Perspectives. 2013;7:27–31. doi: 10.1111/cdep.12008. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  19. Enders CK, Bandalos DL. The relative performance of full information maximum likelihood estimation for missing data in structural equation models. Structural Equation Modeling. 2001;8:430–457. doi: 10.1207/S15328007sem0803_5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Feldman R, Reznick JS. Maternal perception of infant intentionality at 4 and 8 months. Infant Behavior and Development. 1996;19(4):483–496. [Google Scholar]
  21. Goldsmith HH, Rothbart MK. Explorations in Temperament:international perspectives on theory and measurement. 1991. Contemporary instruments for assessing early temperament by questionnaire and in the laboratory; pp. 249–272. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  22. Gottman JM, Katz LF, Hooven C. Parental meta-emotion philosophy and the emotional life of families: Theoretical models and preliminary data. Journal of Family Psychology. 1996;10(3):243–268. doi: 10.1037//0893-3200.10.3.243. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  23. Gueron-Sela N, Bedford R, Wagner NJ, Propper CB. Children’s executive function attenuate the link between maternal intrusiveness and internalizing behaviors at school entry. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. 2017;0(0):1–10. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2017.1381911. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Haltigan JD, Leerkes EM, Burney RV, O’Brien M, Supple AJ, Calkins SD. The infant crying questionnaire: Initial factor structure and validation. Infant Behavior and Development. 2012;35(4):876–883. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2012.06.001. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Hastings PD. Introduction to the special section: Biopsychosocial processes in the etiology and development of internalizing problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 2015;43(5):803–805. doi: 10.1007/s10802-015-9992-z. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Hastings PD, Kahle S, uselovici JM. How well socially wary preschoolers fare over time depends on their parasympathetic regulation and socialization. Child Development. 2014;85(4):1586–1600. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12228. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Havighurst SS, Wilson KR, Harley AE, Prior MR, Kehoe C. Tuning in to Kids: improving emotion socialization practices in parents of preschool children--findings from a community trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines. 2010;51(12):1342–50. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02303.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Hu LT, Bentler PM. Cutoff criteria for fit indices in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling. 1999;6:1–55. doi: 10.1080/10705519909540118. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  29. Hurrell KE, Houwing FL, Hudson JL. Parental meta-emotion philosophy and emotion coaching in families of children and adolescents with an nxiety disorder. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 2017;45(3):569–582. doi: 10.1007/s10802-016-0180-6. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Johnston C, Hommersen P, Seipp CM. Maternal attributions and child oppositional behavior: a longitudinal study of boys with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2009;77(1):189–95. doi: 10.1037/a0014065. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Leerkes EM, Supple AJ, O'Brien M, Calkins SD, Haltigan JD, Wong MS, Fortuna K. Antecedents of maternal sensitivity during distressing tasks: Integrating attachment, social information processing, and psychobiological perspectives. Child Development. 2015;86(1):94–111. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12288. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Lengua LJ, Kovacs EA. Bidirectional associations between temperament and parenting and the prediction of adjustment problems in middle childhood. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 2005;26(1):21–38. [Google Scholar]
  33. Lewis-Morrarty E, Degnan K, Chronis-Tuscano A, Pine DS, Henderson HA, Fox NA. Infant attachment security and early childhood behavioral inhibition interact to predict adolescent social anxiety symptoms. Child Development. 2014;0(0):1–6. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12336. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Mills RSL, Rubin KH. Mills Rosemary SL, Rubin Kenneth H. 1. Vol. 61. Wiley on behalf of the Society for Research in Child Development Stable; 1990. Parental beliefs about problematic social behaviors in early childhood; pp. 138–151. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1131. [Google Scholar]
  35. Mills RS, Rubin KH. Parental beliefs about problematic social behaviors in early childhood. Child Development. 1990;61(1):138–151. doi: 10.1111/j.14678624.1990.tb02767.x. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  36. Muhtadie L, Zhou Q, Eisenberg N, Wang Y. Predicting internalizing problems in Chinese children: The unique and interactive effects of parenting and child temperament. Development and Psychopathology. 2013;25(3):653–667. doi: 10.1017/S0954579413000084. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Muthén LK, Muthén BO. Users Guide. 2017.
  38. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network. Child care and mother–child interaction in the first 3 years of life. Developmental Psychology. 1999;35:1399–1413. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.35.6.1399. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Nix RL, Pinderhughes EE, Dodge KA, Bates JE, Pettit GS, McFadyen-Ketchum SA. The relation between mothers’ hostile attribution tendencies and children’s externalizing behavior problems: The mediating role of mothers’ harsh discipline practices. Child Development. 1999;70(4):896–909. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00065. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Park JL, Johnston C, Colalillo S, Williamson D. Parents’ attributions for negative and positive child behavior in relation to parenting and child problems. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. 2016:1–13. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2016.1144191. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Patterson GR. Coercive family process. Castalia Publishing Company; 1982. p. 3. [Google Scholar]
  42. Patterson GR. The early development of coercive Family Processes. 2002. [Google Scholar]
  43. Rapee RM. Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: Nature, development, treatment and prevention. IACAPAP Textbook of Child and Adolescent Mental Health. 2012:F.1–F.19. [Google Scholar]
  44. Reznick JS. Influences on maternal attribution of infant intentionality. Developing Theories of Intention: Social Understanding and Self-Control. 1999 [Google Scholar]
  45. Reznick JS, Schwartz BB. When is an assessment an intervention? Parent perception of infant intentionality and language. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 2001;40(1):11–17. doi: 10.1097/00004583-200101000-00011. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  46. Rodriguez CM, Silvia PJ, Gaskin RE. Predicting maternal and paternal parent-child aggression risk: Longitudinal multimethod investigation using social information processing theory. Psychology of Violence. 2017 doi: 10.1037/vio0000115. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  47. Rubin K, Burgess K. Handbook of Parenting. 2002. Parents of aggressive and withdrawn children; pp. 383–418. [Google Scholar]
  48. Rubin KH, Burgess KB, Hastings PD. Stability and Social-Behavioral Consequences of Toddlers’ Inhibited Temperament and Parenting Behaviors. Child Development. 2002;73(2):483–495. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00419. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  49. Rubin KH, Coplan RJ. Paying attention to and not neglecting social withdrawal and social isolation. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. 2004 doi: 10.1353/mpq.2004.0036. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  50. Rubin KH, Mills RS. Conceptualizing developmental pathways to internalizing disorders in childhood. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science. 1991;23(3):300–317. doi: 10.1037/h0079019. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  51. Rubin KH, Mills RSL. Parental belief systems: The psychological consequences for children. 2nd ed. 1992. Parents’ thoughts about children’s socially adaptive and maladaptive behaviors: Stability, change, and individual differences; pp. 41–69. [Google Scholar]
  52. Rubin KH, Mills RSL, Rose-Krasnor L, Schneider BH, Attili G, Nadel J, Weissberg RP. Social competence in developmental perspective. 1989. Maternal beliefs and children’s competence; pp. 313–331. [Google Scholar]
  53. Rubin KH, Nelson LJ, Hastings P, Asendorpf J. The transaction between parents’ perceptions of their children’s shyness and their parenting styles. International Journal of Behavioral Development. 1999;23(4):937–957. doi: 10.1080/016502599383612. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  54. Sheeber LB, Johnston C, Chen M, Leve C, Hops H, Davis B. Mothers’ and fathers’ attributions for adolescent behavior: An examination in families of depressed, subdiagnostic, and nondepressed youth. Journal of Family Psychology. 2009;23(6):871. doi: 10.1037/a0016758. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  55. Slep AMS, O'leary SG. The effects of maternal attributions on parenting: an experimental analysis. Journal of Family Psychology. 1998;12(2):234. [Google Scholar]
  56. Sturge-Apple ML, Suor JH, Skibo MA. Maternal child-centered attributions and harsh discipline: The moderating role of maternal working memory across socioeconomic contexts. Journal of Family Psychology. 2014;70(4):646–656. doi: 10.1002/ana.22528. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  57. Suchman N, DeCoste C, Castiglioni N, Legow N. Linda Mayes: THE MOTHERS AND TODDLERS PROGRAM: Preliminary findings from an attachment-based parenting intervention for substance-abusing mothers. Psychoanalytic Psychology. 2008;25(3):499–517. doi: 10.1037/0736-9735.25.3.499. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  58. Suchman NE, DeCoste CL, McMahon TJ, Dalton R, Mayes LC, Borelli J. Mothering From the Inside Out: Results of a second randomized clinical trial testing a mentalization-based intervention for mothers in addiction treatment. Development and psychopathology. 2017;29(2):617–636. doi: 10.1017/S0954579417000220. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  59. Suveg C, Shaffer A, Davis M. Family stress moderates relations between physiological and behavioral synchrony and child self-regulation in mother-preschooler dyads. Developmental Psychobiology. 2015 doi: 10.1002/dev.21358. n/a-n/a. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  60. U.S. Burea of the Census. 2009 Poverty Thresholds. 2009 https://aspe.hhs.gov/2009hhs-poverty-guidelines.
  61. Valiente C, Eisenberg N, Spinrad TL, Reiser M, Cumberland A, Losoya SH, Liew J. Relations among mothers’ expressivity, children’s effortful control, and their problem behaviors: A four-year longitudinal study. Emotion. 2006;6(3):459–472. doi: 10.1037/1528-3542.6.3.459. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  62. van der Bruggen CO, Stams GJJM, Bögels SM. Research review: the relation between child and parent anxiety and parental control: a meta-analytic review. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines. 2008;49(12):1257–69. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.01898.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  63. Wagner NJ, Mills-Koonce WR, Willoughby MT, Cox MJ. Parenting and cortisol in infancy interactively predict conduct problems and callous-unemotional behaviors in childhood. Child Development. 2017;0(0):1–19. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12900. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  64. Wagner NJ, Propper C, Gueron-Sela N, Mills-Koonce WR. Dimensions of maternal parenting and infants’ autonomic functioning interactively predict early internalizing behavior problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 2015 doi: 10.1007/s10802-015-0039-2. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  65. Wang F, Christ SL, Mills-Koonce WR, Garrett-Peters P, Cox MJ. Association between maternal sensitivity and externalizing behavior from preschool to preadolescence. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 2013;34(2):89–100. doi: 10.1016/j.appdev.2012.11.003. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  66. Wang Z, Deater-Deckard K, Bell MA. Household chaos moderates the link between maternal attribution bias and parenting. Parenting. 2013;13(4):233–252. doi: 10.1080/15295192.2013.832569. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  67. Widaman KF. III. Missing data: What to do with or without them. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. 2006;71:42–64. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5834.2006.00404.x. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  68. Williamson D, Johnston C. Maternal and paternal attributions in the prediction of boys’ behavior problems across time. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. 2015;44(4):668–675. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2013.8628. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Associated Data

This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

Supplementary Materials

Supplementary File 1
EMS83811-supplement-Supplementary_File_1.docx (15.8KB, docx)
Supplementary File 2
EMS83811-supplement-Supplementary_File_2.docx (16.4KB, docx)

RESOURCES