Parenting Project
Dear Community Members,
We are writing to thank you for your continued support of the Parenting Project at Eastern Michigan University. As we investigate the physical and psychological changes that women experience before, during, and after pregnancy, we are developing a better understanding of how various factors affect the relationship between mom and baby, as well as their physical and
mental health.
Since our last newsletter, we have completed the two year post-partum interviews. Three year interviews are underway and project staff have enjoyed
seeing participants’ families grow! We are also busy sharing our study results;
members of the Parenting Project have travelled across the country and
Canada and presented findings at local, regional, and international research
conferences:
EMU Graduate Research Fair &
Undergraduate Symposium, Ypsilanti, MI
Biennial Conference of the Michigan Association
for Infant Mental Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Society for Research in Child Development Biennial
Conference, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
International Family Violence Research
Conference, Portsmouth, NH
Association for Psychological
Science Conference, Boston, MA
Midwestern Psychological Association
Convention, Chicago, IL
International Society for Traumatic
Stress Studies, Baltimore, MD
University of Toledo Midwest Graduate
Research Symposium, Toledo, OH
International Society for the Study of
Trauma and Dissociation, Atlanta, GA
Angie, Syreeta, and Kyle present data at
SRCD in Montreal, Canada
The research team at SRCD in Montreal,
Canada
Eastern Michigan
University
Parenting Project
Fall 2011
Newsletter
NEW! We’re ONLINE!
The EMU
Parenting Project has
recently launched a
new website!
Check it out at:
www.emich.edu/
psychology/parenting
The site includes valuable information including:
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Lab Contact Info
Referral List
Conference Posters
and Presentations
Conference Photos
Inside this issue:
Description of
Sample
2
Findings
3
Findings
4
Findings
5
Project Info
6
Summary
6
Description of Sample
Where Participants Heard about the Study
Parenting Class,
2%
Word of Mouth,
10%
Donation
Centers, 5%
CommunityBased Health
Clinics, 23%
Subsidized/
Temporary
Housing Facility ,
7%
Head
Start/Daycare
Programs, 7%
WIC Program,
18%
Community
Baby Shower,
12%
Student Areas at
Local Colleges,
16%
Participant Characteristics
Asian
American,
2%
Arab
American,
2%
Other, 1%
AfricanAmerican,
47%
Biracial,
12%
Caucasian,
36%
Race
At the beginning of the study, Average Age: 26 (range = 18-42)
30% first-time mothers
Median monthly income: $1,500
88% received services from WIC
90% had public health insurance
A majority of women received food stamps and/or public cash
assistance
 Marital Status: 64% Single, 28% Married, 4% Separated, 4% Divorced
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Page 2
Parenting Project
Maternal Sensitivity
We know from other studies that maternal behaviors that are sensitive in nature impact childhood
development. Our research looked at what early parenting factors might predict levels of maternal sensitivity. We found that in general, some
things predict higher maternal sensitivity. An increased knowledge of infant development, a low
level of daily hassles, and low potential for child
abuse predict higher levels of sensitive behavior by
moms toward their infants. These results suggest
that helping mothers increase their knowledge
about children and relieving some of their stress
can promote more positive parenting, which in
turn, promotes infant development.
Parental Reflective Functioning
Some of our work has been guided by the knowledge that Parental Reflective Functioning will help
us understand the interaction between mother and child. Parental Reflective Functioning refers to
the ability to reflect on one’s own, as well as one’s child’s, internal thoughts and how these thoughts
relate to behavior. Our results suggest that the more a mother can openly consider her child’s
thoughts and feelings (mental states) during pregnancy, the more sensitivity she shows toward the
infant one year later and the more securely attached the baby is to her.
Encouraging parents to think about their child’s thoughts, feelings, and desires may promote more
positive parent-child relationships.
Trauma at a Young Age
Through our study we learned that childhood experiences of trauma are
important predictors of adult Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. While adult trauma is predictive of PTSD symptoms, experiencing
child trauma makes the symptoms later in life more difficult. This means
that it is very important to understand trauma experiences across life and
to work to prevent trauma from occurring in the first place.
Child trauma is also not significantly associated with PTSD symptoms for
most mothers who are in a secure and satisfying romantic relationship.
This suggests that positive romantic relationships benefit the mother-child
relationship and the mothers’ own well-being.
Parenting Project
Page 3
Violence in Mothers’ Relationships
We have found that women who experienced childhood maltreatment tend to have more anxiety
in adult relationships. However, anxiety is worse for women who experience chronic intimate partner
violence in adult romantic relationships.
Intimate partner violence comes in more forms than one might think. For example, it is not uncommon for women to have partners who use their children to control them. This is violence of a psychological nature. This type of intimate partner violence results in higher rates of psychological distress in the mother, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression, anxiety, etc.
Partner violence of a psychological nature can also impact the mothers’ physical health as well.
Violence: Effects on Children
Intimate partner violence tend to have
children with more socio-emotional problems than children who are not exposed
to violence. This is especially true for children of mothers who exhibit certain symptoms of PTSD. In particular, mothers who
may appear jumpy or hyper vigilant in
front of their child, may have children
with more socio-emotional difficulties.
These results suggest it is critical to support
Our study has shown that violence between mothers
mothers who experience violence and to
and romantic partners impact the baby as well. We
help reduce their distress for her and her
have found that mothers who experience more
children’s sake.
Page 4
Parenting Project
Understanding Baby Emotion
We have found that certain factors are associated with a mother’s perceptions of her child’s emotions (also known as affect). Mothers that find parenting less stressful are more likely to perceive less
anger or less negative emotions in their babies. Also, mothers who experience less postpartum depression are more likely to perceive less negative emotion in their babies. In turn, perceptions of infant emotions influence how moms
parent.
Also, mothers that had higher levels of maternal
sensitivity (see page 3) perceived baby responses in a more positive light. Increasing maternal sensitivity may help increase positive perceptions of affect, and vice-versa. In addition,
increased self-esteem about being a mother is
associated with more shared positive affect between mother and child while interacting. Perhaps improving mothers’ sense of competency
in parenting improves the perception of positive emotion in the child, benefitting both mom
Parenting Project Presentations
Kate and Angela at EMU Undergraduate research symposium in
Ypsilanti, MI
Parenting Project Fall 2011 Newsletter
Katherine receiving
her award at the
EMU Graduate
Research Fair
The research team at the EMU
Graduate Research fair, in
Ypsilanti, MI
Page 5
Eastern Michigan University
Parenting Project
Dr. Alissa Huth-Bocks
Depart. of Psychology
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Kyle, Syreeta, Dr. Huth-Bocks, Erin & Sarah at the
Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health, Ann
Arbor, MI
Phone: 734-487-2238
E-mail: ahuthboc@emich.edu
Dr. Huth-Bocks, Syreeta, Andrea, & Sarah at SRCD
in Montreal, Canada
Summary of Findings in 2011
The Parenting Project is making important discoveries concerning the physical and mental health of both mothers and their infants. Thanks to our wonderful recruitment sites and participating families, we are gaining a better
understanding of how to improve interventions and public resources to help
address the needs of mothers and families in our community. Based on our
study results, it will continue to be important to focus services on assessing
and improving maternal mental health, ensure that community resources
are both available and accessible, and continue to educate mothers about
healthy parenting practices. As our findings demonstrate, parenting skills are
very important to infants’ social and emotional health. There is a need to
implement clinical interventions during and after pregnancy for at-risk mothers to support the mother-infant relationship. As we continue to learn about
healthy parenting and family relationships, we are excited to pass this knowledge on to the community.
“We are gaining a
better
understanding of
how to improve
interventions and
public resources to
help address the
needs of mothers
and families in our
community.”
Looking Ahead...
The Parenting Project is almost done collecting data for the study! We are currently finishing the interviews when children are 3 years old. We are looking forward to learning as much as we can from
the study results, and will keep the community notified of important findings. We greatly appreciate
all of our participating mothers and children!
Parenting Project Fall 2011 Newsletter
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