The Effects of Perceived Social Support and Potential for Child Abuse on Maternal
Emotional and Verbal Responsiveness
Jessica Latack
1
M.S. ,
Katherine Guyon,
1Columbia
The effects of perceived level of social support
and potential for child abuse on maternal
emotional and verbal responsiveness were
examined. Findings suggest that both social
support and child abuse potential significantly
predict mothers’ levels of emotional and verbal
responsivity toward their infants12 months postpartum.
METHOD
Participants
• 120 women followed from pregnancy through the
first three years of their infants’ lives
• Mothers’ age range: 18-42, M = 26
• 47% African–American, 36% Caucasian, 13%
Biracial, 4% Other
• 64% single/never married, 28% married, 4%
divorced, 4% separated
• 20% had a high school diploma or less, 44%
some college, 36% college degree
• Median monthly household income = $1500
• 88% receive services from WIC, and 90% have
public health insurance
Procedures
Pregnant women were recruited through the
posting of flyers in pregnancy agencies and area
community organizations. The first interview took
place during the third trimester of pregnancy (T1),
with subsequent interviews at 3-months postpartum (T2), 1-year postpartum (T3), and 2-years
postpartum (T4). The present study utilized data
from the first and third waves of data collection
& Alissa Huth-Bocks,
2
Ph.D.
University-New York State Psychiatric Institute
2Eastern Michigan University
METHOD continued
INTRODUCTION
The transition to motherhood is an important and
unique time in the lives of women, both physically
and psychologically (Bibring et al., 1961; Liefer,
1977; Stern, 1995). Both individual and
contextual factors appear to play an important role
in the mother-child relationship during and after
pregnancy (Slade et al., 2009). This study
attempts to investigate the ways in which two
such contextual factors, potential for child abuse
and perceived social support, affect maternal
emotional and responsiveness as observed 12months post-partum. It is critical to better
understand the complex factors that affect the
mother-child relationship, due to the substantial
impact they hold for later child development.
2
B.A. ,
RESULTS
T1 Measures
Child Abuse Potential. The Brief Child Abuse
Potential Inventory (BCAP; Ondersma, Chaffin,
Mullins, & LeBreton, 2006) is a 33-item selfreport that assesses the potentiality for child
abuse. The measure is composed of seven
subscales and one validity scale. The seven
subscales can be summed to equal a total score
of abuse risk which was used for the present
study (total alpha = .81). Higher scores indicate
higher abuse potential.
T3 Measures
Perceived social support. Maternal perceived
social support was measured using the
Perceived Social Support Scale (Procidano &
Heller, 1983), which yields a total score (α = .92),
as well as two subscales: friends (α = .89) and
family (α = .93).
Maternal responsiveness. Maternal
responsiveness is defined as emotional and
verbal responsivity, and was measured using The
Home Observation for Measurement of the
Environment-Infant/Toddler Version (HOME;
Caldwell & Bradley, 1984). This instrument is
designed to measure the quality and quantity of
stimulation and support available to a child in the
home environment. Information needed to score
the HOME is collected in the participant’s home,
using a semi-structured observation and
interview. The instrument is comprised of 45
items clustered into six subscales. Only the
Parental Responsivity subscale was included in
our current analyses.
A multiple regression analysis was
performed in order to analyze whether
total perceived social support would
moderate the relation between potential
for child abuse and a mother’s level of
emotional and verbal responsivity toward
her infant. Moderation was not supported
(β = .16, p > .05). Therefore, a mother’s
perceived amount of social support does
not appear to influence the effect of her
propensity for child abuse on her verbal
and emotional responsivity to her infant.
Table 2
However, both total perceived social
support and potential for child abuse were
found to have a significant main effect in
the prediction of a mother’s level of
emotional and verbal responsivity toward
her infant (β = .27, p < .01, and β = -.29, p
< .01 respectively). This result indicates
that women with greater perceived levels
of social support tend to be more verbally
and emotionally responsive to their
infants. Additionally, women with a lower
child abuse potential tend to be more
verbally and emotionally responsive as
well.
Step 3
Model Summary For Predictors of Maternal Responsiveness
R
R2 R2adjusted
F
F
change
Step 1
Child abuse potential
.23 .05
.04
6.18
6.16*
.35 .12
.11
7.78
8.96**
.37 .14
.11
5.86
1.89
Step 2
Perceived social support
Child abuse potential X perceived social support
*p
< .05
**p < .01
Table 3
Regression Coefficients For Predictors of Maternal Responsiveness
B

p
Child abuse potential
-.09
-.23
p < .05
Perceived social support
.02
.28
p < .01
Child abuse potential X
perceived social support
.01
.13
p > .05
DISCUSSION
Table 1
Psychometric Properties of the Major Study Variables
n
HOME
responsiveness
BCAP Total
Total social
support
M
SD
115 9.04 1.85
Possible
range
0 – 11
120 6.42 4.97
120 31.00 8.07
0 – 24
0 – 40
The relevance of these findings to infant mental health is far-reaching. The quality of the parent-child relationship is
affected by individual and contextual factors that occur both during and after pregnancy. Our results suggest that even
in the face of individual risk factors, such as potential for child abuse, contextual experiences such as a mother’s
perceived level of social support can improve her ability to be emotionally responsive to her infant, and likely augment
the quality of the parent-child relationship (Kalinauskiene, 2009). Improving the attachment relationship has farreaching positive implications for the future of the infant and mother. Our findings clearly point to the need for
supporting pregnant and parenting women as a means of primary prevention. Providing additional support is
particularly important for those women who are contextually disadvantaged and who may be predisposed to
problematic parent-child relationships due to their own attachment experiences and current environment.