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. 2017;26(6):1723-1733.
doi: 10.1007/s10826-017-0679-7. Epub 2017 Feb 27.

Longitudinal Associations Between Parental Bonding, Parenting Stress, and Executive Functioning in Toddlerhood

Evi S A de Cock  1 , Jens Henrichs  1   2 , Theo A Klimstra  1 , A Janneke B M Maas  1   3 , Charlotte M J M Vreeswijk  1   4 , Wim H J Meeus  1   5 , Hedwig J A van Bakel  6   7
Affiliations

Longitudinal Associations Between Parental Bonding, Parenting Stress, and Executive Functioning in Toddlerhood

Evi S A de Cock et al. J Child Fam Stud. 2017.

Abstract

Early executive functioning is an important predictor for future development of children's cognitive skills and behavioral outcomes. Parenting behavior has proven to be a key environmental determinant of child executive functioning. However, the association of parental affect and cognitions directed to the child with child executive functioning has been understudied. Therefore, in the present study we examine the associations between parental bonding (i.e., the affective tie from parent to child), parenting stress, and child executive functioning. At 26 weeks of pregnancy, and at 6 months and 24 months postpartum the quality of the maternal (N = 335) and paternal (N = 261) bond with the infant was assessed. At 24 months, postnatal parenting stress and child executive functioning were measured by means of parent-report questionnaires. Results indicated that for both mothers and fathers feelings of bonding negatively predicted experienced parenting stress over time. In addition, for both parents a negative indirect effect of bonding on child executive functioning problems was found via experienced parenting stress. These findings indicate the importance of monitoring parents who experience a low level and quality of early parent-child bonding, as this makes them vulnerable to parenting stress, consequently putting their children at risk for developing executive functioning problems.

Keywords: Executive functioning; Maternal bonding; Parenting stress; Paternal bonding; Prenatal bonding.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study has been approved by the medical ethics committee of the St. Elisabeth hospital in Tilburg, the Netherlands (date: 13-08-2008, registration number: NL 23376.008.08).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Standardized path coefficients and standard errors for the associations between maternal bonding and parenting stress. Dashed lines are used for indirect effects. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001. MBP = Maternal Bonding Prenatally, MB6 = Maternal Bonding at 6 months, MB24 = Maternal Bonding at 24 months, PSM = Parenting Stress Mothers
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Standardized path coefficients and standard errors for the associations between paternal bonding and parenting stress. Dashed lines are used for indirect effects. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001. PBP = Paternal Bonding Prenatally, PB6 = Paternal Bonding at 6 months, PB24 = Paternal Bonding at 24 months, PSF = Parenting Stress Fathers
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Standardized path coefficients and standard errors for the associations between maternal postnatal bonding, parenting stress, and executive functioning problems. Dashed lines are used for indirect effects. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001. MB6 = Maternal Bonding at 6 months, MB24 = Maternal Bonding at 24 months, PSM = Parenting Stress Mothers, EF = Executive Functioning problems
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Standardized path coefficients and standard errors for the associations between paternal postnatal bonding, parenting stress, and executive functioning problems. Dashed lines are used for indirect effects. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001. PB6 = Paternal Bonding at 6 months, PB24 = Paternal Bonding at 24 months, PSF = Parenting Stress Fathers, EF = Executive Functioning problems
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