Parents' early representations of their children moderate socialization processes: Evidence from two studies

Abstract

Difficult infants are commonly considered at risk for maladaptive developmental cascades, but evidence is mixed, prompting efforts to elucidate moderators of effects of difficulty. We examined features of parents' representations of their infants - adaptive (appropriate mind-mindedness, MM) and dysfunctional (low reflective functioning, RF, hostile attributions) - as potential moderators. In Family Study (N = 102), we tested parents' appropriate MM comments to their infants as moderating a path from infants' observed difficulty (negative affect, unresponsiveness) to parents' observed power assertion at ages 2-4.5 to children's observed and parent-rated (dis)regard for conduct rules at age 5.5. In father-child relationships, MM moderated that path: for fathers with low MM, the infants' increasing difficulty was associated with fathers' greater power assertion, which in turn was associated with children's more disregard for rules. The path was absent for fathers with average or high MM. In Children and Parents Study (N = 200), dysfunctional representations (low RF, hostile attributions) moderated the link between child objective difficulty, observed as anger in laboratory episodes, and difficulty as described by the parent. Reports of mothers with highly dysfunctional representations were unrelated to children's observed anger. Reports of mothers with average or low dysfunctional representations aligned with laboratory observations.

Keywords: internal working models; longitudinal studies; parental representations; socialization.

Figure 1.

Family Study. The moderated mediation model of the paths from the predictor, child difficulty at age 7 months (in mother-child interactions), to the mediator, the mother’s power-assertive discipline at age 2 through 4.5 years, to the outcomes, the child’s observed rule-violating behaviors in “cheating games” and mother-rated internalized conduct at age 5.5 years. The mother’s appropriate MM comments were modeled as a moderator of the path from child difficulty to power-assertive discipline. Paths from power-assertion to (dis)regard for rules were modeled as not moderated. Although not depicted, the child’s gender and family income are included as covariates for both the mediator and the outcomes. Solid lines represent significant effects and dashed lines represent non-significant effects. Standard errors are in the parentheses. C = Child. M = Mother. MM = Mind-minded. ⁺p < .10. * p ≤ .05. ** p < .01.

Figure 2.

Family Study. The moderated mediation model of the paths from the predictor, child difficulty at age 7 months (in father-child interactions), to the mediator, the father’s power-assertive discipline at age 2 through 4.5 years, to the outcomes, the child’s observed rule-violating behaviors in “cheating games” and father-rated internalized conduct at age 5.5 years. The father’s appropriate MM comments were modeled as a moderator of the path from child difficulty to power-assertive discipline. Paths from power-assertion to (dis)regard for rules were modeled as not moderated. Although not depicted, the child’s gender and family income are included as covariates for both the mediator and the outcomes. Solid lines represent significant effects and dashed lines represent nonsignificant effects. Standard errors are in the parentheses. C = Child. F = Father. IWM = Internal Working Model. ⁺p < .10. * p ≤ .05. ** p < .01.

Figure 3.

Family Study. Panel A. Simple slopes of child difficulty predicting father’s power-assertive discipline at low (−1 SD), mean (0 SD), and high (+1 SD) values of father’s appropriate MM comments. Panel B. Moderated indirect effects (i.e., the slopes of child difficulty predicting father’s power-assertive discipline, conditional at low (−1 SD), mean (0 SD), and high (+1 SD) values of father’s appropriate MM comments, multiplied by the path coefficient from father’s power-assertive discipline to rule-violating behaviors in “cheating games”). Panel C. Moderated indirect effects (i.e., the slopes of child difficulty predicting father’s power-assertive discipline, conditional at low (−1 SD), mean (0 SD), and high (+1 SD) values of father’s appropriate MM comments, multiplied by the path coefficient from father’s power-assertive discipline to paternal rating of internalized conduct). Solid lines represent significant simple slopes, and dashed lines represent nonsignificant simple slopes.

Figure 4.

Children and Parents Study. The moderating effects of parental IWMs on the associations between observed and parent-rated child difficulty. Although not depicted, the child’s gender and family income are included as covariates. Solid lines represent significant effects and dashed lines represent nonsignificant effects. Standard errors are in the parentheses. C = Child. M = Mother. F = Father. IWM = Internal Working Model. * p ≤ .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001.

Figure 5.

Children and Parents Study. Simple slopes of observed child difficulty predicting mother-rated child difficulty at low (−1 SD), mean (0 SD), and high (+1 SD) values of mothers’ dysfunctional IWMs. Solid lines represent significant simple slopes, and the dashed line represents nonsignificant simple slope. The shaded area represents the region of significance. IWM = internal working model.