Elisabeth Nordenswan, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Eeva-Leena Kataja, Mira Karrasch, Matti Laine, Juho Pelto, Eeva Holmberg, Hetti Lahtela, Hanna Ahrnberg, Jani Kajanoja, Max Karukivi, Hasse Karlsson, Linnea Karlsson, Riikka Korja
{"title":"Maternal alexithymia and caregiving behavior: the role of executive functioning - A FinnBrain Birth Cohort study.","authors":"Elisabeth Nordenswan, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Eeva-Leena Kataja, Mira Karrasch, Matti Laine, Juho Pelto, Eeva Holmberg, Hetti Lahtela, Hanna Ahrnberg, Jani Kajanoja, Max Karukivi, Hasse Karlsson, Linnea Karlsson, Riikka Korja","doi":"10.1007/s00737-024-01523-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The growing interest in parental cognition calls for research clarifying how cognition interacts with other parenting determinants to shape caregiving behavior. We studied the interplay between executive functioning (EF; cognitive processes that enable goal-directed thinking and behavior) and alexithymic traits (characterized by emotion processing/regulation difficulties) in relation to emotional availability (EA; the dyad's ability to share an emotionally healthy relationship). As EF has been reported to shape parents' ability to regulate thoughts and emotions during caregiving, we examined whether EF moderated the association between maternal alexithymic traits, and EA.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Among 119 mothers with 2.5-year-olds drawn from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort, EF was measured with Cogstate tasks, alexithymic traits with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and caregiving with the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>More alexithymic traits on the TAS-20 subscale Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT) were associated with poorer caregiving in a hierarchical regression analysis (ΔR<sup>2</sup> = 0.05, p = .01). A marginally significant moderation effect was found when adding the EOTxEF interaction term to the model (ΔR<sup>2</sup> = 0.03, p = .06). These associations weakened slightly when controlling for education level. Estimation of simple slopes and a Johnson-Neyman figure indicated a significant association between higher EOT and lower EAS, that increased in strength as EF decreased from the group mean level.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The influence of cognitive alexithymic traits on EA could be especially pronounced among low EF parents, but further studies are needed to support and extend the findings. The potential role of parental reflective functioning in this context is discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":8369,"journal":{"name":"Archives of Women's Mental Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Archives of Women's Mental Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-024-01523-4","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: The growing interest in parental cognition calls for research clarifying how cognition interacts with other parenting determinants to shape caregiving behavior. We studied the interplay between executive functioning (EF; cognitive processes that enable goal-directed thinking and behavior) and alexithymic traits (characterized by emotion processing/regulation difficulties) in relation to emotional availability (EA; the dyad's ability to share an emotionally healthy relationship). As EF has been reported to shape parents' ability to regulate thoughts and emotions during caregiving, we examined whether EF moderated the association between maternal alexithymic traits, and EA.
Methods: Among 119 mothers with 2.5-year-olds drawn from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort, EF was measured with Cogstate tasks, alexithymic traits with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and caregiving with the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS).
Results: More alexithymic traits on the TAS-20 subscale Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT) were associated with poorer caregiving in a hierarchical regression analysis (ΔR2 = 0.05, p = .01). A marginally significant moderation effect was found when adding the EOTxEF interaction term to the model (ΔR2 = 0.03, p = .06). These associations weakened slightly when controlling for education level. Estimation of simple slopes and a Johnson-Neyman figure indicated a significant association between higher EOT and lower EAS, that increased in strength as EF decreased from the group mean level.
Conclusions: The influence of cognitive alexithymic traits on EA could be especially pronounced among low EF parents, but further studies are needed to support and extend the findings. The potential role of parental reflective functioning in this context is discussed.
期刊介绍:
Archives of Women’s Mental Health is the official journal of the International Association for Women''s Mental Health, Marcé Society and the North American Society for Psychosocial Obstetrics and Gynecology (NASPOG). The exchange of knowledge between psychiatrists and obstetrician-gynecologists is one of the major aims of the journal. Its international scope includes psychodynamics, social and biological aspects of all psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders in women. The editors especially welcome interdisciplinary studies, focussing on the interface between psychiatry, psychosomatics, obstetrics and gynecology. Archives of Women’s Mental Health publishes rigorously reviewed research papers, short communications, case reports, review articles, invited editorials, historical perspectives, book reviews, letters to the editor, as well as conference abstracts. Only contributions written in English will be accepted. The journal assists clinicians, teachers and researchers to incorporate knowledge of all aspects of women’s mental health into current and future clinical care and research.