Infant Mental Health Journal最新文献

Parents’ language use is an important context for early socialization. We examined the relationship between parents’ self-reported mindfulness and observed language use in two forms of attachment-relevant communication. Sixty-three parents of 6–18-month-old infants from Australia (n = 32) and New Zealand (n = 31) completed the five facets of mindfulness-short form (FFMQ-SF) questionnaire, the adult attachment interview (AAI), and a 10-min play session with their infant. We examined parents’ frequency of word usage within the categories of the linguistic inquiry word count (LIWC) text analysis program to explore the relationship between mindfulness and language use. Mindfulness was associated with cognitive, affective, perceptual, and time orientation language use in the AAI. However, fewer associations were identified between mindfulness and language use in the parent-infant play session. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance to mindfulness and attachment.

Emotions play an important role in fostering positive parenting and healthy child development. This qualitative study explored the affective experiences of racially diverse US fathers with low income across the prenatal, postnatal, and early childhood periods. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 fathers. Interview questions asked about fathers’ early parenting experiences that elicit parenting emotions of different valence. Results from thematic analysis demonstrated activation of multiple emotions depending on different proximal and distal experiences. Specific to proximal experiences, fathers reported feeling both excited and anxious about pregnancy and joyful and disappointed at childbirth. Related to distal experiences, fathers reported feeling encouraged by their social support networks that further aid their parenting, but feeling marginalized given systematic barriers (e.g., societal bias, high incarceration rates of Black fathers). Most importantly, fathers’ parenting emotions, especially negative ones, led to them resolving to stay involved in their children's lives, gaining a sense of responsibility, and changing behaviors to do right by their children. Fathers resorted to various coping strategies to regulate their negative emotions. Overall, fathers with low income are emotionally resilient. Infant and early childhood health professionals should support fathers' mental health to promote father-child engagement and thus, ultimately, young children's mental health and wellbeing.

The transition to parenthood is a significant period of transformation and adjustment for all members of a new family, reshaping relational dynamics that often endure throughout the initial years of a child's life. This qualitative and longitudinal study aimed to explore coparenting representations held by both partners in a parental couple, along with observations of their family interactions, at three distinct points in time, with the aim to better understand the interaction between these representational and behavioral observations. In-depth interviews were conducted with 17 heterosexual, first-time parents in Santiago de Chile, during pregnancy and at two different times during the first year of their child's life. Family interactions were assessed using the Lausanne Trilogue Play task (LTP) on all occasions. Three main coparenting representation categories emerged: traditional, ambiguous, and co-responsible. On observation, approximately half of the couples showed cooperative coparenting interactions, while the other half had conflictual interactions. Couples generally followed stable trajectories over time. Cooperative couples demonstrated co-responsibility and open dialogue, while conflictual couples tended to follow traditional gender roles with tacit communication styles. This study highlights the importance of promoting co-responsibility and dialogue for fostering cooperative relational dynamics during the critical transition to parenthood.

Communimetric screening tools help clinicians identify and communicate their patient's areas of need and the corresponding level of action. However, few tools exist to identify mental health (MH) and developmental needs in young children. We aimed to implement and evaluate a new communimetric MH and developmental screening tool for children under 6 (HEADS-ED Under 6) in a community MH agency in Ontario, Canada. Using a prospective cohort design, we explored how intake workers used the HEADS-ED Under 6 screening tool from November 2019 to March 2021. 94.5% of children (n = 535/566) were screened with the HEADS-ED at intake. Total HEADS-ED scores and domains were used to inform the intensity of recommended services. Three clinical domains (Eating & sleeping, Development, speech/language/motor, and Emotions & behaviors) also independently predicted a priority recommendation. The tool showed good concordance with the InterRAI Early Years for children under 4 years old. The HEADS-ED Under 6 was a brief, easy, and valid screening tool, and can be used to identify important MH and developmental domains early, rate level of action/impairment, communicate severity of needs, and help determine intensity of service required.

Opioid use disorder (OUD) among pregnant people has increased dramatically during the opioid epidemic, affecting a significant number of families with young children. Parents with OUD commonly face significant challenges as they are often balancing the stress of caring for young children with maintaining recovery and co-occurring psychosocial challenges (e.g., mental health, low social support). Toward designing interventions to address parenting needs among parents with OUD, we conducted a mixed-methods study to understand the acceptability of receiving parenting support prenatally among pregnant people with OUD residing in the United States. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among 18 pregnant and early postpartum people recruited from a substance use treatment program specializing in the care of pregnant and parenting populations. Among all participants, a prenatal parenting program that comprehensively addresses recovery, parenting, and wellbeing was found to be widely acceptable. Regarding content most desirable within a parenting intervention, participants indicated an interest in breastfeeding, caring for newborns with in-utero opioid exposure, parent-infant bonding, infant soothing techniques, their own wellbeing/mental health, and parenting skills. We introduce a prenatal adaptation of the well-established Family Check-up parenting intervention as a novel, prenatal intervention to prevent negative outcomes for caregivers in recovery and their children.

This study examined the associations between maternal depression and oxytocin in pregnancy, caregiving sensitivity and adult attachment style, and infant temperament. One hundred and six women recruited from a public hospital antenatal clinic in Australia, and their infants completed assessments at three time points (Time 1: pregnancy; Time 2: 3-month postpartum; Time 3: 12-month postpartum). Mothers completed self-report questionnaires assessing maternal depression symptom severity at Time 1–3, adult attachment style at Time 2, and infant temperament at Time 3. At Time 1, they also provided a blood sample to assess peripheral oxytocin levels, and at Time 2, participated in a parent–child interaction session, which was later coded for caregiving behavior (sensitivity). Neither maternal depression nor lower levels of oxytocin during pregnancy predicted difficult infant temperament; rather, it was predicted by non-Caucasian ethnicity. When all other variables were free to vary, adult attachment avoidance mediated an association between maternal depression during pregnancy and difficult infant temperament. Results highlight the potential value of interventions focusing on adult attachment insecurity for pregnant women and raise questions about associations between culture/ethnicity and infant temperament.

Savoring impacts parents’ emotions and parent–child relationship quality. Using data from a randomized controlled trial (N = 164 mothers of 18–27-month-olds, 37 interveners) conducted with a community sample in the United States, this study examined predictors of fidelity and treatment outcomes across two savoring preventative interventions (relational savoring and personal savoring). Treatment outcome indicators were selected from a battery administered immediately post-intervention (maternal closeness to child) and at a 3-month follow-up (maternal sensitivity, reflective functioning). We examined whether intervener education level (bachelor's degree/no bachelor's degree) predicted fidelity (Research Question 1), whether intervener education level predicted treatment outcomes (Research Question 2), and whether fidelity predicted treatment outcomes (Research Question 3). In many cases, intervener education background was not related to fidelity or treatment outcome; however, interveners without bachelor's degrees showed greater adherence to the protocols on some scales (higher positivity, higher secure base, higher calm matching) and sessions with these interveners were associated with greater increases in maternal sensitivity. Regardless of the intervener education level, redirecting attention to the positive and calmly matching participants’ tone were associated with higher maternal reflective functioning, and higher secure base scores were associated with greater closeness. Findings have implications for the training and implementation of prevention programs for parents.

An efficient, multidimensional instrument is needed to screen non-optimal prenatal parental representations predictive of postnatal parenting behavior and child attachment. The present work aimed to revise and validate the Prenatal Caregiving Expectations Questionnaire—Revised (PCEQ-R). Survey data from two independent samples of pregnant, primarily Danish, women (N = 300/322) were collected to 1) test the factor structure and select items for a 20-item version, and 2) confirm the factor structure, examine internal consistency, and establish initial construct validity. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor model of helpless-dysregulated, anxious-hyperactivated, and avoidant-deactivated caregiving representations. Internal consistency was acceptable (α > .73). Construct validity analyses showed that higher helpless-dysregulated caregiving was associated with low maternal antenatal attachment quality (r_s = −.36) and intensity (r_s = −.11), increased risk of perinatal depression (r_{s =} .37), and trait anxiety (r_{s =} .37). Higher anxious-hyperactivated caregiving was associated with better maternal antenatal attachment quality (r_{s =} .20) and higher intensity (r_s = .26), while avoidant-deactivated caregiving was not associated with maternal antenatal attachment. These findings support the validity and multidimensional structure of the measure. The homogenous nature of the sample limits generalizability of results. Future studies should examine predictive validity of the PCEQ-R and include clinical samples.

This paper is based on a symposium on mentoring in infant mental health that took place at the 18th World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH) conference. The symposium commemorated Robert N. Emde who was one of the founders of the field of Infant Mental Health, and devoted much of his career to mentorship. From an IMH perspective, mentoring experiences are best thought of as relationships, significant for both mentor and mentee, with positive mentoring experiences crucial for the development of IMH clinicians and researchers. The symposium participants, two pairs of mentor-mentee dyads, first gave an opening statement about what mentoring meant for them generally and personally, and then addressed three issues: the goodness of fit between mentor and mentee, “light and shadow” in mentoring relationships, and balancing old wisdom with new trends in mentoring. The paper brings the participants’ views and personal experiences regarding these issues in their own words, highlighting key personal and professional issues related to mentorship from the perspectives of both mentor and mentee.