Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T03:43:11.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Maternal Representations of Relationships: Assessing Multiple Parenting Dimensions

from Part One - Theoretical Perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

By
Donna R. Steinberg  and
Robert C. Pianta
Edited by
Ofra Mayseless
Donna R. Steinberg
Affiliation:
Dartmouth College
Robert C. Pianta
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
Ofra Mayseless
Affiliation:
University of Haifa, Israel
Get access

Summary

Abstract

This chapter describes a series of studies using an adapted version of the Parent Development Interview (PDI) to assess dimensions of parenting in addition to attachment, such as parents' orientation towards achievement and compliance, and the business of caretaking. The results demonstrate the following points regarding maternal representations: 1) maternal representations of not only attachment, but also discipline and teaching, seem to be organized and measurable; 2) these three parenting dimensions are not redundant; 3) they relate to characteristics of the child (such as birth order, verbal IQ, disability status, and gender) and characteristics of the mother (such as age, education, income, sensitivity with her child, and psychological adjustment); and 4) they differentially predict aspects of maternal behavior, even when maternal education and psychological characteristics are taken into account. Anger, perspective-taking, and achievement were found to be particularly important dimensions of maternal representations.

Originally, Bowlby developed attachment theory to explain the nature of children's bonds to their parents in terms of their biological function, and to account for disturbing behaviors observed in infants subjected to prolonged separations from significant attachment figures (1969). With further developments in attachment theory, Main, Kaplan, and Cassidy (1985) suggested that parents' mental representations of their own childhood attachment experiences strongly influence the quality of their child's attachment to them. Mental representations, also called internal working models or representational models, are cognitive structures that develop when individuals are exposed to many similar, yet different, experiences.

Type
Chapter
Information
Parenting Representations
Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications
 , pp. 41 - 78
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aber, J. L., Belsky, J., Slade, A., & Crnic, K. (1999). Stability and change in mothers' representations of their relationship with their toddlers. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1038–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aber, J. L., Slade, A., Berger, B., Bresgi, I., & Kaplan, M. (1985). The Parent Development Interview. Unpublished manuscript, New York: Barnard College, Department of Psychology.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, M. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Beck, J. S. (1995). Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and Loss: Volume I. Attachment. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and Loss: Volume 2. Separation. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and Loss: Volume 3. Loss, Sadness, and Depression. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bretherton, I. (1985). Attachment theory: Retrospect and prospect. In , I. Bretherton & , E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50, (1–2, serial No. 209), 3–37.Google Scholar
Bretherton, I., Biringen, Z., Ridgeway, D., Maslin, C., & Sherman, M. (1989). Attachment: The parental perspective. Infant Mental Health Journal, 10 (3), 203–21.3.0.CO;2-8>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bretherton, I., Ridgeway, D., & Cassidy, J. (1990). Assessing internal working models of the attachment relationship: An attachment story completion task for 3-year-olds. In Greenberg, Ciccetti, & Cummings, (Eds.), Attachment in the Preschool Years. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 273–308.Google Scholar
Button, S., Pianta, R. C., & Marvin, R. S. (2001). Mothers' representations and child disability. Social Development, 10 (4), 455–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Condry, J. & Condry, S. (1976). Sex differences: A study of the eye of the beholder. Child Development, 47 (3), 812–19.Google Scholar
Costa, P. & McCrae, R. (1985). The NEO Personality Inventory Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resource.Google Scholar
Cowan, P. A., Cowan, C. P., & Kerig, P. K. (1993). Mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters: Gender differences in family formation and parenting style. In , D. Field, & , P. A. Cowan, (Eds), Family, Self, and Society: Toward a New Agenda for Family Research. (pp. 165–95). Hillsdale, NJ; Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Craik, K. J. W. (1943). The Nature of Explanation. Oxford, England: University Press, Macmillan.Google Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. & DiLalla, D. L. (1988). Compulsive compliance: The development of an inhibitory coping strategy in infancy. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 16 (5), 585–99.CrossRef
Dunn, J., Kendrick, C., & MacNamee, R. (1981). The reaction of first-born children to the birth of a sibling: Mothers' reports. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 22 (1), 1–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Emde, R. N. (1989). The infant's relationship experience: Developmental and affective aspects. In Emde, R. N. & Sameroff, A. J. (Eds.), Relationship Disutrbances in Early Childhood: A Development Approach. New York: Basic Books, pp. 35–51.Google Scholar
Fagot, B. (1995). Parenting of boys and girls. In Bornstein, M. H. (Ed.) Handbook of Parenting, Vol. 1: Children and Parenting. Hillsdale, NJ; Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., pp. 163–83.Google Scholar
Fonagy, P., Steele, H., & Steele, M. (1991). Maternal representations of attachment during pregnancy predict the organization of infant-mother attachment at one year of age. Child Development, 62, 891–905.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fox, N. (1995). Of the way we were: Adult memories about attachment experiences and their role in determining infant-parent relationships: A commentary on van IJzendoorn (1995). Psychological Bulletine, 117, 404–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furman, W. (1995). Parenting siblings. In Bornstein, M. H. (Ed.), Handbook of Parenting, Vol. 1: Children and Parenting. Hillsdale, NJ; Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., pp. 143–62.Google Scholar
George, C., Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1985). An Adult Attachment Interview. Unpublished manuscript, University of California at Berkeley.Google Scholar
George, C. & Solomon, J. (1996). Representational models of relationships: Links between caregiving and representation. Infant Mental Health Journal, 17, 198–216.3.0.CO;2-L>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gjerde, P. F. (1995). Alternative pathways to chronic depressive symptoms in young adults: Gender differences in developmental trajectories. Child Development, 66 (5), 1277–300.CrossRef
Gotlib, I. H., McLachlan, A. L., & Katz, A. N. (1988). Biases in visual attention in depressed and nondepressed individuals. Cognition and Emotion, 2 (3), 185–200.CrossRef
Haft, W. & Slade, A. (1989). Affect attunement and maternal attachment: A pilot study. Infant Mental Health Journal, 10 (3), 157–72.3.0.CO;2-3>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson-Laird, P. K. (1983). Mental Models: Towards a Cognitive Science of Language, Inference, and Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Kendrick, C. & Dunn, J. (1982). Protest or pleasure? The response of first-born children to interactions between their mothers and infant siblings. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 23 (2), 117–29.CrossRef
Lamb, M. F., Frodi, A. M., Hwang, C. P., Frodi, M., & Steinberg, J. (1982). Effect of gender and caretaking role on parent-infant interaction. In Emde, R. N. & Harmon, R. J. (Eds.), The Development of Attachment and Affiliative Style. New York: Plenum Press, 109–18.Google Scholar
Lynch, M. & Cicchetti, D. (1991). Patterns of relatedness in maltreated and nonmaltreated children: Connections among multiple representational models. Development and Psychopathology, 3 (2), 207–26.CrossRef
Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50 (1–2, Serial No. 209).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Main, M. & Stadtman, J. (1981). Infant response to rejection of physical contact by the mother. Aggression, avoidance, and conflict. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 20, 292–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Main, M., Tomasini, L., & Tolan, W. (1979). Differences among mothers of infants judged to differ in security. Developmental Psychology, 15 (4), 472–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCabe, S. B. & Gotlib, I. H. (1995). Selective attention and clinical depression: Performance on a deployment-of-attention task. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104 (1), 241–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Messina–Sayre, J., Pianta, R. C., Marvin, R. S., & Saft, E. W. (2001). Mothers' representations of relationships with their children: Relations with mother characteristics and feeding sensitivity. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 26 (6), 375–84.CrossRef
Pianta, R. C. (1999). Enhancing Relationships between Children and Teachers. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pianta, R. C., Connor, O' T. G., & Marvin, R. S. (1993). Measuring Representations of Parenting: An Interview-based System. Unpublished manuscript, University of Virginia, Charlottesville.Google Scholar
Radloff, L. (1977). The CES-D Scale: a self-reported depression scale for research in the general populatoin. Applied Biological Measurement, 1, 385–401.Google Scholar
Reynell, J. (1991). Reynell Developmental Language Scales (U.S. Edition). Los Angeles: Western Psychological Service.
Schank, R. C. & Abelson, R. P. (1977). Scripts, Plans, Goals and Understanding: An Inquiry into Human Knowledge Structures. Oxford, England: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Shrader, W. K. & Leventhal, T. (1968). Birth order of children and parental report of problems. Child Development, 39 (4), 1164–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Slade, A., Aber, J. L., Cohen, L., Fiorello, C. A., Meyer, J. DeSear, & Waller, (1993). Parent Development Interview Coding System. Manuscript.Google Scholar
Slade, A., Belsky, J., Aber, J. L., & Phelps, J. (1999). Mothers' representations of their relationships with their toddlers: Links to adult attachment and observed mothering. Developmental Psychology, 35, 611–19.Google Scholar
Snedecor, G. W. & Cochran, W. G. (1980). Statistical Methods. Ames Iowa State University Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, A., Birch, H. G., Chess, S., & Robbins, L. C. (1961). Individuality in responses of children to similar environmental situations. American Journal of Psychiatry, 117, 798–803.Google Scholar
IJzendoorn, M. (1995). Adult attachment representations, parental responsiveness, and infant attachment: A meta-analysis on the predictive validity of the adult attachment interview. Psychological Bulletin, 117 (3), 387–403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
IJzendoorn, M. H., Kranenburg, M., Zwart-Woudstra, A., Busschbach, A., & Lambermom, M. (1991). Parental attachment and children's socioemotional development: Some findings on the validity of the Adult Attachment Interview in the Netherlands. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 14, 375–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vandell, D. L. (1979). The effects of a playgroup experience on mother-son and father-don interaction. Developmental Psychology, 15, 379–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waters, E. & Deane, K. (1985). Defining and assessing individual difference in attachment relationships: Q-methodology and the organization of behavior in infancy and early childhood. In Bretherton, I. and Waters, E. (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50 (1–2, serial No. 209), 41–65.Google Scholar
Winer, B. J. (1971). Statistical Principles in Experimental Design. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Zeanah, C. H., Benoit, D., Hirshberg, L., & Barton, M. L. (1993). Working Model of the Child Interview: Rating Scales and Classifications. Unpublished manuscript, New Orleans: Louisiana State University School of Medicine.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×