Maternal Psychological Absence and Toddlers' Social-Emotional Development: Interpretations From the Perspective of Boundary Ambiguity Theory

The current study tests a novel latent construct reflecting psychological absence and examines its relations with maternal depression, mother–toddler interactions, and toddlers' social‐emotional outcomes in a low‐income sample (N = 2,632). Structural equation modeling confirmed a psychological...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Family process 2012-12, Vol.51 (4), p.527-541
Main Authors: Bocknek, Erika L., Brophy-Herb, Holly E., Fitzgerald, Hiram, Burns-Jager, Kathleen, Carolan, Marsha T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Ambiguity
Biological and medical sciences
Boundary Ambiguity
Child
Child Development
Child, Preschool
Children
Children & youth
Couple and family
Depression (Psychology)
Depression - diagnosis
Depression - physiopathology
Developmental psychology
Emotions
Families & family life
Family environment. Family history
Family Relations
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Low Income Groups
Male
Medical sciences
Mother-Child Relations
Mothers
Mothers - psychology
Object Attachment
Parents & parenting
Psychological Absence
Psychological Theories
Psychological Theory
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry
Social psychology
Social-Emotional Development
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:The current study tests a novel latent construct reflecting psychological absence and examines its relations with maternal depression, mother–toddler interactions, and toddlers' social‐emotional outcomes in a low‐income sample (N = 2,632). Structural equation modeling confirmed a psychological absence construct and revealed that psychological absence, measured at the child's 36‐month birthday‐related assessment, is a significant predictor of children's social‐emotional development at 36 months, mediated by mother–child interaction. Results are interpreted within a boundary ambiguity framework. 摘要 本研究测试反映心理缺失的一个新颖潜在构念,并考查其在低收入样本(N=2632)人群中与母亲抑郁、母亲—幼童互动和幼童的社会情感结果的关系。结构方程模式证实了心理缺失构念,表明心理缺失(儿童的36个月生日相关评估时测量)是儿童36个月时社会情感发育的重要预示,受母亲‐儿童互动调节。测试结果从边界模糊框架进行了阐释。 RESUMEN El presente estudio evalúa un constructo novedoso latente que refleja la ausencia psicológica y estudia sus relaciones con la depresión materna, las interacciones entre las madres y sus hijos pequeños y los resultados socioemocionales de estos niños en una muestra de personas de bajos recursos (N=2,632). Las ecuaciones estructurales confirmaron un constructo de ausencia psicológica y revelaron que dicha ausencia, evaluada a los 36 meses del niño, es un predictor importante del desarrollo socioemocional de los niños a los 36 meses mediado por la interacción entre la madre y el niño. Los resultados se interpretan dentro del marco de la ambigüedad de límites.
ISSN:0014-7370
1545-5300
DOI:10.1111/j.1545-5300.2012.01411.x