Mindfully Parenting the Next Generation: Maternal History of Child Maltreatment, Stress, and Infant Attachment

dc.contributor.advisorAblow, Jennifer
dc.contributor.authorHertz, Robin
dc.date.accessioned2020-02-27T20:27:14Z
dc.date.available2020-02-27T20:27:14Z
dc.date.issued2020-02-27
dc.description.abstractChild maltreatment is associated with an enormous public health cost, and can be perpetuated intergenerationally via developmental effects of maltreatment (e.g., difficulties in stress regulation) that influence quality of caregiving. Mindfulness and mindful parenting have been associated with secure attachment, and may have therapeutic potential to enhance stress regulation and attachment security in parent-child dyads. The current study examined potential moderating effects of dispositional mindfulness and mindful parenting on the associations between maternal history of child maltreatment and mother/infant acute stress recovery as well as infant attachment classification. Mothers and infants participated in a stressful procedure designed to activate attachment behavior. Mothers and infants also provided cortisol samples after the procedure to provide information about physiological stress recovery. A significant interaction was found such that the infants of mothers with more severe histories of child maltreatment showed enhanced cortisol recovery when maternal dispositional mindfulness was high. Maternal mindfulness, however, was not otherwise associated with mother or infant cortisol recovery, nor did maternal history of child maltreatment or mindfulness significantly predict infant attachment classification. In contrast to expectations, maternal history of child maltreatment was associated with enhanced maternal cortisol recovery. This study provides preliminary evidence that higher levels of maternal dispositional mindfulness may indirectly help infants of mothers with more severe histories of child maltreatment to recover more efficiently from attachment-related stress.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/25205
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregon
dc.rightsAll Rights Reserved.
dc.subjectattachmenten_US
dc.subjectchild maltreatmenten_US
dc.subjectcortisolen_US
dc.subjectHPA axisen_US
dc.subjectinfant stressen_US
dc.subjectmaternal stressen_US
dc.titleMindfully Parenting the Next Generation: Maternal History of Child Maltreatment, Stress, and Infant Attachment
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
thesis.degree.disciplineDepartment of Psychology
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Oregon
thesis.degree.leveldoctoral
thesis.degree.namePh.D.

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