Abstract
Mothers’ empathic understanding of their children’s motives, thoughts, and feelings is thought to guide parenting behaviors and shape the mother-child relationship. However, little is known about the relation between empathic understanding and parenting behaviors during developmental shifts that may be emotionally challenging for mothers, such as the transition from infancy to the toddler years, or how it may relate to maternal depressive symptoms. We assessed relations between maternal empathic understanding, depression, and sensitivity. We developed a coding system, the Empathic Understanding Assessment (EUA), to measure this construct in the mothers of 30-month old children. One hundred twenty eight mother-child pairs participated in a series of lab-based tasks designed to be challenging for the children. Mothers then watched these videotaped interactions and responded to questions regarding their children’s experiences. Interview content was coded using the EUA. Results indicated that mothers higher in empathic understanding and more intensely emotional were rated as more sensitive. Maternal depression was negatively related to empathic understanding. The importance of considering the role of maternal empathic understanding in parenting behavior is discussed, as are potential implications for child outcomes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ainsworth, M. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Oxford, England: Laurence Erlbaum.
Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental, and theoretical aspects. New York: Harper & Row.
Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guilford Press.
Blaney, P. H. (1986). Affect and memory: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 229–246.
Bosquet, M., & Egeland, B. (2001). Associations among maternal depressive symptomatology, state of mind and parent and child behaviors: Implications for attachment-based interventions. Attachment and Human Development, 3, 173–199.
Bretherton, I., Biringen, Z., Ridgeway, Maslin, D., & Sherman, C. (1989). Attachment: The parental perspective. Infant Mental Health Journal, 10, 203–221.
Carter, A. S., Garrity-Rokous, E. F., Chazan-Cohen, R., Little, C., & Briggs-Gowan, M. J. (2001). Maternal depression and comorbidity: Predicting early parenting, attachment security, and toddler social-emotional problems and competencies. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 18–26.
Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F. A., & Toth, S. L. (1998). Maternal depressive disorder and contextual risk: Contributions to the development of attachment insecurity and behavior problems in toddlerhood. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 283–300.
Dawson, G., Ashman, S. B., Panagiotides, H., Hessl, D., Self, J., Yamada, E., & Embry, L. (2003). Preschool outcomes of children of depressed mothers: Role of maternal behavior, contextual risk, and children’s brain activity. Child Development, 74, 1158–1175.
Dix, T. (1991). The affective organization of parenting: Adaptive and maladaptive processes. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 3–25.
Dix, T., Gershoff, E. T., Meunier, L. N., & Miller, P. C. (2004). The affective structure of supportive parenting: Depressive symptoms, immediate emotions, and child-oriented motivation. Developmental Psychology, 40, 1212–1227.
Eich, E. (1995). Searching for mood-dependent memory. Psychological Science, 6, 67–75.
Elgar, F. J., Waschbusch, D. A., McGrath, P. J., Stewart, S. H., & Curtis, L. J. (2004). Temporal relations in daily reported maternal mood and disruptive child behaviors. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32, 237–247.
Fonagy, P., Steele, M., Steele, H., Moran, G. S., & Higgit, A. C. (1991). The capacity for understanding mental states: The reflective self in parent and child and its significance for security of attachment. Infant Mental Health Journal, 12, 201–218.
Gottlib, I. H., & McLeod, C. (1997). Information processing in anxiety and depression: A cognitive developmental perspective. In J. Burack, & J. Enns (Eds.), Attention, development, and psychopathology (pp. 350–378). New York: Guilford Press.
Hipwell, A. E., Reynolds, S., & Crick, E. P. (2004). Cognitive vulnerability to postnatal depressive symptomatology. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 22, 211–227.
IFEEL pictures: A new instrument for interpreting emotions (1993). In: Emde, R. N., Osofsky, J. D., & Butterfield, P. M. (Eds.), Madison, Connecticut: International Universities Press.
Jennings, K. D., & Abrew, A. J. (2004). Self-efficacy in 18-month old toddlers of depressed and nondepressed mothers. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 25, 133–147.
Johnson, J., Weissman, M., & Klerman, G. (1992). Service utilization and social morbidity associated with depressive symptoms in the community. Journal of the American Medical Association, 267, 1478–1483.
Katz, L. F., Wilson, B., & Gottman, J. (1999). Meta-emotion philosophy and family adjustment: Making an emotional connection. In: Cox, M. J. & Brooks-Gunn J. (Eds.), Conflict and cohesion in families: Causes and consequences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Klimes-Dougan, B., & Kopp, C. B. (1999). Children’s conflict tactics with mothers: A longitudinal investigation of the toddler and preschool years. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 45, 226–241.
Kopp, C. B. (1989). Regulation of distress and negative emotions: A developmental view. Developmental Psychology, 25, 343–354.
Koren-Karie, N., Oppenheim, D., Dolev, S., Sher, E., & Etzion-Carasso, A. (2002). Mothers’ insightfulness regarding their infants’ internal experience: Relations with maternal sensitivity and infant attachment. Developmental Psychology, 38, 534–542.
Lau, M. A., Segal, Z. V., & Williams, M. G. (2004) Teasdale’s differential activation hypothesis: Implications for mechanisms of depressive relapse and suicidal behavior. Behavior Research and Therapy, 42, 1001–1017.
Loh, C. C., & Vostanis, P. (2004). Perceived mother and child difficulties in postnatal depression. Infant and Child Development, 13, 159–171.
Martins, C., & Gaffan, E. A. (2000). Effects of early maternal depression on patterns of infant-mother attachment: A meta-analytic investigation. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 737–746.
Meins, E., Fernyhough, C., Fradley, E., & Tuckey, M. (2001). Rethinking maternal sensitivity: Mothers’ comments on infants’ mental processes predict security of attachment at 12 months. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 42, 637–648.
Meins, E., Fernyhough, C., Wainwright, R., Clark-Carter, D., Das Gupta, M., Fradley, E., & Tuckey, M. (2003). Pathways to understanding mind: Construct validity and predictive validity of maternal mind-mindedness. Child Development, 74, 1194–1211.
Meins, E., Fernyhough, C., Wainwright, R., Das Gupta, M., Fradley, E., & Tuckey, M. (2002). Maternal mind-mindedness and attachment security as predictors of theory of mind understanding. Child Development, 73, 1715–1726.
Murray, L., Woolgar, M., Cooper P., & Hipwell, A. (2001). Cognitive vulnerability to depression in 5-year-old children of depressed mothers. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 42, 891–899.
Oppenheim, D., Goldsmith, D., & Koren-Karie, N. (2004). Maternal insightfulness and preschoolers’ emotion and behavior problems: Reciprocal influences in a therapeutic preschool program. Infant Mental Health Journal, 25, 352–367.
Oppenheim, D., & Koren-Karie, N. (2002). Mothers’ insightfulness regarding their children’s internal worlds: The capacity underlying secure child-mother relationships. Infant Mental Health Journal, 23, 593–605.
Oppenheim, D., Koren-Karie, N., & Sagi, A. (2001). Mothers’ empathic understanding of their preschoolers’ internal experience: Relations with early attachment. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 25, 16–26.
Slade, A., Belsky, J., Aber, J. L., & Phelps, J. L. (1999). Mothers’ representations of their relationships with their toddlers: Links to adult attachment and observed mothering. Developmental Psychology, 35, 611–619.
Teasdale, J. D. (1983). Negative thinking in depression: Cause, effect, or reciprocal relationship? Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy, 5, 3–25.
Teasdale, J. D. (1985). Psychological treatments for depression: How do they work? Behavior Research and Therapy, 23, 157–165.
Teti, D. M., Gelfand, D. M., Messinger, D. S., & Isabella, R. (1995). Maternal depression and the quality of early attachment: An examination of infants, preschoolers, and their mothers. Developmental Psychology, 31, 364–376.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by NIHM grants R01- MH51301 to Ronald Seifer, a K01-MH-066139–04 to Alison L. Miller, and an Institutional Research Fellowship (T32-MH19927–11) to Lisa W. Coyne. The first author would like to thank Amy R. Murrell and Jane A. Bybee for their thoughtful comments on this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Coyne, L.W., Low, C.M., Miller, A.L. et al. Mothers’ Empathic Understanding of their Toddlers: Associations with Maternal Depression and Sensitivity. J Child Fam Stud 16, 483–497 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-006-9099-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-006-9099-9