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Observational Context of Mother-Child Interaction: Impact of a stress Context on Emotional Availability

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Abstract

Previous studies have found that a stressful observational context challenges the mother-child relationship, thus highlighting negative interactive behavior. However, the impact of observational context has only been investigated in infants and preschoolers without specifically using the Emotional Availability Scales. Nor have they explored whether the association of mother-child interaction with children’s emotional or behavioral problems depends on the observational context. We observed 140 mothers and their five to 12-year-old children in non-stressful free play and in a stressful task context. In general, dyads showed higher emotional availability in the task context compared to the free play. Specifically, mothers showed higher levels of Sensitivity, Structuring and Nonhostility, but lower levels of Nonintrusiveness during the task compared to the free play context; children showed higher levels of Responsiveness during the task than during free play. After controlling for dyadic stress, contextual effects decreased for all dimensions of emotional availability. The association of mother-child interaction with child problem behavior depended on the observational context. Specifically, we found maternal emotional availability during free play to be more strongly associated with child problem behavior than during the stressful task; however, emotional availability of the child was more strongly associated with problem behavior when obtained during the task. We conclude that context impacts on mother-child interactive behavior and also on the association of mother-child-interaction and child behavior. Stress is a relevant contextual factor influencing mother-child interactive behavior.

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Acknowledgment

We would like to thank all families for participating in our study. This work was supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under Grant 01KR1207C.

Author Contributions

K.D. executed the study, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper. A.F. executed the study, assisted with the data analyses, and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. D.F. executed the study and collaborated in the editing of the manuscript. F.B. designed and executed the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. D.K. executed the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. C.H.A. executed the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. C.J. executed the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. A.L.Z. executed the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. M.L. assisted with the data analyses and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. C.R. collaborated with the design and writing of the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. S.C.H. designed and executed the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. R.B. designed and executed the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. E.M. collaborated with the design and writing of the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. F.R. collaborated with the design and writing of the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. S.W. assisted in executing the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. U.L. assisted in designing and executing the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. K.B. designed and executed the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Katja Dittrich, Daniel Führer, Charlotte Jaite, Sibylle Maria Winter, Ulrike Lehmkuhl & Katja Bödeker

  2. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Anna Fuchs, Romuald Brunner, Eva Möhler & Franz Resch

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Felix Bermpohl, Dorothea Kluczniok & Catherine Hindi Attar

  4. Institute of Medical Psychology, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Anna-Lena Zietlow

  5. Department of Social Pediatrics, Technical University, Munich, Germany

    Maria Licata

  6. Department of Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology and Counseling Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany

    Corinna Reck

  7. Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Sabine C. Herpertz

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  1. Katja Dittrich
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  2. Anna Fuchs
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  15. Sibylle Maria Winter
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Correspondence to Katja Dittrich.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Dittrich, K., Fuchs, A., Führer, D. et al. Observational Context of Mother-Child Interaction: Impact of a stress Context on Emotional Availability. J Child Fam Stud 26, 1583–1591 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0678-8

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