SYNOPSIS

Objective. Parenting styles are complex and have been well studied in parents of children and adolescents; however, less is known about parenting styles in early infancy, especially among ethnic minority groups. This study examines empirically identifiable profiles of early parenting that are associated with later infant socioemotional development. Design. 239 young, low-income, African American (54.8%) and Latina (45.2%) mothers were videorecorded with their 3-month-old infants. At 13-months, mothers reported on their infants’ socioemotional development. Results. Person-oriented latent class analysis was used to identify four parenting styles: Sensitive/Stimulating (25%), Warm/Unstimulating (37%), Engaged/Tough (22%), and Disengaged (16%). The most common style among African American mothers was Engaged/Tough (34.4%), and the most prevalent style among Latina mothers was Warm/Unstimulating (48.2%). Infants of Warm/Unstimulating mothers had the lowest reported levels of problem behavior at 13 months, whereas infants of Sensitive/Stimulating mothers had the highest reported mastery motivation. Infants of Disengaged mothers had the highest reported levels of internalizing and total problem behavior and the lowest reported mastery motivation. Conclusions. Qualitatively distinct styles of early parenting link to different infant socioemotional outcomes in ways not fully captured by single dimensions of parenting. Practitioners working with young mothers from diverse ethnic backgrounds may be more effective at promoting positive parenting and infant development if they understand and can build on the strengths of certain parenting styles.

概要

目的。父母的教养方式很复杂，在儿童和青少年的父母中已经得到了很好的研究。但是，对于婴儿早期的养育方式知之甚少，尤其是在少数民族群体中。这项研究检查了与早期婴儿的社会情感发展有关的早期育儿的经验可识别特征。设计。239名低收入的年轻非裔美国人（54.8％）和拉丁裔（45.2％）母亲与三个月大的婴儿进行了录像。在13个月大时，母亲报告了婴儿的社会情感发展情况。结果。以人为本的潜伏类分析用于识别四种育儿方式：敏感/刺激（25％），温暖/不刺激（37％），订婚/坚强（22％）和脱离接触（16％）。在非洲裔美国母亲中，最普通的风格是订婚/坚韧（34.4％），而在拉丁裔母亲中，最流行的风格是温暖/不刺激（48.2％）。温暖/不刺激母亲的婴儿在13个月时报告的问题行为水平最低，而敏感/不刺激母亲的婴儿在掌握动机方面的信息最高。脱离母亲的婴儿在内部化和总问题行为方面的报告水平最高，而在掌握动机方面的报告水平最低。结论。在质量上截然不同的早期父母养育方式以单一的父母养育方式无法完全捕捉到不同的婴儿社会情感结局。与来自不同族裔背景的年轻母亲一起工作的从业者如果能够理解并可以基于某些育儿方式的优势，则在促进积极育儿和婴儿发展方面可能会更有效。