Harsh discipline in toddlerhood : A longitudinal study on maternal physiological and behavioral predictors

Abstract

In the current thesis we investigate both maternal sensitivity and physiological reactivity to infant crying as potential early indicators of later harsh discipline. In sum, we found that highly sensitive mothers in dyadic interactions with their 3-month old infants showed greater HR reactivity and RSA withdrawal in response to cry sounds when compared to less sensitive mothers. The construct of maternal sensitivity proved to be stable over time, with the same construct underlying observations of maternal sensitivity across various settings. Furthermore, mothers who displayed less sensitive behavior in response to their infants at 3 months were also less sensitive during interaction at 6 months, which in turn predicted more harsh discipline use during the second year after birth. Last, our results showed that mothers who were observed to be harsh with their infants at 12 months showed a stronger sympathetic activation in response to repeated infant crying at 3 months. This seems to suggest that harsh parents are behaviorally as well as physiologically overreactive to negative infant signals.