Nordenswan Elisabeth, Deater-Deckard Kirby, Karrasch Mira, Laine Matti, Kataja Eeva-Leena, Holmberg Eeva, Eskola Eeva, Hakanen Hetti, Karlsson Hasse, Karlsson Linnea, Korja Riikka
The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Department of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.
Front Psychol. 2021 Oct 8;12:735734. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.735734. eCollection 2021.
Executive functioning (EF) is one of the building blocks in parental caregiving behavior, and contextual variables have been reported to moderate the link between EF and caregiving behavior. Although psychological distress due to various factors is prevalent during early parenthood and is negatively associated with adult EF, it is not known whether psychological distress influences the maternal EF/caregiving link. This study explored the association between maternal EF and caregiving behavior (more specifically, Emotional Availability/EA), and whether single and cumulative maternal psychological distress domains moderated the EF/EA association in a general population sample of 137 Finnish birth cohort mothers with 2.5-year-old children. EF was measured with a composite of five computerized Cogstate tasks, EA with the Emotional Availability Scales, and three psychological distress domains with self-report questionnaires (depression: EPDS, anxiety: SCL-90, insomnia: AIS). Better EF was significantly associated with more positive, sensitive caregiving, but this association was no longer significant when controlling for education level. Neither individual nor cumulative distress domains moderated the EF/EA association significantly, although the observed moderation effects were in the expected direction. These findings suggest that EF should be recognized alongside socioemotional factors as variables that are associated with parental caregiving behavior during toddlerhood. Furthermore, if the non-significant moderation results are replicated, they indicate that mothers in community samples are not at great risk for psychological distress that would compromise their capacity to utilize their EF while caring for their child. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings, as well as to examine these associations among fathers and in samples that have higher levels of chronic stressors. Studies with more diverse samples in terms of distress levels and EF performance would provide further insight into early childhood parenting and its risk factors.
执行功能（EF）是父母养育行为的基石之一，据报道，情境变量会调节EF与养育行为之间的联系。尽管在初为人父母的早期，各种因素导致的心理困扰很普遍，且与成年人的EF呈负相关，但尚不清楚心理困扰是否会影响母亲的EF/养育行为之间的联系。本研究探讨了母亲的EF与养育行为（更具体地说是情感可及性/EA）之间的关联，以及单一和累积的母亲心理困扰领域是否会调节137名有2.5岁孩子的芬兰出生队列母亲的一般人群样本中的EF/EA关联。EF通过五项计算机化的Cogstate任务的综合得分来衡量，EA通过情感可及性量表来衡量，三个心理困扰领域通过自我报告问卷来衡量（抑郁：爱丁堡产后抑郁量表，焦虑：症状自评量表90，失眠：失眠严重程度指数量表）。更好的EF与更积极、敏感的养育行为显著相关，但在控制教育水平后，这种关联不再显著。尽管观察到的调节效应在预期方向上，但无论是个体还是累积的困扰领域都没有显著调节EF/EA关联。这些发现表明，EF应与社会情感因素一起被视为与幼儿期父母养育行为相关的变量。此外，如果非显著的调节结果得到重复，它们表明社区样本中的母亲不会面临很大的心理困扰风险，这种风险会损害她们在照顾孩子时利用EF的能力。需要进一步的研究来证实这些发现，并研究父亲之间以及具有更高水平慢性应激源的样本中的这些关联。对困扰水平和EF表现方面更多样化样本的研究将为幼儿养育及其风险因素提供进一步的见解。
