Negi Shourya, Leerkes Esther M, Buehler Cheryl, Wideman Laurie, Shriver Lenka H
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
J Fam Psychol. 2025 Jun 30. doi: 10.1037/fam0001367.
The present study examined the indirect association between family economic hardship and infant socioemotional competence and behavior problems via food insecurity, maternal depressive symptoms, and maternal sensitivity. The moderating role of infant temperament on these family stress processes was also examined. The sample included 299 mother-infant dyads followed at four time points from pregnancy until infants were 14 months old. Mothers reported demographics, household food insecurity, and depressive symptoms during the third trimester of pregnancy. At 2 months postpartum, mothers reported depressive symptoms and infant temperament, including negative emotionality, surgency, and effortful control. Maternal sensitivity was observed at 6 months, and mothers reported infant behavior problems and socioemotional competence and their own depressive symptoms at 14 months. Consistent with hypotheses, economic hardship was positively associated with concurrent household food insecurity, which predicted higher prenatal depressive symptoms and subsequent maternal depressive symptoms at 2 months. Maternal depressive symptoms predicted later lower maternal sensitivity, which in turn predicted lower infant socioemotional competence. There was a significant buffering effect of infant negative emotionality such that maternal sensitivity significantly predicted higher socioemotional competence when infant negative emotionality was high. Finally, the conditional indirect pathway from food insecurity to emotional competence through depressive symptoms and maternal sensitivity was significant only for infants high on negative emotionality. Results indicate that low infant negative emotionality is a unique resilience factor that protects infants from the adverse effects of economic hardship on their emotional competence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
本研究通过粮食不安全、母亲抑郁症状和母亲敏感性，考察了家庭经济困难与婴儿社会情感能力及行为问题之间的间接关联。同时也考察了婴儿气质对这些家庭压力过程的调节作用。样本包括299对母婴二元组，从孕期到婴儿14个月大期间在四个时间点进行跟踪。母亲报告了人口统计学信息、家庭粮食不安全情况以及孕期第三个月时的抑郁症状。产后2个月时，母亲报告了抑郁症状和婴儿气质，包括消极情绪、活泼性和努力控制。在6个月时观察母亲的敏感性，母亲在14个月时报告婴儿的行为问题、社会情感能力以及她们自己的抑郁症状。与假设一致，经济困难与同期家庭粮食不安全呈正相关，而家庭粮食不安全预示着更高的产前抑郁症状以及产后2个月时母亲随后出现的抑郁症状。母亲的抑郁症状预示着随后母亲敏感性降低，进而预示着婴儿社会情感能力较低。婴儿消极情绪具有显著的缓冲作用，即当婴儿消极情绪较高时，母亲敏感性显著预示着更高的社会情感能力。最后，从粮食不安全通过抑郁症状和母亲敏感性到情绪能力的条件间接路径仅对消极情绪较高的婴儿具有显著意义。结果表明，低水平的婴儿消极情绪是一种独特的复原力因素，可保护婴儿免受经济困难对其情绪能力的不利影响。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2025美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
