Executive function and parenting in the context of homelessness

Amy R. Monn; Angela J. Narayan; Amanda W. Kalstabakken; Erin C. Schubert; Ann S. Masten

doi:10.1037/fam0000275

Executive function and parenting in the context of homelessness

Amy R. Monn, Angela J. Narayan, Amanda W. Kalstabakken, Erin C. Schubert, Ann S. Masten

Institute of Child Development

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

There is mounting evidence that maternal executive function (EF) plays a critical role in parenting behavior. However, the majority of the research on this topic has been conducted in low-risk samples. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether individual differences in maternal EF are associated with parenting behavior in the high-risk, high adversity context of family homelessness. The study included 94 mothers and their children, ages 4 to 6 years, living in emergency homeless shelters. Mothers completed a battery of "hot" and "cool" EF tasks as well as a self-report questionnaire of perceived stress. Parenting measures were based on observed parent-child interactions that were later coded for harsh and positive parenting practices. Results indicated that hot EF in mothers was related to positive parenting. The relation between maternal planning ability, assessed by a cool EF task, and harsh parenting was also significant, but only for mothers reporting higher levels of stress. These findings add to a growing body of research suggesting that the influence of EF and other forms of cognitive control on parenting need to be interpreted within the context of environmental stress and adversity.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	61-70
Number of pages	10
Journal	Journal of Family Psychology
Volume	31
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000275
State	Published - Feb 1 2017

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was supported in part by research funds provided by the Irving B. Harris Professorship in Child Development (awarded to the sixth author), graduate fellowships from the University of Minnesota Center for Personalized Prevention Research for the first author, the University of Minnesota for the second author, the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the first and third author, and the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) for the fourth author, and seed grants from the Institute of Child Development and Center for Neurobehavioral Development at the University of Minnesota awarded to the first author.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Psychological Association.

Keywords

Environmental stress
Executive function
Homelessness
Parenting

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abstract = "There is mounting evidence that maternal executive function (EF) plays a critical role in parenting behavior. However, the majority of the research on this topic has been conducted in low-risk samples. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether individual differences in maternal EF are associated with parenting behavior in the high-risk, high adversity context of family homelessness. The study included 94 mothers and their children, ages 4 to 6 years, living in emergency homeless shelters. Mothers completed a battery of {"}hot{"} and {"}cool{"} EF tasks as well as a self-report questionnaire of perceived stress. Parenting measures were based on observed parent-child interactions that were later coded for harsh and positive parenting practices. Results indicated that hot EF in mothers was related to positive parenting. The relation between maternal planning ability, assessed by a cool EF task, and harsh parenting was also significant, but only for mothers reporting higher levels of stress. These findings add to a growing body of research suggesting that the influence of EF and other forms of cognitive control on parenting need to be interpreted within the context of environmental stress and adversity.",

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note = "Funding Information: This research was supported in part by research funds provided by the Irving B. Harris Professorship in Child Development (awarded to the sixth author), graduate fellowships from the University of Minnesota Center for Personalized Prevention Research for the first author, the University of Minnesota for the second author, the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the first and third author, and the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) for the fourth author, and seed grants from the Institute of Child Development and Center for Neurobehavioral Development at the University of Minnesota awarded to the first author. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 American Psychological Association.",

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Executive function and parenting in the context of homelessness

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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