Mothers' Empathic Understanding of Their Toddlers: Associations with Maternal Depression and Sensitivity

Mothers' empathic understanding of their children's motives, thoughts, and feelings is thought to guide parenting behaviors and shape the mother-child relationship. However, little is known about the relation between empathic understanding and parenting behaviors during developmental shift...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of child and family studies 2007-08, Vol.16 (4), p.483-497
Main Authors: Coyne, Lisa W, Low, Christine M, Miller, Alison L, Seifer, Ronald, Dickstein, Susan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavior Problems
Child development
Child Rearing
Correlation
Depression
Depression (Psychology)
Developmental Stages
Emotional Response
Empathy
Infants
Interaction
Mental depression
Mother-Child relationships
Mothers
Parent Child Relationship
Parenting Styles
Parents & parenting
Preschool children
Psychological Patterns
Sensitivity
Symptoms (Individual Disorders)
Toddlers
Video Technology
Young Children
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Summary:Mothers' empathic understanding of their children's motives, thoughts, and feelings is thought to guide parenting behaviors and shape the mother-child relationship. However, little is known about the relation between empathic understanding and parenting behaviors during developmental shifts that may be emotionally challenging for mothers, such as the transition from infancy to the toddler years, or how it may relate to maternal depressive symptoms. We assessed relations between maternal empathic understanding, depression, and sensitivity. We developed a coding system, the Empathic Understanding Assessment (EUA), to measure this construct in the mothers of 30-month old children. One hundred twenty eight mother-child pairs participated in a series of lab-based tasks designed to be challenging for the children. Mothers then watched these videotaped interactions and responded to questions regarding their children's experiences. Interview content was coded using the EUA. Results indicated that mothers higher in empathic understanding and more intensely emotional were rated as more sensitive. Maternal depression was negatively related to empathic understanding. The importance of considering the role of maternal empathic understanding in parenting behavior is discussed, as are potential implications for child outcomes.
ISSN:1062-1024
1573-2843
DOI:10.1007/s10826-006-9099-9