Most people assume that stress can make individuals more irritable, moody or any of the other negative emotions, but now recent research, which will be published Oct. 19, shows empirical data to support the assumption of bad parenting in stressed mothers.
Mothers suffering from depression may be oversensitive and highly reactive, whereas mothers who struggle with poverty or live in high-crime neighborhoods were more apt to be disengaging and not pay attention to their toddlers. The stress was identified by changes in body responses which altered the positive parenting skills suggested in the common care of small children.
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Maternal stress and parenting
Research from University of Rochester explains how chronic stress in mothers may reflect problems in parenting. The study conducted found the psychosocial stressors of poverty and depression interrupt the body’s stress response influencing mothers to become more insensitive, hostile, intrusive or neglectful towards their children.
The study measured hyperactive and underactive stress responses with heart rate monitors in poor and depressive moms while engaging specific situations with their children.
"Stress gets under your skin," explains Melissa Sturge-Apple, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Rochester and lead author on the Development and Psychopathology paper to be published October 19. "It literally changes the way a mother's body responds to the normal demands of small children and those changes make it much harder to parent positively." University of Rochester
The research was supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research.
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