Parental Psychological Control: Maternal, Adolescent, and Contextual Predictors

Parental psychological control (PC) hinders the development of autonomy, identity formation, and the attainment of self-determination and individuation of adolescents. The aim of this study was to deepen the understanding of which conditions increase the risk of the use of maternal PC by simultaneously considering the contribution of adolescent temperament, maternal separation anxiety, and adolescents’ perception of interparental conflict. A correlational study involving a sample of 106 Chilean adolescent-mother dyads was done. Adolescents were, on average, 15.42 years old (SD = 1.09) and 77% male. Mothers were, on average, 45.46 years old (SD = 6.39). We administered self-report questionnaires to the adolescent measuring effortful control and frustration as temperamental dimensions, along with the perception of interparental conflict. Mothers reported on their separation anxiety. Both the adolescents and their mothers reported on the use of maternal PC. Adolescents reported higher levels of maternal PC than their mothers did. All predictors were associated with PC reports. Higher levels of maternal anxiety about adolescent distancing, inter-parental conflict, and adolescent frustration were associated with higher reported levels of PC. In contrast, higher levels of adolescent effortful control were associated with lower levels of maternal PC. Finally, when maternal separation anxiety and inter-parental conflict were high there was a higher use of maternal PC. The present findings inform on how adolescent’s self-regulatory skills could reduce the risk of being exposed to maternal PC. And highlight the importance of using a systemic and interactional conceptualization when trying to understand their use.

Examining the Factorial Structure of the Maternal Separation Anxiety Scale in a Portuguese Sample

The increase in women’s labor market participation emphasizes the importance of understanding maternal separation anxiety, that is, the unpleasant maternal emotional state, due to the actual or anticipated short-term separation from the child. Drawing on the insights of the attachment and psychoanalytic perspectives, the Maternal Separation Anxiety Scale (MSAS) was developed to overcome existing measurement gaps. However, prior research did not replicate its original three-factor structure in the contemporary context and in other cultural settings, using large samples composed of mothers of preschool children. This study aimed to examine the factorial structure of the MSAS in a sample of 597 Portuguese mothers of children aged 5–84 months who completed the questionnaire. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) conducted in subsample 1 revealed a four-factor structure: Maternal Negative Feelings, Beliefs about Exclusive Maternal Care, Need of Proximity, and Perceptions of Separation Benefits for Children. Confirmatory factor analyses conducted in subsample 2 revealed that the original three-factor structure revealed a poor fit, whereas the four-factor solution (obtained in the EFA) revealed an acceptable fit. As in previous studies, our findings report deviations from the original three-factor structure of the MSAS. Three of the newly identified factors seem to reflect specific sub-dimensions that originally guided item development in the MSAS, namely, maternal negative feelings, maternal attitudes about the value of exclusive maternal care, and the need of proximity with the child. The last factor appears to represent a refinement of original items pertaining to perceptions about separation effects for children.

Genetic Regulation of Maternal Oxytocin Response and Its Influences on Maternal Behavior

We interrogated the genetic modulation of maternal oxytocin response and its association with maternal behavior using genetic risk scores within the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene. We identified a novel SNP, rs968389, to be significantly associated with maternal oxytocin response after a challenging mother-infant interaction task (Still Face Paradigm) and maternal separation anxiety from the infant. Performing a multiallelic analysis across OXTR by calculating a cumulative genetic risk score revealed a significant gene-by-environment (G×E) interaction, with OXTR genetic risk score interacting with adult separation anxiety to modulate levels of maternal sensitivity. Mothers with higher OXTR genetic risk score and adult separation anxiety showed significantly reduced levels of maternal sensitivity during free play with the infant. The sameG×Einteraction was also observed for the extended OXTR cumulative genetic risk score that included rs968389. Moreover, the extended cumulative OXTR genetic risk score itself was found to be significantly associated with maternal separation anxiety as it specifically relates to the infant. Our results suggest a complex montage of individual and synergistic genetic mediators of maternal behavior. These findings add to specific knowledge about genetic regulation of maternal oxytocin response in relation to maternal adjustment and infant bonding through the first few months of life.

Petrifying Attachments: Fear and Safety in Jeanette Winterson's Tanglewreck and The Battle of the Sun

This article focuses on Jeanette Winterson's two most extended works of fiction for children, Tanglewreck and The Battle of the Sun, identifying them as narratives of longing and adventure engaging directly with questions of childhood fear and safety. In 2007 I wrote an article on Winterson's adult fiction which focused on her use of vertical imagery. Using such vertiginous drops, I argued, Winterson explores the perilous opportunities afforded by disengaging from a woman-centred storytelling tradition, thus enabling her to ‘go it alone’. In Tanglewreck and The Battle of the Sun, these vertical images return and are again connected with questions of attachment and disengagement, yet now with an increasingly overt agenda of negotiating maternal separation anxiety. In Winterson's 2011 memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, the journey of the first-person narrator, as she travels from child to adulthood, is shrouded in fears linked to lost origins and a safe sense of belonging. As this article shows, these are also the issues facing Silver and Jack, the child protagonists of Tanglewreck and The Battle of the Sun.