Interparental conflict predicts developmental trajectories of maternal sensitivity across early childhood

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• Author: Jill M. Trumbell,German Posada,Laura Anaya
• Date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12770

RESEARCH

Interparental conflict predicts developmental

trajectories of maternal sensitivity across

early childhood

Jill M. Trumbell

1

|German Posada

2

|Laura Anaya

3

1

Human Development and Family Studies,

University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH

2

Human Development and Family Studies,

Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

3

Start Early, Chicago, IL

Correspondence

J. M. Trumbell, University of New Hampshire,

Pettee Hall, 55 College Rd., Durham,

NH 03824, USA.

Email: jill.trumbell@unh.edu

Funding information

This work was supported by the National

Science Foundation under Grant BCS-

0645530; National Institute of Food and

Agriculture under Grant IND030642; and the

Kinley Trust and McAllister Fellowship from

the Center for Families at Purdue University.

Abstract

Objective: This study examined developmental trajectories

of maternal sensitivity across early childhood and explored

whether changes in sensitivity were predicted by changes

in interparental conflict.

Background: Maternal sensitivity facilitates healthy child

development. Previous research has elucidated the role of

interparental conflict as a determinant of sensitivity, but

we know little about the trajectory of sensitivity across

early childhood and the extent to which interparental

conflict over time impacts sensitivity.

Method: Mothers (n=78) and their children were visited

at the playground four times across early childhood

(child age: 3.5 to 5.5 years). Observers reported on mater-

nal sensitivity after each visit. Interparental conflict was

self-reported by mothers twice when their child was

approximately 3.5 and 5 years old.

Results: On average, both conflict and sensitivity showed

continuity across early childhood. However, hierarchical

linear modeling indicated significant variability in trajecto-

ries of change in sensitivity based upon frequency of inter-

parental conflict.

Conclusion: Although interparental conflict was relatively

low at both times, mothers reporting increased conflict

showed decreased sensitivity as their child aged.

Implications: Findings underscore the importance of study-

ing mother–child relationships within the larger familial

context and provide support for the playground as an eco-

logically valid context to assess sensitivity.

KEYWORDS

caregiving, early childhood, interparental conflict, longitudinal, maternal

sensitivity, parenting

Received: 24 February 2022Revised: 22 June 2022Accepted: 2 July 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12770

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2023;72:2137–2154. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 2137

Maternal sensitivity, or the ability of a mother to take their child’s vantage point, perceive their

signals, interpret the signals correctly, and respond to such signals in a prompt and appropriate

way (Ainsworth et al., 1978/2015), has been implicated as a key contributor to multiple aspects

of children’s development. For example, maternal sensitivity promotes young children’s secure

attachment (e.g., Beijersbergen et al., 2012; Zeegers et al., 2017), and has been shown to be

associated with other developmental outcomes such as children’s academic and social compe-

tence (e.g., Raby et al., 2015). Yet few research studies have taken a developmental lens to

explore longitudinal trajectories of maternal sensitivity itself across the childhood years and

those studies that do, tend to report mixed evidence. Given the central role that sensitivity plays

in children’s well-being, it is crucial that we continue to investigate the developmental trajectory

of sensitivity across childhood, and those factors that may impact a parent’s ability to provide

sensitive care.

Indeed, research has documented that interparental conflict may impede a mother’s ability

to sensitively respond to their child’s cues and signals (e.g., Zhou et al., 2017), threatening both

the quality of the parent–child relationship and children’s attachment (e.g., Tan et al., 2018)

and other social–emotional outcomes (Sturge-Apple et al., 2006). Although interparental

conflict plays a clear disruptive role in parenting behavior, the extent to which conflict changes

over time and whether such changes prompt positive or negative developmental trajectories for

caregiving behavior (i.e., sensitivity), or not, are questions that remain to be investigated. A par-

ticularly relevant time to examine how these within- family interactions unfold is while raising

children under age 5 years, given this is a developmental period characterizedby reduced mari-

tal satisfaction (DeMaris et al., 2012). Lower levels of marital satisfaction suggest a risk for

heightened marital strain (Leggett et al., 2012) during this time. Taken together, these findings

highlight the potential for increased interparental discord during the early childhood years, with

disrupted quality of parental caregiving being one proximal pathway through which inter-

parental processes negatively impact child well-being.

Continuity and stability in maternal sensitivity

Variability in maternal sensitivity is situated at the forefront of explanations for inter- and intra-

individual differences in the quality of children’s attachment relationships (Ainsworth

et al., 1978/2015; Bowlby, 1969/1982) and subsequent developmental outcomes. To date, a

robust body of empirical work has validated the role that sensitivity plays in promoting chil-

dren’s developmental outcomes (e.g., Raby et al., 2015) and confirms that changes over time in

sensitivity predict related changes in child outcomes such as attachment security (e.g., Posada

et al., 2018). Of particular interest to developmentalists then is how sensitivity might vary as a

child ages.

Most research on this topic has fallen into one of two complementary categories: (1) exami-

nations of mean-level continuity (i.e., paired ttests of group mean-level differences) in sensitivity

from the time children are one age to another age or (2) explorations of stability in individual

rank-order (i.e., correlations across measurement occasions; Bornstein et al., 2017). Continuity

implies that on average, a group of mothers exhibits similar mean levels of sensitivity over more

than one assessment period. In contrast, stability in individual rank-order from one measure-

ment occasion to the next indicates the extent to which individual mothers within the sample

retain their rank order of sensitivity compared to other mothers in the sample. As noted, most

studies report on either continuity or stability, and although both are developmentally informa-

tive, alone they do not provide a complete picture of development. For example, it is possible

for a construct to be both (un)stable and (in)consistent, but also, for these two assessments to

diverge. A construct, like sensitivity, could show discontinuity in mean level (e.g., lower levels

as a child ages), but stability in rank order, with individual mothers who were more sensitive

2138 FAMILY RELATIONS