Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableFactor structure of the Mini-Maternal Behavior Q-Sort and associations with infant attachment: Informing precision in research and intervention(WILEY, 2023-03)We examined the factor structure of parental sensitivity to infants as assessed by the Mini-Maternal Behavior Q-Sort (Mini-MBQS), a 25-item short-form of the original 90-item MBQS. We aimed to: (1) identify latent factors of the Mini-MBQS; and (2) validate each factor by testing associations with infant attachment classifications. Data on parent-infant dyads (n = 313; 222 mothers with 281 children, 29 fathers with 32 children) were drawn from a three-generation Australian cohort study. Exploratory Factor Analysis and Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling examined the structure of the Mini-MBQS. Two latent Mini-MBQS factors were identified, requiring 8 of 25 original items: (1) Attention and Responsiveness and (2) Contingency in Interactions. Infants with insecure attachment classifications had parents with lower sensitivity across both factors relative to infants classified secure. In particular, infants with resistant attachment classifications had parents with notably low Contingency in Interactions scores. Infants with disorganised attachment classifications had parents with the lowest relative sensitivity across both factors, and in these dyads Attention and Responsiveness scores were especially low. Results provide an empirically derived factor structure for the Mini-MBQS. Two subscales, each with significant infant attachment associations, may improve precision in clinical intervention and research translation.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableParental history of positive development and child behavior in next generation offspring: A two-cohort prospective intergenerational study(WILEY, 2023-01)This study examined whether positive development (PD) in adolescence and young adulthood predicts offspring behavior in two Australasian intergenerational cohorts. The Australian Temperament Project Generation 3 Study assessed PD at age 19-28 (years 2002-2010) and behavior in 1165 infants (12-18 months; 608 girls) of 694 Australian-born parents (age 29-35; 2012-2019; 399 mothers). The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Parenting Study assessed PD at age 15-18 (years 1987-1991) and behavior in 695 preschoolers (3-5 years; 349 girls) and their New Zealand born parents (age 21-46; 1994-2018; 363 mothers; 89% European ethnicity). In both cohorts, PD before parenthood predicted more positive offspring behavior (βrange = .11-.16) and fewer behavior problems (βrange = -.09 to -.11). Promoting strengths may secure a healthy start to life.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableParenting Orientations in Young Adulthood: Predicting Timing of Parenthood and Quality of Postpartum Caregiving(AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC, 2023-04)Most but not all adults become parents, yet it remains unclear which characteristics indicate an orientation toward parenting. The aims of this study were to (a) distinguish profiles of individual and interpersonal resources in young adults that may orient them toward parenthood and (b) investigate whether profiles predicted timing of entering parenthood, postpartum parenting behavior, and parent-infant bonding. Participants were 1,429 young people (53% female) enrolled in an Australian 39-year longitudinal study. Predictor data for latent profile analysis were collected at 23-24 and 27-28 years. Parenthood timing was designated as "early" ≤ 25 years, "on-time" > 25 years, and "not a parent" by age 37 years. Parenting outcomes were assessed at 12 months postpartum in 684 parents of 1,144 children. Four-profile classes were identified: "connected" (n = 463, 32.4%), "constricted empathy" (n = 461, 32.3%), "insecure" (n = 343, 24%), and "disconnected" (n = 162, 11.3%). Connected young adults were characterized by close ties to family of origin and peers and by identity clarity and empathy. Connected participants were more likely than those in insecure and disconnected classes to be parents by 37 years and more likely to enter parenthood "on-time" compared to "early" parenthood in the constricted empathy class. Among those who became parents, the connected class reported the strongest bonds and warmest parenting and was least anxious or hostile in parenting their infants. Findings provide insights into preconception patterns among variables that together predict reproductive timing, postpartum bonding, and quality of parenting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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ItemNo Preview AvailableEating and Body Image Disturbances in Adolescence and Substance Use Throughout Young Adulthood: Findings from the Australian Temperament Project(SPRINGER, 2023-01-01)Abstract We investigated whether eating and body image disturbances in mid-adolescence were associated with substance use in young adulthood. Participants (n = 1566) completed the drive for thinness, bulimic behavior, and body dissatisfaction subscales from the Eating Disorder Inventory during adolescence (15–16 years), and reported frequencies of substance use (tobacco, cannabis, binge drinking, other illicit substances) across young adulthood (19–20, 23–24, and 27–28 years). Adolescent body dissatisfaction was associated with a 10% increase in the rate of binge drinking and tobacco smoking, with effects being of similar magnitude in men and women, and across young adulthood. The association between bulimic behavior and tobacco smoking was strongest in the earlier years of young adulthood (19–20 years). Relationships between cannabis use, bulimic behavior, and body dissatisfaction were evident in men only. Findings highlight important targets for prevention programs, as well as focused monitoring efforts to identify individuals at risk of later substance use.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableFrom adolescence to parenthood: a multi-decade study of preconception mental health problems and postpartum parent-infant bonds(SPRINGER HEIDELBERG, 2022-03)PURPOSE: To examine associations between anxiety and depressive symptoms across adolescence and young adulthood with subsequent maternal- and paternal-infant bonding at 1 year postpartum. METHODS: The data were from a prospective, intergenerational cohort study. Participants (381 mothers of 648 infants; 277 fathers of 421 infants) self-reported depression and anxiety at three adolescent waves (ages 13, 15 and 17 years) and three young adult waves (ages 19, 23 and 27 years). Subsequent parent-infant bonds with infants were reported at 1 year postpartum (parent age 29-35 years). Generalised estimating equations (GEE) separately assessed associations for mothers and fathers. RESULTS: Mean postpartum bonding scores were approximately half a standard deviation lower in parents with a history of persistent adolescent and young adult depressive symptoms (maternal βadj = - 0.45, 95% CI - 0.69, - 0.21; paternal βadj = - 0.55, 95% CI - 0.90, 0.20) or anxiety (maternal βadj = - 0.42, 95% CI - 0.66, - 0.18; paternal βadj = - 0.49, 95% CI - 0.95, 0.03). Associations were still mostly evident, but attenuated after further adjustment for postpartum mental health concurrent with measurement of bonding. CONCLUSIONS: Persistent symptoms of depression or anxiety spanning adolescence and young adulthood predict poorer emotional bonding with infants 1-year postbirth for both mothers and fathers.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableLife course psychosocial precursors of parent mental health resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: A three-decade prospective cohort study(ELSEVIER, 2023-08-15)BACKGROUND: There has been widespread interest in the implications of COVID-19 containment measures on the mental health of parents. Most of this research has focused on risk. Much less is known about resilience; yet such studies are key to protecting populations during major crises. Here we map precursors of resilience using life course data spanning three decades. METHODS: The Australian Temperament Project commenced in 1983 and now follows three generations. Parents (N = 574, 59 % mothers) raising young children completed a COVID-19 specific module in the early (May-September 2020) and/or later (October-December, 2021) phases of the pandemic. Decades prior, parents had been assessed across a broad range of individual, relational and contextual risk and promotive factors during childhood (7-8 years to 11-12 years), adolescence (13-14 years to 17-18 years) and young adulthood (19-20 years to 27-28 years). Regressions examined the extent to which these factors predicted mental health resilience, operationalised as lower than expected anxiety and depressive symptoms during the pandemic relative to pre-pandemic symptoms. RESULTS: Parent mental health resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic was consistently predicted by several factors assessed decades before the pandemic. These included lower ratings of internalizing difficulties, less difficult temperament/personality traits and stressful life events, and higher ratings of relational health. LIMITATIONS: The study included 37-39-year-old Australian parents with children age between 1 and 10 years. DISCUSSION: Results identified psychosocial indicators across the early life course that, if replicated, could constitute targets for long-term investment to maximise mental health resilience during future pandemics and crises.
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ItemParental personality and early life ecology: a prospective cohort study from preconception to postpartum(NATURE PORTFOLIO, 2023-02-27)Personality reliably predicts life outcomes ranging from social and material resources to mental health and interpersonal capacities. However, little is known about the potential intergenerational impact of parent personality prior to offspring conception on family resources and child development across the first thousand days of life. We analysed data from the Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study (665 parents, 1030 infants; est. 1992), a two-generation study with prospective assessment of preconception background factors in parental adolescence, preconception personality traits in young adulthood (agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, extraversion, and openness), and multiple parental resources and infant characteristics in pregnancy and after the birth of their child. After adjusting for pre-exposure confounders, both maternal and paternal preconception personality traits were associated with numerous parental resources and attributes in pregnancy and postpartum, as well as with infant biobehavioural characteristics. Effect sizes ranged from small to moderate when considering parent personality traits as continuous exposures, and from small to large when considering personality traits as binary exposures. Young adult personality, well before offspring conception, is associated with the perinatal household social and financial context, parental mental health, parenting style and self-efficacy, and temperamental characteristics of offspring. These are pivotal aspects of early life development that ultimately predict a child's long-term health and development.
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ItemA study protocol for community implementation of a new mental health monitoring system spanning early childhood to young adulthood(BRISTOL UNIV PRESS & POLICY PRESS, 2023-07)Findings from longitudinal research, globally, repeatedly emphasise the importance of taking an early life course approach to mental health promotion; one that invests in the formative years of development, from early childhood to young adulthood, just prior to the transition to parenthood for most. While population monitoring systems have been developed for this period, they are typically designed for use within discrete stages (i.e., childhood or adolescent or young adulthood). No system has yet captured development across all ages and stages (i.e., from infancy through to young adulthood). Here we describe the development, and pilot implementation, of a new Australian Comprehensive Monitoring System (CMS) designed to address this gap by measuring social and emotional development (strengths and difficulties) across eight census surveys, separated by three yearly intervals (infancy, 3-, 6-, 9- 12-, 15-, 18 and 21 years). The system also measures the family, school, peer, digital and community social climates in which children and young people live and grow. Data collection is community-led and built into existing, government funded, universal services (Maternal Child Health, Schools and Local Learning and Employment Networks) to maximise response rates and ensure sustainability. The first system test will be completed and evaluated in rural Victoria, Australia, in 2022. CMS will then be adapted for larger, more socio-economically diverse regional and metropolitan communities, including Australian First Nations communities. The aim of CMS is to guide community-led investments in mental health promotion from early childhood to young adulthood, setting secure foundations for the next generation.
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ItemThe Australian Temperament Project Generation 3 study: a population-based multigenerational prospective cohort study of socioemotional health and development(BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP, 2022-09)PURPOSE: The Australian Temperament Project Generation 3 Study (ATPG3) was established to examine the extent to which offspring social and emotional development is shaped in the decades prior to conception, in parent and grandparent histories of psychosocial adjustment (eg, emotional regulation, relationship quality and prosociality) and maladjustment (eg, depressive symptoms, substance use and antisociality). PARTICIPANTS: The Australian Temperament Project (ATP) commenced in 1983 as a population representative survey of the social and emotional health of 2443 young Australians (Generation 2: 4-8 months old) and their parents (Generation 1). Since then, families have been followed from infancy to young adulthood (16 waves). Between 2012 and 2018, the cohort was screened biannually for pregnancies (Generation 3), with assessments conducted in the third trimester of pregnancy, and at 8 weeks and 1 year postpartum. FINDINGS TO DATE: A total of 1167 offspring (607 female) born to 703 Generation 2 parents (400 mothers) were recruited into the ATPG3 Study. Findings to date highlight: (1) strong continuities in depressive symptoms and substance use from adolescence through to becoming a parent; (2) a role for persistent preconception mental health problems in risk for parent-child bonding difficulties, as well as infant emotional reactivity and behaviour problems; (3) the importance of secure attachments in adolescence in reducing long-term risk for postpartum mental health problems; and (4) the protective nature of perceived social support, both preconception and postpartum, in strengthening relationship quality and social support during the COVID-19 pandemic. FUTURE PLANS: Assessments of ATPG3 families in preschool and middle childhood are currently funded and underway. We intend to maintain the offspring cohort through childhood, adolescence, young adulthood and into parenthood. Data will be used to map preconception determinants of emotional health, and enhance approaches to population monitoring and targeted intervention over the life course and across generations.
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ItemParent and Peer Attachments in Adolescence and Paternal Postpartum Mental Health: Findings From the ATP Generation 3 Study(FRONTIERS MEDIA SA, 2021-05-28)Background: When adolescent boys experience close, secure relationships with their parents and peers, the implications are potentially far reaching, including lower levels of mental health problems in adolescence and young adulthood. Here we use rare prospective intergenerational data to extend our understanding of the impact of adolescent attachments on subsequent postpartum mental health problems in early fatherhood. Methods: At age 17-18 years, we used an abbreviated Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment to assess trust, communication, and alienation reported by 270 male participants in their relationships with mothers, fathers, and peers. More than a decade later, we assessed the adult males, now fathers, at 12 months postpartum (N = 409 infant offspring) for symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. Logistic regression was used to examine the extent to which attachment dimensions predicted paternal postpartum mental health, adjusting for potential confounding, and with assessment for interactions between parent and peer attachments. Results: Trust in mothers and peers, and good communication with fathers during adolescence, were associated with 5 to 7 percentage point reductions in postpartum mental health symptoms in early fatherhood. Weak evidence of parent-peer interactions suggested secure attachments with either parent or peer may compensate for an insecure attachment with the other. Conclusions: Our results suggest that fostering trust and communication in relationships that adolescent boys have with parents and peers may have substantial effects on rates of paternal postpartum mental health problems. The protective benefits may be preventative in intergenerational cycles of risk for mental health problems.