Early mother–child separation, parenting, and child well-being in Early Head Start families

Abstract

Drawing on theories of attachment and family instability, this study examined associations between early mother–child separation and subsequent maternal parenting behaviors and children's outcomes in a sample of 2080 families who participated in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, the vast majority of whom were poor. Multiple regression models revealed that, controlling for baseline family and maternal characteristics and indicators of family instability, the occurrence of a mother–child separation of a week or longer within the first two years of life was related to higher levels of child negativity (at age three) and aggression (at ages three and five). The effect of separation on child aggression at age five was mediated by aggression at age three, suggesting that the effects of separation on children's aggressive behavior are early and persistent.

Keywords:

• mother–child attachment
• maternal parenting
• child aggression
• behavior problems
• early separation

Acknowledgements

Kimberly Howard's work on this paper was supported by NICHD F32 HD054037. Lisa Berlin's work on this paper was supported by NIMH K01MH70378. The findings reported here are based on research conducted as part of the national Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), US Department of Health and Human Services under Contract 105-95-1936 and Task Order No. 32, Contract 282-98-0021, to Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton, NJ, and Columbia University's National Center for Children and Families, Teachers College, in conjunction with the Early Head Start Research Consortium.

The Consortium consists of representatives from 17 programs participating in the evaluation, 15 local research teams, the evaluation contractors, and ACF. Research institutions in the Consortium (and principal researchers for conducting this research through 36 months of age) include: ACF (Rachel Chazan Cohen, Judith Jerald, Esther Kresh, Helen Raikes, and Louisa Tarullo); Catholic University of America (Michaela Farber, Harriet Liebow, Nancy Taylor, Elizabeth Timberlake, and Shavaun Wall); Columbia University (Lisa Berlin, Christy Brady-Smith, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, and Allison Sidle Fuligni); Harvard University (Catherine Ayoub, Barbara Alexander Pan, and Catherine Snow); Iowa State University (Dee Draper, Gayle Luze, Susan McBride, Carla Peterson); Mathematica Policy Research (Kimberly Boller, Jill Constantine, Ellen Eliason Kisker, John M. Love, Diane Paulsell, Christine Ross, Peter Schochet, Susan Sprachman, Cheri Vogel, and Welmoet van Kammen); Medical University of South Carolina (Richard Faldowski, Gui-Young Hong, and Susan Pickrel); Michigan State University (Hiram Fitzgerald, Tom Reischl, and Rachel Schiffman); New York University (Mark Spellmann and Catherine Tamis-LeMonda); University of Arkansas (Robert Bradley, Richard Clubb, Andrea Hart, Mark Swanson, and Leanne Whiteside-Mansell); University of California, Los Angeles (Carollee Howes and Claire Hamilton); University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (Robert Emde, Jon Korfmacher, JoAnn Robinson, Paul Spicer, and Norman Watt); University of Kansas (Jane Atwater, Judith Carta; and Jean Ann Summers); University of Missouri-Columbia (Mark Fine, Jean Ispa, and Kathy Thornburg); University of Pittsburgh (Beth Green, Carol McAllister, and Robert McCall); University of Washington College of Education (Eduardo Armijo and Joseph Stowitschek); University of Washington School of Nursing (Kathryn Barnard and Susan Spieker), and Utah State University (Lisa Boyce, Gina Cook, Catherine Callow-Heusser, and Lori Roggman).

Notes

1. Several methods of devising the separation variable were explored, including continuous coding of the total number of separations experienced, and examining the timing of separation (prior to one year vs. prior to two years). Preliminary analyses revealed that no dosage or timing effects were present. Instead, a threshold of one separation was the relevant variable for our analyses, likely because most mothers whose child experienced a separation reported only one.