Associations between Profiles of Maternal Strengths and Positive Parenting Practices among Mothers Experiencing Adversity

SYNOPSIS

Objective. Few studies have explored associations between strength-based factors and positive parenting among mothers experiencing adversity. Adopting a person-centered statistical approach, we examined how patterns of maternal strengths relate to positive parenting practices. Design. Participants were 188 female primary caregivers (71% African American) who experienced intimate partner violence and/or were living with HIV. Women were recruited from community organizations in the Mid-Southern United States and completed measures of adaptability, spirituality, ethnic identity, social support, parent-child communication, community cohesion, and parenting practices. Latent profile analysis was used to generate classes of individual (adaptability, spirituality, education), relational (family support, friend support, parent-child communication about Substance Abuse, Violence, and AIDS/HIV), and contextual (ethnic identity, community cohesion) factors, in line with the social-ecological model of resilience. Associations between the classes and positive parenting practices were examined. Results. Three classes emerged: (1) Low Individual, Relational, & Contextual (LIRC; n = 18); (2) Low SAVA Communication (LSC; n = 30); and (3) High Individual, Relational, & Contextual (HIRC; n = 140). Mothers in the LIRC class reported lower parental involvement and less positive parenting practices than those in the HIRC class. Conclusions. Mothers who endorse increased individual, relational, and contextual factors utilize more positive parenting practices. Optimal clinical approaches to enhance parenting should target supports at multiple levels.

ADDRESSES AND AFFILIATIONS

Idia B. Thurston, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, 256 Psychology Building, Texas A&M University, 4235 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843. Email: [email protected]. Kristina M. Decker, Kathryn H. Howell, and Amanda J. Hasselle are at the University of Memphis, and Rebecca C. Kamody is at Yale University.

ARTICLE INFORMATION

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

Each author signed a form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. No authors reported any financial or other conflicts of interest in relation to the work described.

Ethical Principles

The authors affirm having followed professional ethical guidelines in preparing this work. These guidelines include obtaining informed consent from human participants, maintaining ethical treatment and respect for the rights of human or animal participants, and ensuring the privacy of participants and their data, such as ensuring that individual participants cannot be identified in reported results or from publicly available original or archival data.

Role of Funders/Sponsors

None of the funders or sponsors of this research had any role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the mothers and community partners who made this research possible, as well as the graduate and undergraduate research assistants who helped with data collection.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by institutional grants from the University of Memphis Diversity Research Grant (PI: Thurston) and the University of Memphis Faculty Research Grant Fund (PI: Howell).