Papers by Ashleigh Aviles
Development and Psychopathology, Dec 13, 2023
Journal of Family Psychology, Jan 17, 2024
Development and Psychopathology, Apr 24, 2023
The present study examined the influence of fathers' parenting quality during infancy on children... more The present study examined the influence of fathers' parenting quality during infancy on children's emotion regulation during toddlerhood and, subsequently, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in middle childhood. Fathers and their 8-month-old infants (N = 124) were followed over time to obtain home observations of parenting quality at 8 and 24 months, laboratory observations of children's emotion regulation at 24 months, and teacher reports of children's ADHD symptoms at 7 years. A path analysis revealed that fathers' emotional disengagement in infancy and minimizing responses to children's distress in toddlerhood forecast children's development of ADHD symptoms in middle childhood. Further, a significant indirect effect was found such that fathers' parenting at 8 and 24 months predicted subsequent development of ADHD symptoms at age 7 through toddlers' difficulty regulating emotion. Implications of this study for early intervention and directions for future research are discussed.
Appetite, Nov 1, 2019
This study examined how fathers' adult attachment representations, assessed before the birth of t... more This study examined how fathers' adult attachment representations, assessed before the birth of their first child, predict feeding practices with their 8-month-old infants. Fathers have been underrepresented in child feeding research, particularly in longitudinal and observational studies. Feeding is a key parenting task of infancy and a growing number of studies have begun to explore the connection between attachment and parental feeding practices and behavior, revealing a clear link between mothers' adult attachment and how they feed their children. This is the first longitudinal examination of attachment as a prenatal predictor of fathers' infant feeding behavior. Participants were 118 first-time fathers and their infants. Adult Attachment Interviews were conducted in the third trimester of pregnancy, and father-infant feeding interactions were observed at home when the infant was 8-months-old. Videotaped feedings were coded using Chatoor's Feeding Scale (1997). Compared to other fathers, (1) those with secure attachment representations were more attuned to their infants during feeding, (2) those with dismissing representations were less attuned, and (3) those with unresolved trauma displayed more controlling behaviors. Fathers were more controlling with their sons than their daughters across all attachment representations. Study results suggest that father's infant feeding behaviors may influence by their own attachment representations. The links to fathers' controlling feeding practices are noteworthy because of the negative implications controlling parental feeding practices can have on child outcomes. The prediction of paternal feeding behaviors from assessments conducted prenatally has important intervention implications.
Children and Youth Services Review, Jul 1, 2023
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Feb 14, 2022
Childhood psychological maltreatment is a prevalent type of maltreatment, but one that is less st... more Childhood psychological maltreatment is a prevalent type of maltreatment, but one that is less studied compared to other forms of abuse. The intergenerational effects of psychological maltreatment have yet to be fully explored. This study examined mothers’ recollections of childhood experiences of psychological maltreatment, assessed prenatally, and in relation to their own and their toddler’s emotion regulation. Psychological maltreatment was assessed through a new coding system created for use with Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs). Using structural equation modeling, we examined the direct effects of mothers’ accounts of psychological and physical maltreatment during childhood on mothers’ emotion dysregulation in a caregiving context and their toddlers’ observed emotional dysregulation. Participants were 125 mother–toddler dyads in central Texas ( Mage = 29.9 years). Mothers completed AAIs prenatally; toddlers completed frustration tasks to assess underregulation at 24 months of age. Maternal experiences of psychological maltreatment, but not physical maltreatment, were related to maternal emotion dysregulation during parenting and their children’s emotional underregulation. Mother and child emotional dysregulation were also related. The effects of mothers’ childhood experiences of psychological maltreatment have specific intergenerational consequences and must be explored separately from their experiences of physical maltreatment.
Children and Youth Services Review
Development and Psychopathology
The present study examined the influence of fathers’ parenting quality during infancy on children... more The present study examined the influence of fathers’ parenting quality during infancy on children’s emotion regulation during toddlerhood and, subsequently, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in middle childhood. Fathers and their 8-month-old infants (N = 124) were followed over time to obtain home observations of parenting quality at 8 and 24 months, laboratory observations of children’s emotion regulation at 24 months, and teacher reports of children’s ADHD symptoms at 7 years. A path analysis revealed that fathers’ emotional disengagement in infancy and minimizing responses to children’s distress in toddlerhood forecast children’s development of ADHD symptoms in middle childhood. Further, a significant indirect effect was found such that fathers’ parenting at 8 and 24 months predicted subsequent development of ADHD symptoms at age 7 through toddlers’ difficulty regulating emotion. Implications of this study for early intervention and directions for future re...
Appetite, 2019
This study examined how fathers' adult attachment representations, assessed before the birth of t... more This study examined how fathers' adult attachment representations, assessed before the birth of their first child, predict feeding practices with their 8-month-old infants. Fathers have been underrepresented in child feeding research, particularly in longitudinal and observational studies. Feeding is a key parenting task of infancy and a growing number of studies have begun to explore the connection between attachment and parental feeding practices and behavior, revealing a clear link between mothers' adult attachment and how they feed their children. This is the first longitudinal examination of attachment as a prenatal predictor of fathers' infant feeding behavior. Participants were 118 first-time fathers and their infants. Adult Attachment Interviews were conducted in the third trimester of pregnancy, and father-infant feeding interactions were observed at home when the infant was 8-months-old. Videotaped feedings were coded using Chatoor's Feeding Scale (1997). Compared to other fathers, (1) those with secure attachment representations were more attuned to their infants during feeding, (2) those with dismissing representations were less attuned, and (3) those with unresolved trauma displayed more controlling behaviors. Fathers were more controlling with their sons than their daughters across all attachment representations. Study results suggest that father's infant feeding behaviors may influence by their own attachment representations. The links to fathers' controlling feeding practices are noteworthy because of the negative implications controlling parental feeding practices can have on child outcomes. The prediction of paternal feeding behaviors from assessments conducted prenatally has important intervention implications.
Attachment: The fundamental questions, 2021
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
Childhood psychological maltreatment is a prevalent type of maltreatment, but one that is less st... more Childhood psychological maltreatment is a prevalent type of maltreatment, but one that is less studied compared to other forms of abuse. The intergenerational effects of psychological maltreatment have yet to be fully explored. This study examined mothers’ recollections of childhood experiences of psychological maltreatment, assessed prenatally, and in relation to their own and their toddler’s emotion regulation. Psychological maltreatment was assessed through a new coding system created for use with Adult Attachment Interviews (AAI). Using structural equation modeling (SEM), we examined the direct effects of mothers’ accounts of psychological and physical maltreatment during childhood on mothers’ emotion dysregulation in a caregiving context and their toddlers’ observed emotional dysregulation. Participants were 126 mother-toddler dyads in central Texas (Mage = 29.9 years). Mothers completed Adult Attachment Interviews prenatally; toddlers completed frustration tasks at 24 months o...
Frontiers in Psychology
The present study examined the role of father sensitivity and couple coparenting quality in the f... more The present study examined the role of father sensitivity and couple coparenting quality in the first 2 years of life in relation to the development of externalizing behavior problems in middle childhood, focusing on the unique role of fathers. In this study, 125 mothers, fathers, and their first-born children were followed from 8 months to age 7 years. Paternal sensitivity was rated when infants were 8 and 24 months old. Fathers were videotaped at home playing, feeding, and changing their 8-month-old infants’ clothes. They also were videotaped in a lab playing with their 24-month-olds and solving a variety of challenging tasks. At 24 months, competitive coparenting was assessed via videotaped triadic family interactions at home in which families participated in a variety of tasks (i.e., clothes change, eating a snack together and solving tasks). Teachers rated externalizing behavior problems when the children were age 7. Continuity in paternal sensitivity was documented from 8 to 2...
Appetite, 2019
This study examined how fathers’ adult attachment representations, assessed before the birth of t... more This study examined how fathers’ adult attachment representations, assessed before the birth of their first child, predict feeding practices with their 8-month-old infants. Fathers have been underrepresented in child feeding research, particularly in longitudinal and observational studies. Feeding is a key parenting task of infancy and a growing number of studies have begun to explore the connection between attachment and parental feeding practices and behavior, revealing a clear link between mothers’ adult attachment and how they feed their children. This is the first longitudinal examination of attachment as a prenatal predictor of fathers’ infant feeding behavior. Participants were 118 first-time fathers and their infants. Adult Attachment Interviews were conducted in the third trimester of pregnancy, and father-infant feeding interactions were observed at home when the infant was 8-months-old. Videotaped feedings were coded using Chatoor’s Feeding Scale (1997). Compared to other...
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Papers by Ashleigh Aviles