CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 146Child Abuse and TraumaStress Responses and CortisolMaternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum

Maternal early life experiences and parenting: the mediating role of cortisol and executive function

Open access
Gonzalez, Andrea, Jenkins, Jennifer M., Steiner, Meir, Fleming, Alison S.·2012·Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
DOI 10.1016/j.jaac.2012.04.003
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Objective Research suggests that early life adversity may affect subsequent parenting. Animal studies investigating mechanisms of transmission have focused on biological factors; whereas research in humans has emphasized cognitive and psychosocial factors. We hypothesized that neuropsychological and physiological factors would act as mediators between maternal retrospective reports of early life experiences (ELE) and current parenting.Method We recruited a community sample of 89 mothers and their infants (2-6 months of age). Maternal ELE consisted of self-reports of consistency of care and childhood maltreatment. Diurnal salivary cortisol samples were collected as the measure of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function. Executive function measures included attentional set-shifting and spatial working memory. Maternal sensitivity was assessed through videotapes of mothers interacting with their infants.Results A series of path analyses indicated that maternal ELE was indirectly related to maternal sensitivity via two pathways: one through HPA function, and the other through HPA function and spatial working memory. There was no direct path between maternal ELE and parenting.Conclusion These findings provide support for the notion that mediators linking early life experiences to parenting in humans may be similar to physiological mechanisms found in animal models. As maternal care is associated with numerous infant outcomes, our findings may have broad relevance to understanding the risk associated with parenting and adverse outcomes in infants. A greater understanding of mechanism is important to informing interventions targeted at disrupting maladaptive trajectories of parenting.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.jaac.2012.04.003

Cites

86 of 86 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Deficits in cognitive flexibility and spatial working memory have been linked with poor maternal sensitivity to non-distress infants' cues.

    “Deficits in cognitive flexibility and spatial working memory have been linked with poor maternal sensitivity to non-distress infants’ cues (Gonzalez et al., 2012).”

    From The maternal brain and its plasticity in humans (2016) · cites this paper as Gonzalez et al., 2012

  • Deficits in executive function measures of attention set-shifting, spatial working memory and a sustained attention measure have been linked with poor maternal sensitivity to non-distress infant cues.

    “Deficits in executive function measures of attention set-shifting, spatial working memory and a sustained attention measure have been linked with poor maternal sensitivity to non-distress infant cues (Gonzalez et al., 2012).”

    From Approaching the biology of human parental attachment: Brain imaging, oxytocin and coordinated assessments of mothers and fathers (2014) · cites this paper as Gonzalez et al., 2012

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. CANTABeclipse Test Administration Guide. Manual Version 2.0.0. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Cognition Limited; 2005.
  2. Atkinson L, Paglia A, Coolbear J, et al. Assessing maternal sensitivity in the context of attachment security: A meta-analysis. In GM Tarabulsy, S Larose, DR Pederson, G Moran (Eds.). Attachment and Development: the Role of First Relationships in Human Development. Québec, Canada: Presses de l'Université du Québec; 2000.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Gonzalez, A., Jenkins, J. M., Steiner, M., & Fleming, A. S.
Affiliations
  • University of Toronto (CA)
  • St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (CA)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2012-07
Volume
51
Issue
7
Pages
673-682
ISSN
0890-8567 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jaac.2012.04.003
OpenAlex
W2052428115
Cited by
146
References
86
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 2
FWCI
10.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
Keywords
parenting, cortisol, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, executive function, spatial working memory, set-shifting, maternal sensitivity, child abuse, mediation, infant outcomes
MeSH terms
Adult, Circadian Rhythm, Female, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System, Infant, Life Change Events, Male, Maternal Behavior, Memory, Short-Term, Mother-Child Relations, Mothers, Object Attachment, Personality Assessment, Pituitary-Adrenal System, Retrospective Studies, Saliva, Parenting, Executive Function

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review