Emotional Availability in Mothers and Infants in Relation to Maternal Factors of Employment, Self-Efficacy and Stress

Shanna T German, Pace University

Abstract

Research on children's social-emotional experiences in the first year of life bears relevance to whether mothers work, and if so, how maternal employment is related to children's development. Thirty mother-infant dyads from the New York City metropolitan region participated in a study focused on the correspondences maternal employment demonstrates with mother, child, and dyadic emotional availability. The study assessed the mother-infant relationship based upon video-observation employing the Emotional Availability Scale-4th Edition. Other variables included maternal perceptions of stress, efficacy, and job satisfaction. Results indicated maternal employment and maternal self-perceptions were not related to emotional availability. No significant group differences were found given maternal employment status across emotional availability, stress, or self-efficacy. Effect-sizes were reported between small and medium strength, suggesting that with a larger sample, some findings might increase in significance. Results of the study contribute to attachment and social learning theories. Future research and limitations are discussed. Keywords: attachment, emotional availability, Job Satisfaction, maternal employment, mother-infant dyad, self-efficacy, stress.

Subject Area

Developmental psychology

Recommended Citation

German, Shanna T, "Emotional Availability in Mothers and Infants in Relation to Maternal Factors of Employment, Self-Efficacy and Stress" (2013). ETD Collection for Pace University. AAI3573881.
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/dissertations/AAI3573881

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