Parental cognitions are predictive of nurturant parenting practices and behavior problems in preterm children

Abstract

Objective. The present study aims 1) to provide first validation of the prematurity Implicit Association Test (IAT) by examining whether parental prematurity stereotypes are modifiable through presenting information that counters stereotypical beliefs, and 2) to examine the relations between parental cognitions, parenting practices and behavior problems in preterm children. Method. 142 parents (95.8% mothers) with preterm and 142 parents (84.5% mothers) with term children (1-12 years old) completed online questionnaires measuring parental cognitions (perceived child vulnerability, parental self-efficacy), parenting practices, and child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. In addition, parents completed the prematurity IAT indexing their prematurity stereotypes after receiving positively, neutrally or negatively framed information about prematurity. Results. The IAT experiment showed that parents exposed to positively framed information about prematurity had indeed significantly lower prematurity stereotypes than parents who received neutrally or negatively framed information, indicating first validation of the prematurity IAT. Among parents of preterm children higher perceived child vulnerability was related to more child internalizing behavior problems. Higher parental self-efficacy was related to more nurturant parenting and less child behavior problems. Low parental self-efficacy was related to more child externalizing behavior problems in parents with strong, but not in parents with weak, prematurity stereotypes. Conclusions. Our study indicates that a combination of positively framed psychoeducation about prematurity and interventions targeting to improve parental self-efficacy might be beneficial for parents with preterm children to create a positive childrearing environment and to prevent child behavior problems.