Observed Maternal Positive Affect Responsivity Prospectively Predicts Lower Internalizing Problems in Toddlers of Mothers With Depression: A Dynamic Systems Analysis

Toddlers of mothers with depression are at risk for wide-ranging negative outcomes across development, including early emerging internalizing and externalizing problems. These children may be especially sensitive to individual differences in (positive) affective parenting, with implications for enduring psychosocial outcomes. Maternal attunement to child positive emotions may be an important protective factor buffering against risk for psychopathology in vulnerable youth. Illuminating the role of such subtle, moment-to-moment parenting behaviors in attenuating risk across early development is critical to promoting child enduring wellbeing. Thus, this study used state space grid (SSG) analyses to evaluate associations between three indices of maternal positive emotional attunement (duration of shared positive affect, latency of return to shared positive affect, and maternal positive affect responsivity) and child prospective internalizing and externalizing problems in dyads with (n = 38) and without (n = 62) current maternal depression. Mother and toddler positive affect was coded in 5s epochs during a 3-minute play task, and mothers reported on toddler internalizing problems at baseline and one year later. Findings revealed a significant interaction between maternal depression and maternal positive affect responsivity in predicting prospective child internalizing (β=-0.27, p adj =0.03). Greater maternal positive affect responsivity predicted lower child internalizing problems one year later among mothers with depression (β=-0.28, p adj =0.04) but not those without depression (β=0.14, p adj =0.24). Results suggest that maternal positive affect responsivity buffers against future internalizing problems among toddlers of mothers with depression and suggest that maternal attunement to child positive affect may be an important target for preventive intervention.