1. High- and Low-Risk Parents’ Reactions to Prolonged Infant Crying: An Experimental Approach
Kreila Cote, Christie Miksys, Sapir Sasson, Jennifer Milliken, Julie L. Crouch, David J. Bridgett, Joel S. Milner, and Thomas R. McCanne
Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault, Northern Illinois University
Introduction
Figure 1: Percentage of low-risk/high-risk parents who discontinued the simulated infant task early
Procedure
Simulated Infant Task
Participants were instructed to care for a simulated crying infant as if it was a real infant for 30 minutes; however, they were allowed to stop at any time.
The infant simulator was programmed to cry continuously regardless of participant behavior; however, participants were led to believe the simulator could be soothed.
Young children are at increased risk of experiencing child physical abuse (CPA).2
Infants that exhibit high levels of negative affect and distress (e.g., frequent, high intensity crying) are among the highest risk children given that such displays may precipitate physical abuse.1
Experiencing CPA puts children at risk of serious physical injury, as well as poor social and emotional outcomes across the lifespan.
It is important to understand how parents react to high intensity infant negative affect.
The present study aimed to understand how parents with varying degrees of CPA risk react to prolonged infant crying using a simulated crying infant.
Hypothesis 1: We predicted that high CPA risk parents (vs. low-risk parents) would be more likely to discontinue the simulated infant activity early.
Hypothesis 2: Following exposure to prolonged infant crying, high- risk parents would: 1) report more distress/stress, 2) believe that they had less control/influence over the simulated infant, and 3) feel they had less control over their reactions to the crying infant.
Results
Overall, 21.1% of the parents requested to discontinue the simulated infant task early (i.e., before 30 minutes had passed).
High-risk parents were significantly more likely to discontinue the task early (X2 = 8.07, p = .004; see Figure 1).
79% of the parents who requested to end the simulated infant session early were high-risk for CPA.
High-risk parents (vs. low-risk parents) reported marginally higher stress/distress, and they believed that they did not perform as well on the task of soothing the baby (d’s ranged from ; see Table 1 items 1 - 4).
High-risk parents (vs. low-risk parents) believed that they had more influence on the baby’s crying (d’s ranged from ; see Table 1 items 5 - 8).
High-risk parents (vs. low-risk parents) reported that they felt less in control of their thoughts/feelings while caring for the crying infant (d’s ranged from ; see Table 1 items ).
Measures
Subjective Stress Scale
4-item self-report questionnaire
9-point Likert scale
Perceived Control Questionnaire
8-item self-report questionnaire
5-point Likert scale (1 “strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly agree”)
Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAP; Milner, 1986)
160-item self-report questionnaire
Participants indicate agreement or disagreement with each statement
Provides a physical abuse potential scale score, six subscale scores (e.g., distress), and three validity indices (i.e., random responding, faking good, faking bad)
Higher scores indicate greater potential for child physical abuse
Table 1: Perceived stress/control during the simulated infant task as reported by low-risk/high-risk parents
 Perceived stress/control items
Low-risk
M (SD)
High-risk F d
1. How stressful was the task of caring for the infant?
4.2 (1.5)
4.8 (2.0)
2.43+
.34
2. How distressing did you find the infant’s behavior?
4.0 (1.8)
4.7 (2.4)
2.18+
.32
3. To what degree do you believe someone else would have performed better than you with respect to caring for the child?
3.5 (1.8)
4.5 (2.5)
4.40*
.46
4. To what degree do you believe you performed well on the task of caring for the infant?
6.5 (1.3)
5.6 (2.0)
6.51**
.55
5. I found that I could do things that influenced the baby’s crying.
2.6 (1.0)
3.0 (1.1)
2.73+
.36
6. Some of the things I did reduced the likelihood of the baby crying.
3.2 (1.0)
3.3 (1.2)
0.20
.09
7. I did not have control over the baby’s crying.
3.9 (1.0)
3.5 (1.4)
2.77+
8. The baby’s crying was influenced by things I did.
2.0 (1.0)
2.7 (1.0)
7.87**
.61
9. I felt I had control over my reactions to the baby’s crying.
4.4 (1.0)
3.4 (1.3)
13.73**
.80
10. I did not have much control over my emotions while caring for the baby.
1.5 (0.7)
1.9 (1.2)
5.14*
.49
11. There was not much I could do to keep the baby’s crying from affecting my thoughts and feelings
2.1 (1.0)
2.5 (1.2)
2.76+
12. How I dealt with the baby’s crying was under my control.
4.4 (0.9)
3.9 (1.1)
5.23*
.50
Discussion
Results support the notion that, when attempting to manage prolonged infant crying, high-risk parents tend to exhibit less persistence, experience higher stress/distress, and feel less control over their thoughts/feelings.
Given that parental stress/distress and low perceived control have been linked to risk for harsh/abusive parenting behavior, these findings are consistent with prior research which suggests that prolonged infant crying may serve as a precipitant of harsh/abusive parenting behavior.
High risk parents may benefit from interventions designed to strengthen their ability to regulate their emotions and increase their ability to control their reactions in the context of prolonged infant crying.
Participants
References
1. Barr, R. G. (2012). Preventing abusive head trauma resulting from a failure of normal interaction between infants and their caregivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109, doi: /pnas
2. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administra­tion on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. (2012). Child Maltreatment Available from
3. Milner, J. S. (1986). Child Abuse Potential Inventory: Manual. Webster, NC: Psytec.
90 parents were recruited from the community
Gender: 33% fathers
Age: M = 39.7 years (SD = 11.9)
Race/ethnicity: 51.1% Black/African American
Marital status: 55.5% single/separated/divorced
Education: 30% GED/high school diploma or less
Each parent was classified as low-risk (n = 45) or high-risk (n = 45) for CPA based on their scores on the Child Abuse Potential Inventory3
+ p < .10 * p < .05 ** p < .01