Eastern Michigan University DigitalCommons@EMU Senior Honors Theses Honors College 2016 Quality of Caregiving Representations Among Pregnant Mothers Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence Kristina Borneman Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.emich.edu/honors Recommended Citation Borneman, Kristina, "Quality of Caregiving Representations Among Pregnant Mothers Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence" (2016). Senior Honors Theses. 473. http://commons.emich.edu/honors/473 This Open Access Senior Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at DigitalCommons@EMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@EMU. For more information, please contact lib- [email protected]. Quality of Caregiving Representations Among Pregnant Mothers Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence Abstract During pregnancy women typically reorganize their mental representations of themselves and others to make room for the internal representation of their new child and themselves as caregivers. Representations during this transformational period have been shown to predict postnatal caregiving behavior. The purpose of this study is to assess the influence of physical and psychological intimate partner violence on maternal prenatal representations, namely, through a qualitative analysis of maternal narratives from the Working Model of the Child Interview (Zeanah & Beniot 1995), a well-established, semi-structured clinical tool. Four predominant themes emerged: helplessness, caregiving abdication, rigid attitudes and beliefs about gender roles, and incoherent, mixed themes. Overall, this thematic analysis study allowed for a better understanding about the association between partner violence and maternal representations regarding the parent-child relationship from participants' own words. Several identified themes were consistent with previous quantitative findings in the literature; other themes suggest important avenues for future research that have yet to be studied in depth. Degree Type Open Access Senior Honors Thesis Department Psychology First Advisor Dr. Alissa Huth-Bocks Second Advisor Dr. Angela Staples Third Advisor Dr. Natalie Dove Keywords intimate partner violence, pregnancy, attachment, maternal representations This open access senior honors thesis is available at DigitalCommons@EMU: http://commons.emich.edu/honors/473 ) QUALITY OF CAREGIVING REPRESENT ATIONS AMONG PREGNANT MOTHERS EXPERIENCING INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE By Kristina Borneman A Senior Thesis Submitted to the Eastern Michigan University Honors College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation with Honors in Psychology Approved at Ypsilanti, Michigan, on this date: -AvO\ I ~:, 2bl\o ~~-~--~~--------------------~----------------- Running head: QUALITY OF CAREGIVlNG REPRESENT ATIONS AMONG PREGNANT MOTHERS EXPERIENCING INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE Abstract During pregnancy women typically reorganize their mental representations of themselves and others to make room for the internal representation of their new child and themselves as caregivers. Representations during this transformational period have been shown to predict postnatal caregiving behavior. The purpose of this study is to assess the influence of physical and psychological intimate partner violence on maternal prenatal representations, namely, through a , qualitative analysis of maternal narratives from the Working Model of the Child Interview (Zeanah & Beniot 1995), a well-established, semi-structured clinical tool. Four predominant themes emerged: helplessness, caregiving abdication, rigid attitudes and beliefs about gender roles, and incoherent, mixed themes. Overall, this thematic analysis study allowed for a better understanding about the association between partner violence and maternal representations regarding the parent-child relationship from participants' own words. Several identified themes were consistent with previous quantitative findings in the literature; other themes suggest important avenues for future research that have yet to be studied in depth. -------~--- -- --~.~_._~-------------------- ---_.- -~-~--------' QUALITY OF CAREGIVING REPRESENTATIONS AMONG PREGNANT MOTHERS 2 EXPERIENCING INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE Introduction Bowlby and Ainsworth's research in the field of attachment yielded many of the , theoretical concepts and methods that are pillars in the field today (Bowlby 1969/1982; Ainsworth & Bell, 1970). Bowlby's theory that the attachment behavioral system serves the goal of receiving protection and care, while the reciprocal caregiving system shifts the psychological focus to providing protection and care, has led to decades of research on the parent-child relationship (George & Solomon 1996; 2008). The important psychological shift from receiver of care to provider of care usually occurs during pregnancy. During this time, women typically reorganize their mental representations of themselves as mothers to make room for the internal representation of their new child (Slade A, Sadler L, Miller MR, Ueng-McHale J., 2009). The desire and motivation to become a caregiver also leads to the development of internal models of the relationship that parents will have with their children via the caregiving system. The caregiving system is composed of mental representations of caregiving including thoughts and feelings about the infant, the relationship with the infant, and the self as a mother to the infant. Internal Working Models (IWMs) are cognitive frameworks that include mental representations for understanding the world, self, and others (Bowlby, 1969). Evaluating working models during pregnancy is one way to examine mothers' relationships that are being re-organized, including the new mother-infant relationship. One of the most common tools to evaluate internal working models of caregiving is the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI; Zeanah & Beniot, 1995). This interview yields similar categories of attachment as those identified by Ainsworth and colleagues (Ainsworth, Blehar, & ------ --~---------- QUALITY OF CAREGIVING REPRESENTATIONS AMONG PREGNANT MOTHERS 3 EXPERIENCING INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE Waters, 1978); however, the identification of classifications on the WMCI is based on the quality of caregiver responses to interview questions as opposed to infant behavior_ Several psychosocial risk factors have been shown to influence the quality of mothers' representations of caregiving, both prenatally and after the birth of a child (Slade et aI., 2009; Schechter, D. S., & Willheim, E. 2009). Several previous studies (e.g. Huth-Bocks, A. C., Levendosky, A. A., Theran, S., & Bogat, G. A. 2004; Levendosky, A. A., Bogat, G. A., & Huth- Bocks, A. C. 2011; Schechter, D. S., Kaminer, T., Grienenberger, J. F., & Amat, J. 2003) have, for example, examined the importance of intimate partner violence (IPV) as a risk factor for mothers' caregiving system and the quality of their infants' attachment. These studies have utilized a quantitative approach to examine associations, but few have qualitatively analyzed interview responses of mothers preparing to care for a new child. The few quantitative studies that have been published have found that IPV is related to both 'disengaged' and 'distorted' representations on the WMCI (both characterized by problematic thoughts and feelings and general 'insecurity' in the caregiving system), while an absence of partner violence is related to much healthier, adaptive representations known as 'balanced' representations (e.g., Huth-Bocks et aI., 2004; Theran et aI., 2005). The present study aims to assess mothers' WMCI narratives that were obtained during pregnancy to qualitatively identify themes of adaptive or problematic thoughts and feelings about their expected relationship with their child. That is, the present study aims to closely examine mothers' internal working models through WMCI interview responses obtained during the last trimester of pregnancy. It is hypothesized that different types of experiences with IPV (physical and psychological partner violence) during pregnancy will be associated with problematic '----. __ .__ .~-~---~----------------------------------' QUALITY OF CAREGIVING REPRESENTATIONS AMONG PREGNANT MOTHERS 4 EXPERIENCING INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE themes in WMCI interview narratives, e.g., more negative thoughts and feelings about their child and their relationship with the child. Attachment Theory and the Caregiving System Inspired by John Bowlby's work with infants and mothers, Mary Ainsworth's work, in the 1950's in Uganda, aimed to better understand the attachment relationship between mother and child. Initially, Bowlby's work distinguished between an individual's attachment behavioral system and attachment behaviors (Bowlby, 196911982). According to Bowlby, the attachment behavioral system functions to achieve the goal of receiving protection and care from others, can be "activated" and terminated depending upon internal and environmental threat cues, and is organized according to mental representations from past and present experiences. In other words, this system functions to promote the child's development and adaptation to his or her attachment relationships. The attachment behavioral system is comprised of attachment behaviors, which are the observable actions taken by an individual in order to meet the goals of the behavioral system. Attachment behaviors are believed to be influenced by attachment representations,