(PS10-A25) The Moderating Role of Emotion and Cognitive Control in the Relationship Between Stress and Parenting Risk in a Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Population: Implications for Intervention

The association between poverty and parenting risk, and between parenting and children’s social and emotional development is well documented (DeVore & Ginsburg, 2005; Landry et al., 2001), with more negative parenting practices linked to poorer outcomes for youth in the context of poverty (Evans et al., 2008; Shook Slack et al., 2004). Recent data shows that 14.4% of youth under 18 years in the United States grow up in poverty (CDF, 2020). Given the prevalence and long-term consequences of poverty on parenting and child outcomes, identification of modifiable risk factors that can be targeted through intervention to enhance parenting and promote youth outcomes represents an important public-health goal.

The current study examined the role of perceived stress on parental emotion and cognitive control capacities to better understand how these processes moderate the relationship between stress and parenting risk for socioeconomically disadvantaged maternal caregivers. Data was collected from 63 maternal caregivers who reported annual family income within 200% of the federal poverty line and cared for a child between the ages of 5 and 16 years. We hypothesized that lower SES would be associated with higher levels of perceived stress, and that parental emotion and cognitive control would moderate the relationship between perceived stress and maladaptive parenting behaviors so that reduced emotion and cognitive control would serve as risk factors and be associated with worse parenting outcomes.

Results demonstrate that working memory moderated the relationship between parental stress and inconsistent discipline, while cognitive flexibility moderated the relationship between stress and poor monitoring/supervision of children. Results add to the existing literature that suggests working memory and cognitive flexibility play important roles in facilitating adaptive parenting for maternal caregivers (Crandall et al., 2015; Sturge-Apple et al., 2016), extending results to a very low-income, high-risk population of parents. Existing evidence suggests that executive functioning represents a modifiable risk factor that can be targeted and improved through intervention and training programs (Dahlin et al., 2008). Consequently, results suggest working memory and cognitive flexibility may be important targets for intervention for this high-risk, high-need population of caregivers to improve parent focused interventions and overall parent and youth mental health and development. Specific intervention applications and future directions for intervention development will be discussed. Overall, results have implications for interventions aimed at improving maternal mental health and parenting in this low-income, high-risk population.