Maternal Executive Functioning as a Mechanism in the Intergenerational Transmission of Parenting: Preliminary Evidence

Multiple lines of inquiry, including experimental animal models, have recently converged to suggest that executive functioning (EF) may be one mechanism by which parenting behavior is transmitted across generations. In the current investigation, we empirically test this notion by examining relations between maternal EF and parenting behaviors during mother-infant interactions, and by examining the role of maternal EF in the intergenerational transmission of parenting behavior. Mother-infant dyads (N = 150) in a longitudinal study participated. Mothers were administered measures of EF (working memory and inhibition), reported on the parenting they received from their parents (i.e., the infants' maternal grandparents), and were observed interacting with their 8-month-old infants. SEM findings indicated that the negative parenting mothers received from their own parents was significantly related to poorer maternal EF, and that poorer maternal EF was significantly related to subsequent engagement in more negative parenting practices (e.g., intrusiveness, displays of negativity) with their own infant. A significant indirect effect, through maternal EF, was observed between maternal report of her experiences of negative parenting received while growing up and her own use of negative parenting practices. Our findings make two contributions. First, we add to existing work that has primarily considered relations between parent EF and parenting behavior while interacting with older children by showing that maternal EF affects children, via maternal parenting behavior, beginning very early in life. Second, we provide key evidence of the role of EF in the intergenerational transmission of parenting. Additional implications of these findings, as well as important future directions, are discussed.