Parent coping behaviors, parent functioning, and infant temperament characteristics

This study focuses on the relationship between parent coping behaviors, parent functioning, and infant temperament characteristics. One hundred mothers and fathers of two-to three-month-old infants answered a 154-item self-administered questionnaire. The following three parent-coping behavior patterns emerged: (1) seeking social support and self-development; (2) maintaining family integrity; and (3) being religious, thankful, and content. Parents who were depressed, anxious, and had somatic complaints perceived social support and self-development as more helpful and were less focused on maintaining family integrity. Parents who perceived their infant as having a more smiling, laughing temperament, and as a child who cries less, used coping behaviors designed to maintain family integrity; they were more religious, thankful, and content. Parents who were depressed and parents who were anxious saw their infants as less soothable and more distressed when faced with limitations.