Maternal and paternal overprotection of children born preterm: relations to child and parental factors

Online First Publication, April 1, 2021
The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlates of observed overprotective behaviors of mothers and fathers of preterm-born preschoolers. Participants included 85 children born prematurely (gestational age <37 weeks) and their parents, assessed when children were 12, 24, and 42 months old. Observed overprotection was measured through the standardized observation of a parent–child interaction. The examined correlates included parent-reported perception of their protective behavior, parental gender, child neonatal risk, child development, parent-reported perception of child vulnerability, parent-reported psychological distress, and family’s socioeconomic disadvantage. Results revealed that the correlation between parent-reported and observed parental overprotection was not significant for mothers and fathers. There was a significant positive association between maternal and paternal observed overprotection and no significant differences between mothers’ and fathers’ overprotection levels. Lower child developmental level and more socioeconomic disadvantage at child’s 12 months of age were significant predictors of observed overprotective behaviors. Findings suggest the importance of targeting parents of preterm-born children with socioeconomic disadvantages and whose children have a lower developmental level for providing support to both mothers and fathers in the development of more adaptive parenting strategies.
This work was supported by Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia and by the European Social Fund under grant SFRH/BD/118495/2016 assigned to Carolina Toscano. We thank Hospital Sao Joao and Hospital Senhora da Oliveira for providing the support needed to conduct this study andAna Capelo, Catarina Magalhaes, Rita Baiao, and Vera Mateus for assisting with the collection and coding of the data. Special thanks go to the participating families.