AUTHOR=Castagna Annalisa , Butti Niccolò , Cordolcini Laura , Innocenti Mark S. , Montirosso Rosario 

TITLE=Severity of developmental delay and parenting behavior in toddlers with neurodevelopmental disabilities

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1306227

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1306227

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=The presence of a neurodevelopmental disability (ND) represents an adverse condition for child's development and parent-child relationship, and it is reasonable to assume that the severity of delay may influence parenting behavior. Previous research, however, did not specifically address this issue. Methods: This cross-sectional study compared parental behaviors of mothers of toddlers with moderate/severe or mild/borderline developmental delay and mothers of toddlers with typical development, while considering maternal emotional states. A total of 88 dyads with children aged between 12 and 47 months participated in a 10-minutes video-recorded interaction then coded with the PICCOLO, a validated observation checklist that assesses four dimensions of parenting: affection, responsiveness, encouragement, and teaching. The mothers also fulfilled two standardized questionnaires assessing parental stress and presence of depressive symptoms. MANOVA and MANCOVA models were used to explore between-group differences in specific parenting dimensions, also considering parental stress. Results: Mothers of toddlers with ND were less responsive than the comparison group, while the presence of a moderate/severe developmental delay specifically affected teaching behaviors. No differences emerged for affection and encouragement behaviors. Importantly, although mothers of toddlers with moderate/severe ND reported higher childrelated dysfunctional interaction stress, this did not directly affect parenting behaviors. Discussion: These findings highlight how the presence of a disability and the severity of developmental delay can affect specific dimensions of parenting (i.e., responsiveness, teaching) and might inform clinical practice and research on early parental interventions.