Maternal-Child Bonding in an Intimate Partner Violence Shelter: Findings from a Daily Diary Study

Background and Purpose: The majority of women experiencing IPV are also mothers with dependent children. For these mothers, IPV can increase their stress levels, engagement in daily activities, and relationships with their children (e.g., bonding). IPV has been shown to influence parenting behaviors and parenting self-efficacy (i.e., confidence in their role as a mother). Research demonstrates that formal and informal social support is a crucial protective factor for survivors of IPV and may be particularly important for mothers. Presently, there is a gap in the literature looking at the role of survivors’ daily activities and stress on parenting self-efficacy and bonding. In this study, we tested whether there are correlations among mothers’ daily stress, activities, social support, self-efficacy, and bonding with their children while living in IPV emergency or transitional housing.

Methods: Mothers (N=25) participated in a 14-day, web-based daily diary study. Participants were from two states in the southeast United States (52% Black/African American, 44% White, 1% Multiracial, 92% Straight/Heterosexual, and 8% Bisexual/Pansexual/Queer mothers). The mean ages of the mothers and children were 31.88 (SD=5.55) and 6.45(SD=3.72). Mothers reported their stress, activities (e.g., attending case management appointments, legal appointments), and the number of times they engaged in bonding activities from a list provided (e.g., playing with their child, cuddling their child, and giving their child a hug and a kiss) daily for 14 days. Mothers were also asked to complete a Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree), reporting to what extent they felt they were able to soothe their child and whether they felt happy around their child. Aggregated sum scores were created for the daily activities and bonding variables across the 14 days. Stress levels were measured using a Likert scale (1=very low to 6=very high). Parenting self-efficacy and social support were measured at baseline using the self-efficacy subscale of Me as A Parent and the Medical Outcomes Study Scale of Social Support.

Results: Mean bonding scores ranged from 98.27 to 293.40 (M=181.69, SD=52.61). Higher daily stress was associated with the number of times the mothers met with the case manager (r=.63, p=.001). Higher daily stress was also related to lower parenting self-efficacy (r=-.48, p=.02) but not bonding. The number of case management appointments and legal appointments were positively correlated with a higher bonding score (r=0.40 and r=.44, respectively, all p < .05). More social support was associated with more positive parenting (r=.42, p=.04) and bonding (r=0.413, p=.040).

Conclusions and Implications: Our findings highlight the negative associations between stress and parenting self-efficacy and the potential protective factors of case management and legal assistance on bonding. The results of this study indicate the importance of survivor access to case management and legal resources. Future research is needed to identify sources of social support that are helpful for mothers and specific aspects of case management and legal assistance that may be associated with bonding. Future studies should also include larger samples across various regions of the U.S. and include more racial and sexual orientation diversity.