Abstract
This study examines the impact of marital conflict and infant irritability on mother’s emotional engagement during infant–mother interactions. Mothers (n = 117) were randomized to have either a positive (n = 57) or conflictual (n = 60) discussion with their marital partner. Mothers then interacted with their infants before (freeplay) and after (soothing) an infant‐focused stress task. Only for mothers who engaged in the conflict discussion was infant irritability associated with maternal emotional disengagement during the freeplay task. Conversely, infant irritability was associated with maternal disengagement for all mothers, regardless of marital discussion task, after the infant stressor. The experimental findings suggest marital conflict has an immediate causal influence on parenting, sensitizing mothers to disengage from their fussy infants. However, the challenge of soothing a distressed infant following the infant‐focused stressor may tax the emotional resources of mothers regardless of whether they had a conflictual or positive marital discussion.
Highlights
We examined how the experience of marital conflict and infant irritability impacts maternal behavior.
After randomization into a marital conflict discussion (but not positive discussion), mothers disengaged from infant irritability; after an infant stress-task, all mothers disengaged from infant irritability.
Marital conflict and heightened infant irritability overwhelms maternal resources, encouraging maternal disengagement.