Distinct factors associated with head start mothers’ self-report of perceived low positive and high negative maternal expressiveness

Research Findings: There is growing acknowledgment of the need for parenting interventions to address early-onset behavior and emotional concerns. Favorable child outcomes have been linked to parents’ responsiveness and positive expressiveness. Given the theoretical and empirical link between perceptions and actual behavior, Head Start mothers (n=114) participated in an investigation to examine factors that may be associated with level of self-reported maternal expressiveness. Participants completed the Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire (Halberstadt, Cassidy, Stifter, Parke, & Fox, 1995). Analysis suggested that self-reported high negative expressiveness was linked with raising a preschooler with perceived internalizing and externalizing behaviors, high parenting stress, and obtaining a post–high school degree. A perceived view of being low in positive expressiveness, in contrast, correlated with different variables, including raising a preschooler with a diagnosed delay, not having any child receive specialized services, raising only 1 child, dropping out of high school, and not receiving behavior advice from Head Start staff. Practice or Policy: Implications for examining self-reported low positive and high negative expressiveness as separate constructs with possibly different intervention pathways are discussed.