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While research has shown that the attentional bias to infant faces predicts the quality of infant care, the antecedents of this cognitive process have been less established. In particular, it remains unknown whether the attentional bias to infant faces might be affected by the interplay between different factors, including memories of past experiences of care, adults' sex, and the experience of parenthood. To extend previous results, we examined the attentional bias to infant faces in a mixed sample of parents (n = 99) and nonparents (n = 102), and whether it varied in relation to parental status, sex, the quality of past experiences of care, and the interactions between these factors. A modified go/no-go task was used to compare the effect of adult and infant faces in retaining adults' attention. Memories of past experiences of paternal and maternal care were collected using the short form of the Italian version of the Parental Acceptance–Rejection scale. Results confirmed that infant faces induced greater attentional interference compared to adult faces. A heightened attention to all types of faces was found in parents versus nonparent. Women, as compared to men, were slower in the task performance, and allocated more attention to infant versus adult faces. Consistent with previous evidence, the attentional prioritization of infant faces varied in relation to previous experiences of care with one's own mother; individuals who remembered a more accepting maternal care allocated more attention to infant versus adult faces. Parental status did not modulate this effect, but sex of participants did. Grounded in the interpersonal acceptance–rejection theory (IPARTheory), this study provides new insights for discerning processes that might regulate global adult caregiving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to investigate cross-cultural differences and similarities in maternal and children's adjustment to COVID-19 restrictions in Spain and Italy, with reference to determinants of maternal stress. A total of 950 mothers (45.4% from Spain, n = 432, Mage = 39.6, years old, SD = 5.2 and 54.5% from Italy, n = 518, Mage = 40.5, years, SD = 6.4) of children aged 3–17 years old completed questionnaires on sociodemographic and COVID-19 contextual factors, parenting-related variables, and children externalizing behaviors using an online survey. We examined determinants of parental stress in both countries. Mothers reported a significant increase in parental stress and child externalizing behaviors during COVID-19 home confinement, with more remarkable perceived changes in the Spanish group. Hierarchical linear regressions showed that child age and externalizing behaviors, maternal psychological distress, quality of coparenting and pre-COVID-19 levels of parental stress significantly predicted parental stress in both Italian and Spanish mothers during the pandemic. Results confirmed the negative psychological impact of COVID-19 home confinement on parents and children across countries and revealed common underlying factors responsible for parental stress in Italy and Spain. These findings highlighted the need for communitarian preventive programs to reduce mental health difficulties and parental stress in mothers and behavioral difficulties in children during pandemic restrictions. Particular attention should be paid to young mothers and children, and the key role of positive partner support and coparenting relationships should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used a cross-national framework to examine country, region, and gender differences in emotional availability (EA), a prominent index of mutual socioemotional adaptation in the parent—child dyad. Altogether 220 Argentine, Italian, and U.S. mothers and their daughters and sons from both rural and metropolitan areas took part in home observations when the children were 20 months old. In terms of country, Italian mothers were more sensitive and optimally structuring, and Italian children were more responsive and involving, than Argentine and U.S. dyads. In terms of region, rural mothers were more intrusive than metropolitan mothers, and boys from metropolitan areas were more responsive than boys from rural areas. In terms of gender, mothers of girls were more sensitive and optimally structuring than mothers of boys, and daughters were more responsive and involving than sons. Understanding how country, region, and gender influence EA exposes forces that shape child development, parent-infant interaction, and family systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]