Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Knowledge of Maternal HIV/AIDS and Child Adjustment: The Moderating Role of Children’s Relationships with their Mothers

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
AIDS and Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The current study examined whether child-reported maternal warmth and support moderated the association between knowledge of maternal illness and child psychosocial adjustment among 86 low-income, African American mothers with HIV/AIDS and their non-infected children. Mother–child relationship quality moderated the association between children’s knowledge of maternal HIV/AIDS and children’s externalizing, but not internalizing, difficulties. Consistent with the stress-buffering hypothesis, a warm and supportive mother–child relationship afforded a more robust buffer against externalizing difficulties for children who knew of their mother’s illness than for children who did not. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Achenbach, T. (1991a). Manual for the child behavior checklist 4–18 and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.

    Google Scholar 

  • Achenbach, T. (1991b). Manual for the youth self report and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, R. N., & Smith, B. L. (2003). Deaths: Leading causes for 2001. National Vital Statistics Reports, 52, 27–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armistead, L. P., Forehand, R., Brody, G., & Maguen, S. (2002). Parenting and child psychosocial adjustment in single-parent African American families: Is community context important? Behavior Therapy, 33, 361–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armistead, L. P., Klein, K., & Forehand, R. (1995). Parent physical illness and child functioning. Clinical Psychology Review, 15, 409–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armistead, L. P., Morse, E., Forehand, R., Morse, P. S., & Clark, L. (1999). African American women and self-disclosure of HIV infection: Rates, predictors, and relationship to depressive symptomatology. AIDS and Behavior, 3, 195–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armistead, L. P., Tannenbaum, L., Forehand, R., Morse, E., & Morse, P. S. (2001). Disclosing HIV status: Are mothers telling their children? Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 26, 11–20.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bettoli-Vaughn, E., Brown, R., Brown, V., & Baldwin, K. (1998). Psychological adjustment and adaptation of siblings and mothers of children with HIV/AIDS. Family Systems and Health, 16, 249–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, P. A., Le Brocque, R., & Hammen, C. (2003). Maternal depression, parent-child relationships, and resilient outcomes in adolescence. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 42, 1469–1477.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2004a). HIV/AIDS surveillance report, 2003. Atlanta: US Department of Health and Human Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2004b). Diagnoses of HIV/AIDS—32 States, 2000–2003. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 53, 1106–1110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, S. (1988). Psychosocial models of the role of social support in the etiology of physical disease. Health Psychology, 7, 269–297.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social support, and the stress-buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310–357.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social support, and the stress-buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310–357.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dallaire, D. H., Pineda, A. Q., & Cole, D. A. (2006). Relation of positive and negative parenting to children’s depressive symptoms. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 35, 313–322.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (1994). Socialization mediators of the relation between socioeconomic status and child conduct problems. Child Development, 65, 649–665.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Drotar, D., Stein, R. E. K., & Perrin, E. C. (1995). Methodological issues in using the child behavior checklist and its related instruments in clinical child psychology research. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 24, 184–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Family Health Project Research Group. (1997). The family health project: A multidisciplinary longitudinal investigation of children whose mothers are HIV infected. Clinical Psychology Review, 18, 839–856.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fitzpatrick, K. M. (1993). Exposure to violence and presence of depression among low income African American youth. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61, 528–531.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Forehand, R., & Jones, D. J. (2003). Neighborhood violence and coparenting conflict: Interactive influences on psychosocial adjustment of children living in inner-city environments. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31, 591–604.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Forehand, R., Jones, D. J., Kotchick, B. A., Armistead, L., Morse, E., Morse, P. S., et al. (2002). Noninfected children of HIV-infected mothers: A 4-year longitudinal study of childpsychosocial adjustment and parenting. Behavior Therapy, 33, 579–600.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forehand, R., Steele, R., Armistead, L., Morse, E., Simon, P., & Clark, L. (1998). The family health project: Psychosocial adjustment of children whose mothers are HIV infected. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 513–520.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Forsyth, B. W. C., Damour, L., Nagler, S., & Adnopoz, J. (1996). The psychological effects of parental human immunodeficiency virus infection on uninfected children. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 150, 1015–1020.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hembree-Kigin, T. L., & McNeil, C. B. (1995). Parent-child interaction therapy. New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herek, G. M. (1999). AIDS and stigma. American Behavioral Scientist, 42, 1106–1116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarrett, R. L., & Burton, L. M. (1999). Dynamic dimensions of family structure in low-income African American families: Emergent themes in qualitative research. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 30, 177–187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, L., & Staples, R. (2005). Black families at the crossroads. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, D. J., Beach, S. R. H., Forehand, R., & The Family Health Project Research Group. (2001a). HIV-infection and depressive symptoms: An investigation of African American single-mothers. AIDS Care, 13, 343–350.

  • Jones, D. J., Beach, S. R. H., Forehand, R., & The Family Health Project Research Group. (2001b). Disease status in African American single-mothers with HIV/AIDS: The role of depressive symptoms. Health Psychology, 20, 417–423.

  • Jones, D. J., Forehand, R., O’Connell, C., Brody, G., & Armistead, L. (2005). Neighborhood violence and maternal monitoring in African American single mother-headed families: An examination of the moderating role of social support. Behavior Therapy, 36, 25–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, D. J., Foster, S., Forehand, G., & O’Connell, C. (2005). Neighborhood violence and psychosocial adjustment in low-income urban African American children: Physical symptoms as a marker of distress. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 14, 237–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, D. J., Shaffer, A., Forehand, R., Brody, G., & Armistead, L. (2003). Coparenting conflict, in single-mother headed families: Do parenting skills serve as a mediator or moderator of children’s psychosocial adjustment? Behavior Therapy, 34, 259–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaczynski, K. J., Lindahl, K. M., & Malik, N. M. (2006). Marital conflict, maternal and paternal parenting, and child adjustment: A test of mediation and moderation. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 199–208.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kirshenbaum, S. B., & Nevid, J. S. (2002). The specificity of maternal disclosure of HIV/AIDS in relation to children’s adjustment. AIDS Education and Prevention, 14, 1–16.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Korneluk, Y. G. & Lee, C. M. (1998). Children’s adjustment to parental physical illness. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 1, 179–193.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kovacs, M. (1981). Rating scales to assess depression in school-aged children. Acta Paedopsychiatrica, 46, 305–315.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lamborn, S. D., Dornbusch, S. M., & Steinberg, L. (1996). Ethnicity and community context as moderators of the relations between family decision making and adolescent adjustment. Child Development, 67, 282–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levy, A., Laska, F., Abelhauser, A., Delfraissy, J., Goujard, C., Boue, F., et al. (1999). Disclosure of HIV seropositivity. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 55, 1041–1049.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McMahon, R. J., & Forehand, R. J. (2003). Helping the noncompliant child: Family-based treatment for oppositional behavior (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, L. M. B., Koranyi, K., Crim, L., & Whited, S. (1999). Disclosure, stress, and psychological adjustment among mothers affected by HIV. AIDS Patient Care and STDs, 13, 111–118.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, D. A., Steers, W. N., & Stritto, M. E. D. (2001). Maternal disclosure of mothers’ HIVserostatus to their young children. Journal of Family Psychology, 15, 441–450.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998). Mplus user‘s guide. Los Angeles: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pittman, L. D., & Chase-Lansdale, P. L. (2001). African American adolescent girls in impoverished communities: Parenting style and adolescent outcomes. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11, 199–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preacher, K. J., Curran, P. J., & Bauer, D. J. (in press). Computational tools for probing interaction effects in multiple linear regression, multilevel modeling, and latent curve analysis. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics.

  • Prinz, R. J., Foster, S., Kent, R. N., & O’Leary, K. D. (1979). Multivariate assessment of conflict in distressed and nondistressed mother-adolescent dyads. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 12, 691–700.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Robin, A. L., & Foster, S. L. (1989). Negotiating parent-adolescent conflict: A behavioral family systems approach. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robin, A. L., & Weiss, J. G. (1980). Criterion-related validity of behavioral and self-report measures of problem-solving communication skills in distressed and nondistressed parent-adolescent dyads. Behavioral Assessment, 2, 339–352.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotheram-Borus, M. J., Draimin, B. H., Reid, H. M., & Murphy, D. A. (1997). The impact of illness disclosure and custody plans on adolescents whose parents live with AIDS. AIDS, 11, 1159–1164.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Semple, S. J., Patterson, T. L., Temoshok, L. R., McCutchan, J. A., Straits-Tröster, K. A., & Chandler, J. L., et al. (1993). Identification of psychobiological stressors among HIV positive women. Women and Health, 20, 15–36.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shaffer, A., Jones, D. J., Kotchick, B. A., Forehand, R., & The Family Health Project Research Group. (2001). Telling the children: Disclosure of maternal HIV infection and its effect on child psychosocial adjustment. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 10, 301–313.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tompkins, T. L., Henker, B., Whalen, C. K., Axelrod, J., & Comer, L. K. (1999). Motherhood in the context of HIV infection: Reading between the numbers. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 5, 197–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vandewater, E. A., & Lansford, J. E. (2005). A family process model of problem behaviors in adolescents. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 100–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wethington, E., & Kessler, R. C. (1986). Perceived support, received support, and adjustment to stressful life events. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 27, 78–89.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Support for data collection and management was provided by the CDC and Prevention and the Institute for Behavioral Research at the University of Georgia. Additional support for the preparation of this manuscript was provided by funds from the Ethnicity, Culture, and Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Research and Study Leave provided to the first author by the Department of Psychology. Our sincere appreciation is expressed to Dr. Rex Forehand at the University of Vermont, as well as the Family Health Project Research Group, for the opportunity to conduct secondary analyses of this dataset.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Davie Hall, CB #3270, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3270, USA

    Deborah J. Jones, Sarah E. Foster, Alecia A. Zalot & Charlene Chester

  2. Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94132, USA

    Antonette King

Authors
  1. Deborah J. Jones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sarah E. Foster
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alecia A. Zalot
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Charlene Chester
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Antonette King
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deborah J. Jones.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jones, D.J., Foster, S.E., Zalot, A.A. et al. Knowledge of Maternal HIV/AIDS and Child Adjustment: The Moderating Role of Children’s Relationships with their Mothers. AIDS Behav 11, 409–420 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-006-9188-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-006-9188-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation