**3. Parenting and vulnerability**

for example). The mesosystem is composed of these microsystems interacting among them. The exosystem context consists of those spaces not frequented by the child directly, but that indirectly influence their development (the parents' place of work and the rules of operation at their school, for example). The macrosystem consists of the society's prevailing cultural,

The element of time is also organized into three distinct aspects and is described as having influence over the entire developmental process, since interactions occur at specific times, the microtime. Mesotime is a set of microtimes, while macrotime is the historic whole of time in which relations are forged. By definition then, macrotime bears a significant influence on

According to Bronfenbrenner [24], the quality of established relationships, constituents of the proximal processes, are the "engines of development". Nevertheless, Bronfenbrenner empha‐ sizes that these relationships are influenced by the context in which they occur, particularly in the microsystem, in which relationships are established face-to-face. However, the microsys‐ tem is itself influenced by other systems (meso, exo, and macro) that affect the quality of these

Olds [27] stated that the form of baby care and how their needs are identified and met influences the development context which surrounds it, as does the childhood context in which the parents developed. It appears that mothers/fathers that developed in hostile environments are more likely to adopt aggressive behavior and take minimal care for their children. Similarly, mothers who had poor relationships with their parents show less ability to bond with their own children and therefore have less maternal attitudes considered appropriate [28,27]. It is necessary to consider that the skills of caring for children result from a developmental process,

Concerns about the patterns of attachment formed with parents and the relationships that are formed during the rest of life, and among various generations of the same family, and what the underlying processes are, is a topic of research interest. The process by which, intentional or otherwise, an earlier generations psychologically influences the attitudes and parenting behaviors of the next generation, has been called the Model of Intergenerational Transmission of Parenting [30]. This model of transmission has been studied in its three components and their relationships: adult caregivers' mental representation of attachment, parenting practices,

Studies consistently show a substantial effect of intergenerational transmission of parenting styles within the theory of adult attachment relationships. These findings suggest that the experiences parents had with their own parents´sensitivity, their attentiveness, rejection or ambivalence, generates an internal representation of the grandparents as responsive or unresponsive. The hypothesis behind this idea is that the internal representation of attachment influences the degree to which parents will be responsiveness to their own children [10,32]. According to van IJzendoorn [30], from the hypothesis of internal representation, it would be expected that parents who experienced a high degree of responsiveness/sensitivity in child‐ hood would be more open to the signals and needs of their own children than parents who

norms, laws, and values.

150 Parenting in South American and African Contexts

microtime [25].

relationships.

namely the parents' own childhood [29].

and child attachment styles [31].

Preventive interventions, especially those directed to early childhood, should be tested under objective, scientific criteria for their impact on the development of social capital of communities and for their relevancy as a strategy to overcome poverty in the most vulnerable populations. Currently, very little is known about the early development of children living in vulnerable conditions, since the proportion of childhood development research conducted within this population is minimal. Bornstein and Putnick [33] argue that, despite the consensus surround‐ ing the importance of earlychildhood years has on development throughout one's life, and the influence of early development environments, the settings and conditions of care surrounding children, there is still a surprisingly scarce amount of data regarding it. According to the authors, at the population level (for example, populations in national territories or locales) there is very little information about the diversity of experiences and conditions that benefit or hinder the wellbeing of children. For Bornstein and Putnick, this lack of information is especially noticeable in developing countries.

Some factors have been described as influencing the quality of the relationships between mother, father, and child. Poverty, for example, can lead to friction in relational quality [34]. The socioeconomic context is a characteristic of the microsystem that tends to be indicated as relevant in the interactions established with the child over the course of their development, modulating the caregiver-child relationships (proximal process) [29,35,36]. In studies made to establish an association between maternal sensitivity and infant attach‐ ment security in samples taken from high risk, low socioeconomic populations, specifical‐ ly in a meta-analysis addressed by Wolff and van IJzendoorn [14], were found significantly lower associations between maternal sensitivity and infant attachment security compared to samples taken from middle and higher socioeconomic strata. Subsequent studies conducted by Diener, Nievar and Wright [37] corroborate the findings of the metaanalysis. Also, their results showed that the dyads with more positive resources in their families showed, among the three groups, the highest correlations between maternal sensitivity and attachment security. However, data from a study realized in Colombia by Posada and collaborators [38]comparing two samples, one middle class and one in extreme

poverty, showed a significant and robust association between these two variables. Neverthe‐ less, in this study the mean scores for maternal sensitivity and attachment security were significantly lower than those from the socioeconomically advantaged. One would assume then that the stressful daily life experienced by families living in poverty might negative‐ ly affect the quality of maternal sensitivity and attachment security, as well as the relation‐ ship between these two factors; for example, socioeconomic status tends to relate to knowledge about child development, as well as expectations for the infant [36]. More‐ over, the interactive pattern tends to be distinct according to socioeconomic level [29,35,39].

ment in which they operate [40]. However, there are contexts that, for their peculiarities, are

Interventions for Enhancing Parenting Quality in Early Infancy

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/56974

153

The development of parenting interventions improve the quality of the first emotional experiences, present in the infant-mother interactions [28], and stimulate protective factors of child and adolescent development in at-risk social contexts. Interventions aimed family caregivers are important not only to promote the healthy development of boys and girls, but also to prevent violence within the home and to help build equitable and inclusive societies, as well as to reduce abusive and neglectful parental behaviors that continue to affect many children around the world [4,5]. These elements should serve as a guide in the implementation

Bronfenbrenner, in his model of bioecological development, considers that the emotional bonding process can be facilitated through intervention programs which involve caregivers as primary intervention agents, and where strong one-on-one relationships are considered essential for the development of young children [8]. The process of emotional bonding can be understood within the Bronfenbrenner model, as a proximal process. That is, as those rela‐

According to the initial hypothesis proposed by Bronfenbrenner [23], the proximal processes, such as development contexts characterized by interpersonal structures, may produce two types of effects on the individual involved in this, taking into account the quality of these processes: 1) competence or ability to self-manage skillfully behavior within a domain of development; or 2) dysfunction, difficulty in maintain control over development [26]. Bron‐ fenbrenner always included within the assumptions of the theoretical model, the need of research evidence that would allow public interventions or programs to promote healthy human competency. When designing interventions for early childhood, Bronfenbrenner suggested that these should influence the microsystem, which is in everyday interactions in order to affect the core of parental relationships (i.e., the family microsystem) For Bronfen‐ brenner [23], the microsystem is "a pattern of activities, social roles and interpersonal face-toface relationships experienced by developing persons in a scenario with physical, social and symbolic individuals that invite, permit or inhibit, and that progressively engage them in more complex and active interaction within the immediate environment " (p1645). That is to say, it is within the microsystem where trigger processes occur, inhibiting or favoring human

To achieve developmental impact through early interventions, Bronfenbrenner [8] emphasizes that during the first three years of life, the main objective of human development is to establish a lasting emotional relationship between parents and children, and that these relationships are built through frequent reciprocal interactions. He also points out that the impact on the development of a primary dyad increases in direct relation to the reciprocity of mutual positive feelings, a gradual shift in the balance of powers, and a progressive autonomy for the child

tionships that occurs in the immediate surroundings of daily care.

considered the most challenging for the parenting task.

**4. Enhancing parenting**

of public and private interventions.

development, the proximal processes.

Mothers of higher socioeconomic status tend to talk more with their infants when trying to calm them down. Likewise, they tend to hold their children more often and express more affection towards them, compared to mothers of lower socioeconomic status [39]. In this sense, it is considered that the socioeconomic conditions of the family influence the quality of education and care the child will receive, as well as the type of resources and experiences that the child will have access to [40].

Furthermore, Belsky et al. [29] found that stressors of context, namely single parenthood and marital conflict, may lead to parenting practices considered more punitive. In these situations, there were observed more behaviors of rejection and inconsistency in the care of the infant. These behaviors, in turn, would instill in children a sense of defenselessness and unpredicta‐ bility, which would lead to a model of internalization considered insecure [16,15,41].

Since parents with higher sensitivity are better at identifying their child's needs and respond‐ ing appropriately, they are less likely to develop behaviors of neglect or maltreatment [27]. In other words, parents tend to resort to practices considered more punitive in environments marked by the presence of stressful events, which in turn can lead to a child's sense of selfdeprecation. In these cases, children tend to view themselves as little worthy of love, while others would regard them as unreliable and non-protective. As a result, their interpersonal relationships would be assessed as unreliable and transient [29].

It is from this perspective that Belsky et al. [29] characterize the practice of infants' caregiving as arising from contextual demands. The authors explained that parents' educational strategies will be influenced by their assessment of reality. For example, if parents rated their life as difficult, violent, unstable, it is natural that they would want to educate their children in light of this reality, making them better suited to deal with these qualities. Likewise, attitudes like warmth and safety can be considered counterproductive and unhelpful to a child's develop‐ ment in an environment considered tough, hostile, and in which a person constantly needs to defend themselves. The way parents raise their children and the type of care they offer are strongly influenced by their assessment of the challenges of their context [29,40].

Nevertheless, it is necessary to emphasize that no context of development is considered better than another, but rather that they provide for distinct experiences. This is a view shared by Keller, Lohaus, Volker, Cappenberg and Chasiottis [42]. These authors postulate that care consist of a set of behaviors that have, as their main objective, to meet contextual demands. Importantly, the different educational strategies adopted in each context aim to provide the best possible development to the child, taking into account the characteristics of the environ‐ ment in which they operate [40]. However, there are contexts that, for their peculiarities, are considered the most challenging for the parenting task.
