Context processing as a moderator of the association between posttraumatic stress symptoms and the adaptation of maternal sensitivity following stress related to separation.
- 1Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
- 2Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
Abstract
We aimed to assess the moderating role of context processing (i.e., context-encoding and -memory) in the association between maternal posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and the changes in maternal sensitivity in reaction to a separation from their toddler. Thirty-one mothers and their toddlers participated in the study in Switzerland. Mothers reported their current PTSS and performed a context processing task where they had to recognize contexts that they had previously seen paired with emotional faces. Maternal sensitivity was assessed during free play with their child and following a 3-min separation and was coded using the CARE-Index. A ratio score was calculated to assess the change in maternal sensitivity. Although the recognition of contexts previously associated with angry faces did not significantly moderate the relationship between maternal PTSS and the changes in maternal sensitivity, the recognition of contexts previously associated with neutral faces did. More PTSS led to a greater improvement of maternal sensitivity for mothers who had a better recognition of such contexts. This may be due to the ambiguity of neutral faces, which individuals with PTSS tend to focus on more closely, potentially due to their hypervigilance. Enhancing context processing may therefore help mothers use vigilance to improve sensitive caregiving.
Related
- Do thoughts actually drive symptoms? Testing cognitive theories of posttraumatic stress with natural language processing in daily diaries
- Institutional betrayal and posttraumatic adaptation among Nova festival survivors following the 7 October 2023 attack.
- Randomized non-inferiority within-patient trial of density gradient processing of sequential ejaculates versus centrifugation-free sperm separation device for ICSI in men with elevated sperm DNA fragmentation- study protocol
- The association between childhood sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder in justice-involved populations: a meta-analysis.
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Epigenome-Wide Association Studies in the Million Veteran Program
BibTeX
@article{graf2026context,
title = {{Context processing as a moderator of the association between posttraumatic stress symptoms and the adaptation of maternal sensitivity following stress related to separation.}},
author = {Shannen Graf and Lara Detoledo and Sophie Wood and Dominik A Moser and Sébastien Urben and Daniel S Schechter},
journal = {Infant mental health journal},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/imhj.70121},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42834004},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Context processing as a moderator of the association between posttraumatic stress symptoms and the adaptation of maternal sensitivity following stress related to separation.
AU - Shannen Graf
AU - Lara Detoledo
AU - Sophie Wood
AU - Dominik A Moser
AU - Sébastien Urben
AU - Daniel S Schechter
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - Infant mental health journal
DO - 10.1002/imhj.70121
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42834004
AB - We aimed to assess the moderating role of context processing (i.e., context-encoding and -memory) in the association between maternal posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and the changes in maternal sensitivity in reaction to a separation from their toddler. Thirty-one mothers and their toddlers participated in the study in Switzerland. Mothers reported their current PTSS and performed a context processing task where they had to recognize contexts that they had previously seen paired with emotional faces. Maternal sensitivity was assessed during free play with their child and following a 3-min separation and was coded using the CARE-Index. A ratio score was calculated to assess the change in maternal sensitivity. Although the recognition of contexts previously associated with angry faces did not significantly moderate the relationship between maternal PTSS and the changes in maternal sensitivity, the recognition of contexts previously associated with neutral faces did. More PTSS led to a greater improvement of maternal sensitivity for mothers who had a better recognition of such contexts. This may be due to the ambiguity of neutral faces, which individuals with PTSS tend to focus on more closely, potentially due to their hypervigilance. Enhancing context processing may therefore help mothers use vigilance to improve sensitive caregiving.
SN - 0163-9641
SN - 1097-0355
ER -