Associations between personality traits, depressive symptoms, parental stress, and caregiver responsiveness in mothers of infants

Background: Previous research established the key role of caregiver responsiveness in favorable infant development. This study examined psychological determinants of caregiver responsiveness in a non-clinical sample of mothers of infants in the first year of life. Method: We conducted an online survey including two self-report measures of caregiver responsiveness (Maternal Responsiveness Questionnaire, MRQ, and Parental Responsiveness Scale, PRS), as well as measures of parental stress (Parental Stress Scale), depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale), and Big-Five personality traits (International Personality Item Pool – Big Five Markers, 20-item version). The sample included 184 mothers, most of whom had higher education.Results: Parental stress was significantly directly associated with lower caregiver responsiveness. Additionally, depressive symptoms partially mediated the relationship (for MRQ, but not PRS) between parental stress and responsiveness. The effects of personality traits were statistically non-significant.Conclusions: Parental stress emerged as the most consistent predictor of caregiver responsiveness, underscoring its central role in shaping parental behavior. The results were consistent across the two different measures of caregiver responsiveness.