Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39499315›Full record

ArticleArchives of women's mental health2025

Maternal alexithymia and caregiving behavior: the role of executive functioning - A FinnBrain Birth Cohort study.

Elisabeth Nordenswan, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Eeva-Leena Kataja, Mira Karrasch, Matti Laine, Juho Pelto, Eeva Holmberg, Hetti Lahtela, Hanna Ahrnberg, Jani Kajanoja and 4 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Archives of women's mental health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Elisabeth NordenswanDepartment of Clinical Medicine, The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. elisabeth.nordenswan@utu.fi.
Kirby Deater-DeckardHelsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, Helsinki, Finland.
Eeva-Leena KatajaDepartment of Clinical Medicine, The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Mira KarraschDepartment of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.
Matti LaineDepartment of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.
Juho PeltoDepartment of Clinical Medicine, The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Eeva HolmbergDepartment of Clinical Medicine, The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Hetti LahtelaDepartment of Clinical Medicine, The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Hanna AhrnbergDepartment of Clinical Medicine, The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Jani KajanojaDepartment of Clinical Medicine, The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Max KarukiviDepartment of Clinical Medicine, The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Hasse KarlssonDepartment of Clinical Medicine, The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Linnea KarlssonDepartment of Clinical Medicine, The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Riikka KorjaDepartment of Clinical Medicine, The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThe growing interest in parental cognition calls for research clarifying how cognition interacts with other parenting determinants to shape caregiving behavior. We studied the interplay between executive functioning (EF; cognitive processes that enable goal-directed thinking and behavior) and alexithymic traits (characterized by emotion processing/regulation difficulties) in relation to emotional availability (EA; the dyad's ability to share an emotionally healthy relationship). As EF has been reported to shape parents' ability to regulate thoughts and emotions during caregiving, we examined whether EF moderated the association between maternal alexithymic traits, and EA.

methodsAmong 119 mothers with 2.5-year-olds drawn from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort, EF was measured with Cogstate tasks, alexithymic traits with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and caregiving with the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS).

resultsMore alexithymic traits on the TAS-20 subscale Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT) were associated with poorer caregiving in a hierarchical regression analysis (ΔR

conclusionsThe influence of cognitive alexithymic traits on EA could be especially pronounced among low EF parents, but further studies are needed to support and extend the findings. The potential role of parental reflective functioning in this context is discussed.

Indexed as

Affective SymptomsCaregiversExecutive FunctionMother-Child RelationsMothersParentingAdultBirth CohortChild, PreschoolCohort StudiesEmotionsFemaleFinlandHumansMaleAlexithymiaCaregiving behaviorEarly parenthoodEmotional availabilityExecutive functioning

Identifiers

PMID39499315
PMCPMC11761824

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.