title: Factors affecting parent-child relationships one year after positive newborn screening for cystic fibrosis or congenital hypothyroidism.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Examine factors that mediate parent-infant relationships 12 months after positive newborn screening (NBS).
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined effects of infant diagnosis, parents' perceptions of child vulnerability and child attachment, parental depression and anxiety on parent-infant feeding interactions for 131 mothers and 118 fathers of 131 infants whose NBS and diagnostics confirmed cystic fibrosis (CF, n = 23), congenital hypothyroidism (CH, n = 35), CF carrier status (CF-C, n = 38), or healthy normal NBS (H, n = 35).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Separate composite indicator structural equation models for mothers and fathers showed that neonatal diagnosis was not associated with increased anxiety or depression. In comparison with the healthy group, CF group parents reported higher perceptions of child vulnerability (p < .001, p = .002), and CF-C group fathers viewed their children as more attached (p = .021). High maternal perception of child vulnerability was associated with low perceptions of child attachment (p = .001), which was associated with task-oriented feeding behavior (p = .016, p = .029). Parental task-oriented feeding behavior was associated with less positive (p < .001, p < .001) and more negative interactions (p < .001, p = .001) with their infants. High paternal perception of child vulnerability was associated with negative parent interactions (p < .001). High parental affective involvement and verbalization was associated with high infant affective expressiveness, communicative skills, and social responsiveness (mothers' p < .001, fathers' p < .001). High parental negative effect and/or inconsistent and intrusive behavior were associated with infant dysregulation and irritability (mothers, p < .001, fathers, p < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The severity of conditions identified through NBS can affect parents' perceptions of their child's vulnerability and attachment. Infant feeding problems in the context of chronic health conditions, like CF, could represent signs of more deeply rooted concerns regarding the parent-child relationship that merit additional clinical evaluation.
authors.affiliation: *School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI; †Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI; ‡School of Nursing, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC; §Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI.
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tluczek
authors.forename: Roseanne
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Anne Chevalier
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: McKechnie
authors.forename: Roger L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001903:Bottle Feeding / Q000523:psychology*; D003409:Congenital Hypothyroidism / Q000523:psychology*; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D009769:Object Attachment; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology