{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,7]],"date-time":"2026-04-07T20:49:18Z","timestamp":1775594958648,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,2]],"date-time":"2021-08-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1627862400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:bold>Objective:<\/jats:bold> Early regulatory disorders (ERD) in infancy are typically associated with high parenting stress (PS). Theoretical and empirical literature suggests a wide range of factors that may contribute to PS related to ERD. The aim of this study was to identify key predictors of maternal PS within a large predictor data set in a sample of <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic> = 135 mothers of infants diagnosed with ERD.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Methods:<\/jats:bold> We used machine learning to identify relevant predictors. Maternal PS was assessed with the Parenting Stress Index. The multivariate dataset assessed cross-sectionally consisted of 464 self-reported and clinically rated variables covering mother-reported psychological distress, maternal self-efficacy, parental reflective functioning, socio-demographics, each parent's history of illness, recent significant life events, former miscarriage\/abortion, pregnancy, obstetric history, infants' medical history, development, and social environment. Variables were drawn from behavioral diaries on regulatory symptoms and parental co-regulative behavior as well as a clinical interview which was utilized to diagnose ERD and to assess clinically rated regulatory symptoms, quality of parent\u2013infant relationship, organic\/biological and psychosocial risks, and social\u2013emotional functioning.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Results:<\/jats:bold> The final prediction model identified 11 important variables summing up to the areas maternal self-efficacy, psychological distress (particularly depression and anger-hostility), infant regulatory symptoms (particularly duration of fussing\/crying), and age-appropriate physical development. The RMSE (i.e., prediction accuracy) of the final model applied to the test set was 21.72 (<jats:italic>R<\/jats:italic><jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup> = 0.58).<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusions:<\/jats:bold> This study suggests that among behavioral, environmental, developmental, parent\u2013infant relationship, and mental health variables, a mother's higher self-efficacy, psychological distress symptoms particularly depression and anger symptoms, symptoms in the child particularly fussing\/crying symptoms, and age-inappropriate physical development are associated with higher maternal PS. With these factors identified, clinicians may more efficiently assess a mother's PS related to ERD in a low-risk help-seeking sample.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2021.663285","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,2]],"date-time":"2021-08-02T05:48:40Z","timestamp":1627883320000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["Maternal Parenting Stress in the Face of Early Regulatory Disorders in Infancy: A Machine Learning Approach to Identify What Matters Most"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Anna K.","family":"Georg","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Paul","family":"Schr\u00f6der-Pfeifer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Manfred","family":"Cierpka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Svenja","family":"Taubner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"62","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-7610.2006.01659.x","article-title":"The prevalence of mental health problems in children 1 1\/2 years of age - the Copenhagen Child Cohort 2000","volume":"48","year":"2007","journal-title":"J Child Psychol Psychiat."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"584","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-3016.2010.01150.x","article-title":"Why are they having infant colic? 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