Linking Employment to Attachment: The Mediating Effects of Maternal Separation Anxiety and Interactive Behavior

This study examined the effects of maternal employment and separation anxiety on maternal interactive behavior and infant attachment. 73 mother-infant pairs participated in a laboratory free-play session when infants were 5 and 10 months of age and in the Strange Situation when the infants were 18 months of age. Maternal feelings about being separated from her infant were assessed by questionnaire at 5 months. Employed mothers returned to work before the infants' fifth month, and nonemployed mothers did not work outside the home through their infants' tenth month. Employed mothers who reported high levels of separation anxiety were more likely to exhibit intrusive behaviors at 10 months. While employment was not directly related to attachment, we found infants of high-anxiety employed mothers to develop anxious-avoidant attachments. The results suggest that maternal separation anxiety and interactive style may be important mediators between employment and later infant outcome.     

Looking without listening: is audition a prerequisite for normal development of visual attention during infancy?

Potential effects of auditory and other communicative experience on development of visual attention were investigated for four groups of infants at 9, 12, and 18 months of age. Participants included 20 deaf infants with deaf mothers, 19 deaf infants with hearing mothers, 21 hearing infants with hearing mothers, and 20 hearing infants with deaf mothers. Infants' hearing status alone did not associate with patterns of visual attention. Deaf infants with deaf mothers showed significantly longer times in the most advanced attention state (coordinated joint) than did deaf infants with hearing mothers. However, other aspects of experience were associated with group differences. Both deaf and hearing children with deaf mothers who signed spent more time onlooking (or watching) their mothers than did children (deaf or hearing) with hearing mothers. Hearing children with hearing mothers spent more time looking at objects than did children with deaf mothers. Despite these differences in time in various attention states, the general trajectory of development of each of the attention states was similar across groups. Results indicate that early visual attention is associated with and potentially influenced by a complex interaction of maturation, communicative experiences, and other developing skills.     

Use of the Bayley Scales to characterize abilities of premature infants

The Bayley Scales of Infant Development were administered to 92 white, middle-class infants, half of them premature and half full-term, at 1 year of age from term to determine whether this instrument is useful in characterizing the abilities of premature infants. Although both full-term and premature infants achieved mental and motor development scores within the average range, full-term infants attained significantly higher scores on both the Mental and Motor Scales. Both groups scored significantly lower on motor than mental functioning; however, the difference was significantly greater for premature infants. As a group, premature infants also evidenced greater variability in their performance on both the Mental and Motor Scales, and they showed greater intra-individual variability in performance of motor ability. Furthermore, premature infants were less likely to succeed on items testing eye-hand coordination, imitation, and vocalization. Preselected perinatal risk variables accounted for a significant amount of variance in both mental and motor ability of premature infants.     

The relationship between neonatal characteristics and three-month mother-infant interaction in high-risk infants

The behavior of 4 groups of infants--healthy term, healthy preterm, sick preterm, and sick full-term--was assessed in the neonatal period using the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS). At 3 months postterm, infants and their mothers were observed and videotaped in a free-play session. Both the NBAS and mother-infant interaction data were analyzed to assess the effects of maturity (term vs. preterm), illness (sick vs. healthy), and their interaction. Results revealed that illness of the infant affected both NBAS performance and maternal behavior during the interaction at 3 moths. Infants who were ill performed poorly on the NBAS orientation dimension; this dimension was found to be significantly associated with maternal and infant behaviors at 3 months. These data demonstrate an association between early infant characteristics and subsequent mother and child interactive behaviors. They also identify postnatal illness as an important influence on the development of the mother-infant dyad.     

Physiological effects of infant exposure to environmental tobacco smoke: a passive observation study

This study explored infant physiologic responses of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) using a longitudinal passive observation study with a control group. Fifteen smoking and 15 non-smoking mothers were initially contacted in hospital maternity units, with home visits made when their infants were 2, 4, and 6 weeks old. Exposure to ETS was measured using infant urinary nicotine and cotinine levels. The physiologic effects of infant ETS exposure were measured by rectal temperature, pulse rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation. The smoking mothers in this sample were poorer, had less education, and were less likely to be married than the mothers who did not smoke. At birth, the infants of smoking mothers had higher diastolic blood pressure than infants of non-smoking mothers (p < .008). Mothers who smoke cigarettes should be educated that maternal smoking behavior can affect an infant's cardiovascular function. Parents should also be counseled about the risks of smoking in close proximity and/or in an enclosed space with an infant, especially in a motor vehicle.     

Maternal depression and motherese: temporal and intonational features

Children of depressed parents are at increased risk for depression and other developmental problems. Recent research indicates that disturbances exist in face-to-face interactions between depressed mothers and their infants. In the present study, the effects of maternal depression on motherese, an interactive behavior that plays a significant role in affective, cognitive, and social development, were examined. 2 paralinguistic features of motherese were examined: temporal parameters of utterances and pauses and the frequency of use of 5 types of intonation contours typically found in motherese utterances. Face-to-face interactions between 36 mothers and their 3-4-month-old infants were audio-recorded, and hard copy records of pitch contours and relative intensity were produced for 2-min interaction sequences. Results indicated that depressed mothers failed to modify their behavior according to the behavior of the infant. They were significantly slower to respond to an infant vocalization, had more variable utterances and pauses, and were less likely to utilize the exaggerated intonation contours that are characteristic of motherese. The results provide evidence for a mechanism through which maternal depression increases the infant's risk for psychopathology.     

The role of person familiarity in young infants' perception of emotional expressions

This research investigated the role of person familiarity in the ability of 3.5-month-old infants to recognize emotional expressions. Infants (N = 72) were presented simultaneously with two filmed facial expressions, happy and sad, accompanied by a single vocal expression that was concordant with one of the two facial expressions. Infants' looking preferences and facial expressions were coded. Results indicated that when the emotional expressions were portrayed by each infant's own mother, infants looked significantly longer toward the facial expressions that were accompanied by affectively matching vocal expressions. Infants who were presented with emotional expressions of an unfamiliar woman did not. Even when a brief delay was inserted between the presentation of facial and vocal expressions, infants who were presented with emotional expressions of their own mothers looked longer at the facial expression that was sound specified, indicating that some factor other than temporal synchrony guided their looking preferences. When infants viewed the films of their own mothers, they were more interactive and expressed more positive and less negative affect. Moreover, infants produced a greater number of full and bright smiles when the sound-specified emotion was "happy," and particularly when they viewed the happy expressions of their own mothers. The average duration of negative affect was significantly longer for infants who observed the unfamiliar woman than for those who observed their own mothers. These results show that when more contextual information-that is, person familiarity-was available, infants as young as 3.5 months of age recognized happy and sad expressions. These findings suggest that in the early stages of development, infants are sensitive to contextual information that potentially facilitates some of the meaning of others' emotional expressions.     

The relationship between quality of infant-mother attachment and infant competence in initial encounters with peers.

18-month-old infants and their mothers were observed in the Ainsworth strange situation (SS) in order that security of attachment might be assessed. Infant dyads were created for observation in unstructured peer interaction according to their SS classification (security of attachment). Focus was on the subgroups within the securely attached (B) category. Results indicated a relationship between quality of infant-mother attachment and infant peer competence. The B1 and B2 infants engaged in more frequent and more sophisticated interaction with peers than did the B3 and B4 infants, who intensely sought proximity and contact with their mothers in the peer session just as in the SS. The B1 and B2 infants engaged in more distal interaction with their mothers and were more sociable with the peers' mothers and with the stranger in the SS. Implications of individual differences in quality of attachment for the development of social competence and social relationships are discussed.     

Language skill and interactive patterns in prematurely born toddlers

Developmental outcomes among preterm infants are highly variable. Research has shown that a potent factor in predicting outcome is some quality of the interactions between infants and caregivers. This study explores specific aspects of interaction that may, in part, account for its remedial influence on development. Videotaped interactions between 20 prematurely born toddlers and their mothers were described within a framework having theoretical relevance for language learning--dyadic joint attention to features of the environment. 3 major results are reported. First, the children could be divided into 2 linguistic groups. Children in the Hi group used word combinations productively and talked about relations between objects and events. Children in the Lo language group produced few word combinations and were limited in the relations they talked about. Second, the Lo language pairs did not share common topics as frequently as the Hi pairs. Finally, we found that no single style was used by Lo language dyads in breaking joint attention. Instead, this group was characterized by a broad range of interactive styles. These results are discussed in terms of the facilitating effect interaction may have for the acquisition of language. The findings underscore the need to recognize that poor outcomes can be brought about in many different ways, and that neither single outcomes nor unitary causes for poor outcomes should be expected in preterm populations.     

The developmental consequence of different patterns of maltreatment

From a longitudinal study of 267 high risk families, four different patterns of maltreatment were identified. The mothers have been tested, interviewed and observed in a number of situations starting during the last trimester of pregnancy and continuing at regularly scheduled intervals through the preschool period. The four maltreatment groups were: physical abuse; hostile/verbally abusive; psychologically unavailable; and neglecting. A control group of mothers who provided adequate care was selected from the remaining high risk sample. In an earlier follow-up, among the maltreated children a disproportionately large number of infants were found to be anxiously attached to their mothers at 12 and 18 months, and their performance in a problem-solving situation at age two was poor. In the current follow-up, the children were videotaped at 42 months in a "barrier box" and teaching situation, and at 56 months they were observed in a preschool situation. The physically abused children were distractible, lacked persistence, ego control and enthusiasm, and experienced considerable negative emotion. The children whose mothers were psychologically unavailable showed marked increases in maladaptive patterns of functioning from infancy through preschool. As expected, they were avoidant of their mother, angry, noncompliant, and they were highly dependent. The neglected children had the most difficulty pulling themselves together to deal with various tasks. They lacked self-esteem and agency necessary to cope with their environment.     

A comparison of the vocal patterns of deaf and hearing mother-infant dyads during face-to-face interactions

This study was part of a longitudinal investigation of the impact of deafness on the cognitive, social, and communicative development of infants. The current study reports analyses of the vocalizations of deaf and hearing infants and their Deaf or hearing mothers during normal face-to-face interactions when the infants were 9 months old. Results indicate essentially no differences in the amount of positive or negative vocalizations emitted by infants in any of the four groups observed. However, there is a heightened use of vocal games by hearing mothers interacting with deaf infants, indicating that these mothers are incorporating several additional sensory modalities into their vocal expressions. This is interpreted as one way in which parents make their vocal communication more salient and accessible to an infant with a hearing loss. Deaf mothers are also highly active and engaged with their infants, but have been found to rely more extensively on vigorous tactile contact rather than auditory input during these same interactions.     

Predictors of mothers' use of spanking with their infants

OBJECTIVES: This study describes mothers who report spanking their infants in the first 13 months of life. METHODS: Two hundred forty-six (246) mothers were interviewed in the Mother-Baby Unit of a large university-affiliated hospital in a large southeastern city of the United States. Ninety-three percent (93%) of those mothers were reinterviewed in their homes when infants were 6-13 months of age. RESULTS: Younger mothers, those who endorsed fewer alternatives to corporal punishment, and those who experienced their infants as "difficult" were significantly more likely to spank their infants. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest the importance of more anticipatory guidance from physicians, nurses, social workers, and other professionals about discipline in the first few months of life, particularly given the risks associated with spanking infants and popular support for corporal punishment.     

Caring for our infants: parents’ antenatal childcare intentions and nine-month reality

Infants are increasingly cared for by adults other than their parents. Here we describe non-parental infant care within a diverse cohort; and investigate the relationship between parents’ antenatal intentions and actual infant care. 6822 New Zealand women were recruited during pregnancy and asked about their intentions for childcare. Non-parental care was assessed when infants were nine months old: 1717 (25%) of the 6853 cohort children were receiving more than 8 h per week of regular non-parental care. In comparison with infants of European mothers, infants of Asian or Pacific mothers were more likely to be cared for by extended family; and infants of Māori mothers were more likely to receive centre-based care. Infants from families with lower household incomes, living in more deprived areas were more likely to be cared for by family. When their infants were nine months old, mothers from low- to medium-income households were less likely to be using the type of non-parental care they had intended antenatally, and the same was true when their children were aged 2 years.     

Predictors and correlates of anger toward and punitive control of toddlers by adolescent mothers

In this study, the impact of rejection/acceptance experienced during the adolescent mother's childhood, social support received after the baby's birth, and infant irritability on angry, punitive maternal behavior are tested, and possible links between such maternal behavior and indices of child anger and noncompliance, low confidence, and social withdrawal are investigated. 40 mothers who gave birth as adolescents and their 2-year-old children participated in the study. When mothers experienced both rejection during childhood and little support from a partner after birth, they were likely to exhibit angry and punitive parenting. Infant irritability did not predict maternal behavior. Angry and punitive mothers had children who were angry and noncompliant and who distanced themselves from their mothers. Taken as a main effect, infant irritability was unrelated to later child behavior. However, the association between maternal behavior and 2 aspects of child behavior was stronger for children as irritable at 3 months postpartum: when irritable infants had angry and punitive mothers they were more likely to be angry and noncompliant and to exhibit less confidence than less irritable infants who experienced the same pattern of parenting.     

Infant reactivity and reliance on mother during emotion challenges: prediction of cognition and language skills in a low-income sample

This investigation considers the association between patterns of emotional reactivity and reliance on mother in infancy and cognitive and language developments at age 2. Low-income women (N = 518) and their firstborn infants participated in (1) a lab-based assessment where emotion challenges were presented when the infants were 6 to 9 months old, and (2) an assessment of language and cognitive skills at age 2. After controlling for birthweight, early sensorimotor delay, and age at testing, infants who displayed a pattern of combined high reactivity and high reliance on mother in response to positive, anger, and fear emotion challenges had higher cognitive and language skills at age 2 compared with infants who displayed patterns of low reactivity and low reliance on mother. Children who showed high fearful distress and low reliance on mother and whose mothers had low psychological resources had especially poor developmental outcomes. The role of maternal availability in the socialization of emotion and early communication is discussed.     

Joint Attention and Conversation in Mother-Infant-Sibling Triads

The current study investigated the general nature of joint attentional and conversational interaction in mother-infant-sibling triads. 9 19-month-old infants and 9 24-month-old infants were videotaped during 20 min of free play with their mothers and preschool-aged siblings around a common activity. Analyses revealed that even 19-month-old infants were capable of participating in triadic interactions and conversations, and that the proportional frequency of both these measures increased with age. Triadic conversations were nearly 3 times longer and elicited nearly twice as many infant turns per conversation as dyadic conversations. Infants were more likely to join into an ongoing conversational topic than to initiate one themselves, and they were more likely to take a turn in those conversations if they were in a joint attentional state with the speaker. Infants were just as likely to respond to a comment or request directed to another person as they were to one directed to themselves, indicating reliable comprehension of language not addressed to them. These results suggest that the mother-infant-sibling interactive context differs in important ways from the mother-infant dyadic context and that it is a richer language learning environment than previously supposed.     

Manual actions of nine- to fifteen-week-old human infants during face-to-face interaction with their mothers

This paper presents evidence that the manual actions of infants as young as 9 weeks of age may occur in relation to their facial expression, gaze direction, and vocalization. 28 full-term, healthy infants were observed during a 2-min spontaneous face-to-face interaction with their mothers. Videotapes were coded in real time using the following categories of manual action: POINT, SPREAD, CURL, and GRASP. Facial expressions, gaze direction, and vocalizations also were coded for each infant. All of the infants displayed CURL, 20 infants displayed SPREAD, 18 POINTED, and 11 showed GRASP. Right/left differences appeared for the categories CURL, SPREAD, and GRASP, but not for POINT. Hand action was systematically organized into sequences with other infant action. POINT occurred before or after mouthing and vocalization, CURL during vocalization, and SPREAD when the baby was looking away from the mother. The results are discussed in relation to their implications for the ontogeny of nonverbal communicative gestures.     

An Ordinal Pattern Analysis of Four Hypotheses Describing the Interactions between Drug-addicted, Chronically Disadvantaged, and Middle-Class Mother-Infant Dyads

This study investigated mother-infant interactions in 18 dyads. All participants were African American and enrolled in an early intervention program because the infants (2–26 months of age) had developmental disabilities or were at high risk for developmental disability. Some mothers had used drugs during their pregnancy, and all mothers were of low or middle socioeconomic status. Dyads were videotaped interacting at 4 different times, separated by at least 5 months in time. Videotapes were rated in terms of infant involvement and maternal responsivity in the interaction. 4 hypotheses concerning the pattern of maternal interaction across time were tested using ordinal pattern analysis. The hypothesis that mothers would become less responsive to infants over time (H_D) as a function of drug addiction, poverty, or serious developmental delay was supported for only 4 of the 18 dyads. There was support for the hypothesis (H_j) that mothers naturally increase their responsivity over time ( N = 6) and support for the hypothesis (H_T) that mothers' interactive sensitivity fluctuates in relation to infants' involvement in the interaction over time ( N = 7). Ordinal pattern analysis has advantages in determining how well competing hypotheses describe individuals within populations relative to approaches that identify differences that apply to entire populations.     

Differences on Bayley's infant behavior record for a sample of high-risk infants and their controls

3 groups of high-risk newborns and their controls were assessed at 92 weeks post-conceptional age using Bayley's Infant Behavioral Record (IBR). The 3 groups of high-risk infants were those who weighed 1,500 grams or less at birth and required no ventilator therapy, those weighing 1,500 grams or less at birth who required ventilator therapy, and newborns weighing more than 1,500 grams at birth who required ventilator therapy. Controls were healthy term infants matched for 7 socioeconomic and demographic variables. The first principal component of the IBR ratings for the 3 groups of high-risk infants and the controls were similar. All 3 groups of high-risk infants received less desirable IBR ratings on most items than their controls. In addition, there were some differences among high-risk groups; ventilated infants regardless of birth weight received the lowest ratings reflecting overall performance on the IBR, very low birthweight, ventilated newborns were more likely to receive ratings characterizing an overly active infant with a short attention span, and very low birth-weight, never-ventilated infants were most likely to be rated as happy but passive and delayed. The differences between the high-risk infants and controls in large part resulted from infants who were also delayed in terms of their mental and motor development.     

Infant-mother attachment: factors related to its development and changes over time

As part of a large longitudinal study, assessments of attachment relationships in high-risk mother-infant pairs were conducted at 12 and 18 months. With data collected prenatally and during the infant's first 2 years of life, this study attempted to discriminate among 3 major attachment classifications and to account for qualitative changes in attachment relationships. The data included maternal and infant characteristics, mother-infant interactions, life-stress events, and family living arrangements. Several patterns seemed to emerge. Mothers of securely attached infants were consistently more cooperative and sensitive with their infants as observed in a feeding and play situation than mothers of anxiously attached infants. Anxious/resistant infants tended to lag behind their counterparts developmentally and were less likely to solicit responsive caretaking. Anxious/avoidant infants, although robust, tended to have mothers who had negative feelings about motherhood, were tense and irritable, and treated their infants in a perfunctory manner. Male babies were somewhat more vulnerable to qualitative differences in caretaking, while, for girls, maternal personality showed a stronger relationship to security of attachment. Changes from secure to anxious attachments were characterized by initially adequate caretaking skills but prolonged interaction with an aggressive and suspicious mother. Changes toward secure attachments tend to reflect growth and increasing competence among young mothers.