Synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions revealed through timed event sequences

This report extends a previous cross-cultural study of synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions (Bornstein et al., 2015) to immigrant samples. Immigrant dyads from three cultures of origin (Japan, South Korea, South America) living in the same culture of destination (the United States) were compared to nonmigrant dyads in those same cultures of origin and to nonmigrant European American dyads living in the same culture of destination (the United States). This article highlights an underutilized analysis to assess synchrony in mother-infant interaction and extends cross-cultural research on mother-infant vocal interaction. Timing of onsets and offsets of maternal speech to infants and infant nondistress vocalizations were coded separately from 50-min recorded naturalistic observations of mothers and infants. Odds ratios were computed to analyze synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions. Synchrony was analyzed in three ways -- contingency of timed event sequences, mean differences in contingency by acculturation level and within dyads, and coordination of responsiveness within dyads. Immigrant mothers were contingently responsive to their infants’ vocalizations, but only Korean immigrant infants were contingently responsive to their mothers’ vocalizations. For the Japanese and South American comparisons, immigrant mothers were more contingently responsive than their infants (but not robustly so for South American immigrants). For the Korean comparison, mean differences in contingent responsiveness were found among acculturation groups (culture of origin, immigrant, culture of destination), but not between mothers and infants. Immigrant dyads’ mean levels of responsiveness did not differ. Immigrant mothers’ and infants’ levels of responsiveness were coordinated. Strengths and flexibility of the timed event sequential analytic approach to assessing synchrony in mother-infant interactions are discussed, particularly for culturally diverse samples.     

Some Personality Characteristics of the Culturally Disadvantaged

The relationship between sensitive maternal behavior and mother-infant vocalization during feedings was examined in an effort to determine this situational meaning of Ainsworth's concept of sensitivity. Ss were 28 white, middle-class mothers and their infants. Excerpts of home feedings videotaped at 6 and 9 months were coded for frequency of contingent vocal interaction and quality of vocal affect. Sensitive mothers were distinguished from insensitive mothers at each age period by differing vocal patterns. At 6 months, infants of sensitive mothers vocalized significantly less than did infants of insensitive mothers. Mothers in both groups responded to their infants' vocalizations equally as often. At 9 months, infants in both groups vocalized the same amount, while sensitive mothers vocalized more often in response to their infants than did insensitive mothers. The only significant difference in vocal affect was found in the greater positive affect among sensitive mothers at 9 months.     

Chronic stress in the mother-infant dyad: Maternal hair cortisol,infant salivary cortisol and interactional synchrony

Stress physiology is shaped by early experience, with enduring effects on health. The relation of chronic maternal physiological stress, as indexed by hair cortisol, to infants’ stress systems and to mother-infant interaction quality has not been established. We examined maternal hair and salivary cortisol, six-month-old infants’ salivary cortisol, and mother-infant interaction in 121 mother-infant dyads. High maternal hair cortisol was related to higher infant average salivary cortisol concentration. Maternal hair cortisol and bedtime salivary cortisol were both uniquely related to infant bedtime salivary cortisol. Mothers with higher hair cortisol were more intrusive and had lower positive engagement synchrony with their infants. Maternal intrusiveness moderated the association of maternal hair cortisol and infant salivary cortisol, such that maternal hair and infant average salivary cortisol were related only when mothers were more intrusive. Maternal chronic physiological stress may upregulate infants’ developing stress systems, particularly in the context of lower mother-infant interaction quality.     

Joint attention with the mother and the father at 10 months of age

Joint attention capabilities were assessed in 52 10-month-olds observed independently with their mothers and fathers in a semi-structured toy-play condition. Mothers and fathers were indistinguishable in terms of total number of behaviours aimed at engaging their infant in joint attention. However, infants responded more to mothers' bids for attention than to fathers' bids. Contrastingly, infants tended to display more initiating joint attention behaviours while interacting with their fathers. Although parents did not differ in terms of sensitivity, fathers were less intrusive than mothers. Results are discussed in terms of the specificities of mother-infant and father-infant interaction and how the paternal role should be highlighted in the case of infant's joint attention development.     

Maternal recollected anxiety and mother–infant interaction in preterm infants

This study focused on the relationship between maternal recollected anxiety and the quality of mother–preterm infant interaction. In a observational study, 52 mothers and their preterm infants were videotaped at home in a standardized object–play interaction situation, at the infant's age of 6 months. Observations concentrated on different aspects of maternal behavior, including sensitive responsiveness, involvement, level of activity, and intrusiveness. Mothers were interviewed about their experiences during the period of neonatal intensive care and were, on the basis of their answers, divided into high‐anxiety and low‐anxiety mothers. In general, and independent of the infant's current interactive behavior and medical status, high‐anxiety mothers were more intrusive and more active during interaction with their infants than were mothers who recalled little or no anxiety during the postnatal period. ©1999 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

“Hey mom, look at me!”

The degree to which infant and maternal characteristics were related to maternal psychological distress and play competence was examined in 40 mother preterm and full-term dyads. Measures of maternal psychological distress, self-efficacy, infant temperament, and mother-infant interaction in a play situation, were obtained at 4 months corrected for prematurity. Results revealed that maternal self-efficacy was the strongest correlate of maternal psychological distress but was not related to maternal play competence. Interaction effects for unadaptable temperament and infant behavioral involvement were found in the regressions predicting both maternal psychological distress and maternal play competence. Mothers of more adaptable and less behaviorally involved infants reported greater psychological distress and exhibited greater play competence than mothers of more adaptable and involved infants. The results suggest that a lack of concordance between mothers' perceptions of their infants' behavior and actual behavioral experiences adversely affects mothers' affect and the quality of their play interactions.     

Mothers’ feelings about infants’ negative emotions and mother-infant interactions among the Gamo of Southern Ethiopia

Parents’ exposure to stressful ecosocial situations, like inadequate resources, is linked to parents’ perceptions of infants’ fussing and crying and less sensitive caregiving. However, studies supporting these findings predominantly come from Western contexts of parenting and infant care. Ecosocial situations may have different effects on parenting and infants in distinct cultural contexts. In this study, the link between Gamo mothers’ expressions of stress about their infants’ negative emotional displays (N = 29 mothers and infants) and mother-infant interactions was investigated. Mothers who expressed stress in response to their infants’ negative emotions demonstrated fewer interactions overall with their infants compared to mothers who did not express stress. Regression analyses showed that mothers who did not express stress had infants that fussed and cried more in their presence than infants of mothers who did not express stress, albeit insignificant. These results are discussed in the context of Gamo infancy in Southern Ethiopia.     

Predicting infant attachment classification from multiple, contemporaneous measures of maternal care

This investigation was designed to test whether stylistic differences in maternal caregiving were associated with both secure and insecure mother-infant attachment classifications in a low-income sample. Multiple measures of maternal interactive behavior and care were collected from a sample of 95 urban, low-income mothers and their 12-month-old infants. Contemporaneous relations to attachment were found only at the broad level of composite scores of caregiving. Scores derived from different measures were aggregated to create composites reflecting three caregiver styles—sensitive, controlling, and unresponsive. Mothers of infants with secure attachment classifications showed greater sensitivity and less controlling behavior than mothers of infants with resistant and avoidant attachments, respectively. Mothers of infants with resistant attachments appeared less responsive to their infants' signals than those of infants with avoidant attachments. Group differences were significant, but modest. These results contribute to the growing body of studies relating parental care with infant attachment patterns and indirectly support the more recent conceptual work on intergenerational transmission of attachment. They also raise methodological issues that need to be considered in future work on caregiving and infant-mother attachment.     

Associations between mother-infant bed-sharing practices and infant affect and behavior during the still-face paradigm

Parents in the United States increasingly report bed-sharing with their infants (i.e., sleeping on a shared sleep surface), but the relationship between bed-sharing and child socioemotional outcomes are not well understood. The current study examines the links between mother-infant bed-sharing at 3 months and infant affect and behavior during a dyadic challenge task at 6 months. Further, we examine nighttime mother-infant contact at 3 months as a possible mechanism that may mediate linkages between bed-sharing and infant outcomes. Using observational data from a sample of 63 mother-infant dyads, we found that infants who bed-shared for any proportion of the observation period at 3 months displayed significantly more self-regulatory behaviors during the still-face episode of the Still-Face Paradigm (SFP) at 6 months, compared to non-bed-sharing infants. Also, infants of mothers who bed-shared for the entire observation period displayed significantly less negativity during the reunion episode than non-bed-sharing infants. There was no evidence that the relations between mother-infant bed-sharing practices and infant affect and behavior during the SFP were mediated through nighttime mother-infant contact. Results suggest that infant regulation at 6 months postpartum may vary based on early nighttime experiences, with bed-sharing potentially promoting more positive and well-regulated behavior during dyadic interaction.     

The impact of postpartum depressed mood on mother-infant interaction: Like mother like baby?

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that mothers with depressed mood would exhibit less optimal interaction than their nondepressed counterparts and that their infants would show similar deficits in interactional behavior. Twenty-two mothers and their 2-month-old infants were videotaped in to-minute free-play segments in a laboratory playroom, and their interactions were coded using both time-sampling and global clinical ratings of behavior. Mothers with depressed mood were judged significantly lower on overall positive interaction, Expressivity/Affective Involvement, and Responsivity/ Sensitivity than were nondepressed mothers. Infants of mothers with depressed mood were rated significantly lower than infants of nondepressed mothers on corresponding interaction domains. Mothers with depressed mood were also rated as more variable than nondepressed mothers along a continuum of withdrawal to controlling/intrusive behavior. Contrary to prediction, level of maternal stimulation and infant activity did not differ as a function of depression in maternal mood. We conclude that mild to moderate symptoms of maternal depression may have salient but selective effects on mother-infant interaction.     

Attention-getting vs. imitation effects on depressed mother-infant interactions

The effects of instructing mothers to “imitate” their infant versus “keep their infant's atten tion” were examined during mother-infant face-to-face interactions of 18 mothers reporting depressive symptoms as compared with 22 mothers who did not report such symptoms. Mothers were generally rated as showing more positive facial expressions and more game playing (particularly the depressed mothers) during the attention-getting versus the imitation sessions. The infants received more optimal physical ac tivity, and facial expression ratings during attention getting, and the infants of depressed mothers, in par ticular, showed more positive facial expressivity and more joy expressions. As might be expected for the imitation condition, mothers showed more imitative behavior, contingent responsivity, and silence during gaze aversion. Infants generally showed more disinterest and self-comfort behaviors, and the infants of depressed mothers, in particular, showed more anger expressions, fussiness, and squirming during the imitation condition. The data suggest that the attention-getting condition was the most effective “intervention” for eliciting positive behavior in the depressed mother-infant dyads.     

Vocal imitation between mothers and infants

The aim of the present mixed cross-sectional and longitudinal study was to observe and describe some aspects of vocal imitation in natural mother-infant interaction. Specifically, maternal imitation of infant utterances was observed in relation to the imitative modeling, mirrored equivalence, and social guided learning models of infant speech development. Nine mother-infant dyads were audio-video recorded. Infants were recruited at different ages between 6 and 11 months and followed for 3 months, providing a quasi-longitudinal series of data from 6 through 14 months of age. It was observed that maternal imitation was more frequent than infant imitation even though vocal imitation was a rare maternal response. Importantly, mothers used a range of contingent and noncontingent vocal responses in interaction with their infants. Mothers responded to three-quarters of their infant's vocalizations, including speech-like and less mature vocalization types. The infants’ phonetic repertoire expanded with age. Overall, the findings are most consistent with the social guided learning approach. Infants rarely imitated their mothers, suggests a creative self-motivated learning mechanism that requires further investigation.     

MATERNAL EXPECTATIONS FOR MASTERY OF DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS IN JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES*

Maternal expectations about development help organize parental behavior by providing internal referents against which a child's growth and behavior are evaluated, thus identifying occasions for intervention by the adult. Fifty-eight mothers from Japan and 67 mothers from the United States were interviewed about the ages at which they expected their four-year-old children to acquire a number of specific developmental skills. There were no differences between the two groups of mothers in mean age of mastery expectation across all 38 items but Japanese mothers expected early mastery on skills that indicated emotional maturity, self-control, and social courtesy. Mothers in the U.S. expected mastery at an earlier age on items indicating verbal assertiveness and social skills with peers. Maternal expectations were found to correlate with children's performance on tests of school aptitude when the children were six years of age.     

Responsiveness in mother-infant social interactions among immigrant and nonmigrant families: Japanese,South Korean,South American,and European American

A culture learning perspective motivated the present study of the acculturation of responsiveness in mother-infant interactions. Several conceptual and analytic features of responsiveness in mother-infant social interactions were examined: Temporal contingency, mean differences in responsiveness among and within dyads, attunement of mother and infant responsiveness withing dyads, and the influence of acculturation on individual responsiveness. Methodologically, acculturation was assessed at group and individual levels in immigrant Japanese, South Korean, and South American dyads in comparison with nonmigrant dyads in their respective cultures of origin (Japan, South Korea, and South America) and their single common culture of destination (United States). In total, 408 mothers and their 5½-month-old infants were observed in the naturalistic setting of the home, and observations were coded for mothers’ speech to infant, social play, and encouraging her infant to look at her, and infants’ looking at mother and nondistress vocalizations. Odds ratios were then generated for mother and infant responsiveness in four types of social interactions: Mother speaks to infant and infant looks at mother (Mother Speak/Infant Attend), mother plays with infant and infant looks at mother (Mother Play/Infant Attend), mother plays with infant and infant vocalizes (Mother Play/Infant Vocalize), and mother encourages infant to look at her and infant vocalizes (Mother Encourage/Infant Vocalize). Five key findings emerged. Specifically, mother and infant responsiveness in Mother Speak/Infant Attend interactions were temporally contingent in all cultures. Mean differences in responsiveness among cultures emerged, and within dyads infants were more responsive than their mothers in Mother Speak/Infant Attend interactions. Mother and infant responsiveness in Mother Speak/Infant Attend interactions were attuned in all cultures. Responsiveness in Mother Play/Infant Vocalize interactions showed acculturation effects at the individual level. Implications of these findings for understanding the development of responsiveness in social interactions and acculturation in immigrant families are discussed.     

How do mothers signal shared feeling‐states to their infants? An investigation of affect attunement and imitation during the first year of life

The present study examined how mothers signal shared feeling-states to their infants. Affect attunement and imitation were investigated cross-culturally in 39 mother-infant dyads from Sweden (N = 22) and the former Yugoslavia (N = 17) during the first year of life. Video-recordings of playful interaction between mothers and their infants were analysed using the Affect Attunement Protocol. A significant negative association between imitation and age was found, while there was a significant positive association between affect attunement and age. Single occurrences of affect attunement appeared already at two or three months of age, and by 6 months of age episodes of affect attunement were more common than imitation. Frequencies of imitation and affect attunement were similar cross-culturally and in terms of gender, although there was a significant interaction between age and gender. The results suggest that the signalling of shared feeling-states is not a static process. Mothers do not signal shared feeling-states in the same manner at different ages. Imitation is the most important process during the earliest months, but is superseded by affect attunement earlier than previously thought. The functional implications of this developmental variation are discussed.     

Infants with colic: A study of maternal stress and anxiety

The purpose of this article is to broaden our understanding of colic and to explore the effects of infant colic both on the mother's stress level and on her anxiety about separation from her infant. A “colic” group of 20 mother-infant dyads was compared with a second, control “noncolic” group of equal size. Significant group differences in the amount of time the infants cried, fussed, and were in a quiet/awake state were found. Although no difference in maternal trait anxiety was found, mothers in the colic group reported higher levels of stress associated with their infants' crying behavior. This stress was inversely related to the amount of time the infants slept during a 24-hour period. Mothers in the colic group also expressed significantly greater anxiety about separating from their infants for short periods of time; but the lack of freedom was significantly less of a problem for them than it was for mothers in the noncolic group. We conclude that mothers of difficult infants are more anxious about being separated from their infants, but do not appear to feel “trapped” by their extra maternal duties.     

Maternal correlates of stability and change in infant-mother attachment

The relations between maternal control style, sensitivity, and childrearing attitudes on one hand and the stability of the infant-mother attachment relationship on the other were examined in a sample of 38 mother-infant dyads. The mother-child pairs were observed during a structured play session and in Ainsworth's Strange Situation when the infants were 12 and 20 months old, a developmental period characterized by increased autonomous functioning. Our results suggested that infants whose mothers had nonpunitive childrearing attitudes, were sensitive, and supportive of their infants' striving toward autonomy remained, or became, secure in their attachment relationship over their second year of life. Mothers who were more punitive, more controlling, and less sensitive had infants who either remained or became insecurely attached across this developmental period. While previous research has linked attachment stability to socioeconomic factors, the present investigation points to the importance of more subtle interactive variables to the understanding of the attachment relationship.     

The early resumption of employment by mothers: Implications for parent-infant interaction

Home observations of mother-father-infant interaction and mother-infant interaction were contrasted in middle-class families in which the mother was employed or a full-time caregiver. First-born infants and their parents were observed at 3 months. The results indicate that when mother, father, and infant were together parents in the single wage-earner families provided more tactile stimulation to their babies; fathers in single wage-earner families tended to interact more with their infants than did mothers, while in dual wage-earner families mothers tended to interact more than fathers; and fathers in single wage-earner families exceeded fathers in dual wage-earner families in interactions with their infants. By contrast, mothers in the two groups showed very little difference in their interactions with their babies. No significant differences were found for maternal behavior in the three-person observation, and a single behavior differentiated between the groups in the mother-baby observation, with homemaker mothers more often making visual contact with their babies. The implications of these findings are discussed, both with respect to further research, and with regards to the development of children of employed mothers.     

Cortisol reactivity and negative affect among preterm infants at 12 months during a mother-infant interaction task

The purpose of this study was to investigate correlates of preterm (PT) infant’s cortisol reactivity and the association to infant negative affect, during a mother-infant interaction procedure. Participants included 48 infants born prematurely (gestational age < 37 weeks) and their mothers, assessed when infants were 12 months old corrected for prematurity. The examined variables comprised both neonatal and environmental dimensions including maternal interactive behavior. Infant negative affect and maternal interactive behavior were assessed with a standardized mother-infant interaction task. A baseline infant saliva sample was collected before the interaction began, and a second sample after the interaction episodes ended. Results revealed that decrease of infant’s cortisol concentration was significantly associated with the exposure to more sensitive, and less intrusive maternal behaviors. However, once controlled for neonatal risk, family SES and maternal psychological distress, the associations were rendered non-significant. Although the association between cortisol reactivity and negative affect trended toward significance, maternal intrusiveness was the only significant predictor of observed infant negative affect. Findings suggest the importance of primary relational experiences on PT infants' early regulatory competencies.     

Contextual basis of maternal perceptions of infant temperament

To elucidate the differential saliency of infant emotions to mothers across interactive contexts, the authors examined the moderating role of observed infant affect during interactions with mother in the relation between maternal and laboratory-based ratings of infant temperament. Fifty-nine developmentally healthy 9-month-old infants were judged for degree of infant positive, infant negative, and mother-infant mutually positive affect during the course of object-focused and routine home-based activities with mother. Mothers completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (M. K. Rothbart, 1981), and infants underwent the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (H. H. Goldsmith & M. K. Rothbart, 1999). Results revealed that maternal and observer ratings of infant negativity converged when infants manifested high degrees of negative affect during routine home-based activities. Maternal and observer ratings of infant positivity converged when infants experienced low mutually positive affect during play. These findings support the hypothesis that maternal perceptions are based on mothers' experiences with their infants but that the salience of infant temperamental characteristics to mothers varies across emotion and interactive context.