Child's behaviour in mother–child interaction predicts later emotional and behavioural problems

The aims were to examine the association of maternal or child interactive behaviour with emotional and behavioural problems of the child simultaneously and 3 years later, and to assess whether there is continuity in children's emotional and behavioural symptoms from 2 to 5 years. Sixty‐five 2‐year‐old children with their mothers were videotaped during a feeding situation. Their mothers completed the CBCL at 2 years and when the children were 5. Simultaneously, there were no strong correlations between child's emotional and behavioural problems and maternal or child interactive behaviour. Subsequently, mothers' higher sensitivity and more optimal structuring, as well as child's higher involvement of the mother, were associated with lower levels of child externalizing and total problem scores. Also, less responsive children showed more externalizing symptoms 3 years later. There was continuity of emotional and behavioural problems from 2 to 5 years. Problems in mother–child interaction may predict behavioural problems in the child subsequently. Besides maternal behaviour, it is important to consider the interactive behaviour of the child. Children who are less responsive and who show less involvement of the mother are more likely to subsequently present more externalizing symptoms, and these children should be recognized and treated early. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mother–Infant Joint Attention and Sharing: Relations to Disorganized Attachment and Maternal Disrupted Communication

The normative development of infant shared attention has been studied extensively, but few studies have examined the impact of disorganized attachment and disturbed maternal caregiving on mother–infant shared attention. The authors examined both maternal initiations of joint attention and infants’ responses to those initiations during the reunion episodes of the Strange Situation Procedure at 12 and 18 months of infant age. The mothers' initiations of joint attention and three forms of infant response, including shunning, simple joint attention, and sharing attention, were examined in relation to infant disorganized attachment and maternal disrupted communication. Mothers who were disrupted in communication with their infants at 18 months initiated fewer bids for joint attention at 12 months, and, at 18 months, mothers of infants classified disorganized initiated fewer bids. However, the infant' responses were unrelated to either the infant' or the mother' disturbed attachment. At both ages, disorganized infants and infants of disrupted mothers were as likely to respond to maternal bids as were their lower risk counterparts. Our results suggest that a disposition to share experiences with others is robust in infancy, even among infants with adverse attachment experiences, but this infant disposition may depend on adult initiation of bids to be realized.     

The effects of mothers' teasing: Do Japanese infants read their mothers' play intention in teasing?

The focus of this study was whether an infant can understand the playful intention in the mother's teasing behaviour. The mother's teasing behaviour can elicit playful interaction with the infant on the one hand, or can result in the infant's distress. In other words, teasing may function as the turning-point in mother-infant interaction. Thus it was hypothesized that the consequence of mothers' teasing behaviour would be positive or negative depending on the success or failure in communication of both mothers' play intention with play signs and infants' interpretation of the play signs. Subjects were 20 mothers and their infants aged from 10 to 13 months (M = 11 months) who were observed during 10 minutes of free play with toys that evoke minor surprise and/or fearfulness. Results showed that about one-third of mothers' teasing behaviour elicited the infant's enjoyment. Especially, mothers' playful teasing accompanied by a smile or laugh led most successfully to infant enjoyment. In contrast, mothers' pretence teasing elicited no particular response from infants. These data suggest that around their first birthday infants develop some understanding of the play intention latent in mothers' teasing behaviour.     

Clinical Interview for high‐risk Parents of premature infants (CLIP) as a predictor of early disruptions in the mother–infant relationship at the nursery

The relations between mothers' narrative regarding the infant and the premature birth and the quality of mother–infant interaction were examined in mothers of 47 very low birth weight (<1650 g) premature singletons prior to discharge. Maternal representations were assessed with the Clinical Interview for high‐risk Parents of premature babies (CLIP), a semistructured interview that explores mothers' experiences of the pregnancy, delivery, hospitalization period, thoughts and feelings about the infant, and impending discharge. Ten minutes of mother–infant interaction were videotaped, and global and microanalytic codes were used to define three interactive variables: maternal adaptation, maternal touch, and infant withdrawal. Factor analysis of the CLIP items identified two factors with eigen values of 2.00 and above, termed Readiness for Motherhood and Maternal Rejection. Regression analyses were used to predict the three interactive variables by the infant's medical condition, maternal anxiety and depression, and the CLIP factors. Maternal adaptation to the infant's signal and maternal positive touch were each uniquely predicted by the mother's readiness for the maternal role, and were each negatively related to maternal depression. The infant's interactive withdrawal was independently predicted by maternal rejection. The clinical implications of the findings and the potential use of the CLIP for routine detection of early disruptions in the mother–infant relationship are discussed. ©2003 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

The effect of situation familiarity on the establishment of co-references between mother and infant

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the familiarity or the novelty of play objects available during mother-infant interaction has an effect on the mother's ability to capture and maintain the infant's attention. Twelve mother-infant dyads with 5- and 9-month-old infants were filmed during two 5-minute sessions with familiar or unfamiliar toys. Changes in the infant's visual orientation preceded by a maternal behaviour within a 3-sec interval were studied. In the familiar toy situation, the infants focused more frequently on the maternal referent than with the unfamiliar toys. The mother's verbal and non-verbal interventions were more effective at initiating and maintaining co-reference, because the infant was more frequently in an receptive state. Conversely, when the toys were unfamiliar, the baby was often the initiator. Unfamiliar objects, which appear more attractive, may compete with the mother's attempts to gain the child's attention.     

Infant's action skill dynamically modulates parental action demonstration in the dyadic interaction

When interacting with infants, human adults modify their behaviours in an exaggerated manner. Previous studies have demonstrated that infant‐directed modification affects the infant's behaviour. However, little is known about how infant‐directed modification is elicited during infant–parent interaction. We investigated whether and how the infant's behaviour affects the mother's action during an interaction. We recorded three‐dimensional information of cup movements while mothers demonstrated a cup‐nesting task during interaction with their infants aged 11 to 13 months. Analyses revealed that spatial characteristics of the mother's task demonstration clearly changed depending on the infant's object manipulation. In particular, the variance in the distance that the cup was moved decreased after the infant's cup nesting and increased after the infant's task‐irrelevant manipulation (e.g. cup banging). This pattern was not observed for mothers with 6‐ to 8‐month‐olds, who do not have the fine motor skill to perform the action. These results indicate that the infant's action skill dynamically affects the infant‐directed action and suggest that the mother is sensitive to the infant's potential to learn a novel action. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNS2IHwLIhg&feature=youtu.be     

Exploring maternal touch in the infant’s first 18 months of Life: A study on an Italian sample

Affective touch is a crucial component of caregiving in early life and constitutes a key factor with a significant impact on infant later-life outcomes. The Parent-Infant Caregiving Touch Scale (PICTS) allows to quantify and qualify the caregiver's self-perception of touch in the first months of an infant’s life. In the current study, we contributed to validation of the PICTS in the Italian language in order to explore whether early maternal touch would be associated with maternal emotional state, maternal history of affective touch experiences throughout the lifespan, and infants’ sex and age. Data analyses were run on a sample of 377 Italian mothers (mean age = 33.29; SD = 4.79) participating in an online survey. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied. A three-dimensional structure of PICTS (i.e., stroking, affective communication, and holding) after removing one item out resulted in the best model in our sample. Maternal emotional state did not affect PICTS factor scores while maternal comfort and amount of affective touch experienced during adulthood was significantly associated with the stroking, affective communication, and holding factors. Regarding infants’ dimensions, infants’ sex and age were not associated with PICTS factor scores. Findings suggest that the PICTS Italian version is a good measurement of caregiver's self-perception of touch in early infancy and that maternal history of touch is associated with a mother’s current use of touch.     

Maternal correlates of infant temperament ratings and of infant-mother attachment: A longitudinal study

This study examined longitudinally correlates of mothers' ratings of their infant's temperament and of the infant-mother attachment relationship. Measures included Carey's Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire, child-rearing attitudes, psychophysiological responses to an unfamiliar infant's crying pre- and postdelivery, psychophysiological responses to the mother's own infant's crying, and assessments of infant-mother attachment. The results indicated that maternal ratings of infant temperament at 4 months were significantly related not only to concurrent cry responsiveness but also to cry responsiveness and child-rearing attitudes predelivery, as well as to the quality of attachment at 1 year. It is suggested that a differential response pattern of mothers of “easy” and of “difficult” infants, which affects the developing infant-mother bond, may in part originate in maternal dispositions existing prior to parenthood.     

How Do Mothers Feel About Their Very Low Birth Weight Infants? Development of a New Measure

The early relationship between a mother and her very low birth weight (VLBW; <1.5 kg) infant may be difficult to evaluate. Therefore, we aimed to develop a useful and practical method to describe a mother's early relationship with her VLBW infant. Mothers (mean age=27 years, 46% married) of 119 singleton VLBW infants (mean BW=1,056 g, mean GA=28 weeks) admitted to the neonatal ICU at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital completed a novel questionnaire regarding their feelings about their infant at 3 weeks' postnatal age, and at 35 weeks', 40 weeks' (term), and 4 months' postmenstrual ages. Factor analysis of initial interview data was used to construct subscales to measure unique domains hypothesized to underpin the beginning maternal–infant relationship. Three subscales were identified: (a) The Worry subscale focuses on the mother's concerns about her infant's current medical condition and future development, (b) the Enjoyment subscale examines the mother's positive feelings about and responsiveness to her infant, and (c) the Separation Anxiety subscale examines the mother's mental anxiety about being physically separated from her infant. Statistical and clinical validation of the subscales produced positive supporting evidence that the subscales are a meaningful measure of the mother–infant relationship. We have developed a unique and practical measure for describing the early mother–VLBW infant relationship.     

A Comparison of Fathers' and Mothers' Involvement in Childcare and Stimulation Behaviors During Free-Play with Their Infants at 9 and 15 Months

Fathers and mothers of 87 firstborn infants completed a parental responsibility questionnaire; recorded accessibility and direct interaction time in caregiving, play, and outings; and were videotaped in a free-play session with their infants at 9 and 15 months of age. Analyses compared fathers' and mothers' involvement and interactive behaviors, and examined age-of-infant and gender-of-infant effects. At both times, fathers reported being less accessible to their infants and spending less time in direct interaction with them than did mothers. During times when both parents were available to the infant, fathers were less likely to provide basic care, but spent an equivalent amount of time in play and outings. Fathers in dual-earner families spent less time in accessibility, caregiving, and outings, but they engaged in as much play as mothers. Responsibility for disciplining the infant was rated as being equally shared amongst parents. During play, parents did not differ in the amount of physical contact, conventional play, nonconventional play, and attempts to direct the infant's attention. However, fathers vocalized less and made fewer requests than mothers. Differences between paternal and maternal involvement in childcare and stimulation behaviors are discussed with respect to infant age and infant gender.     

Perceived social support and maternal adaptation during the transition from hospital to home care of high-risk infants

Forty-two mothers of high-risk infants who had been hospitalized in a newborn intensive care unit were interviewed approximately 2 months after hospital discharge. On standard questionnaires, they reported how much support they had received since discharge and their need for and satisfaction with support in three areas: Emotional, informational, and tangible support. Mothers also completed the Profile of Mood States, the Sleep, Feeding, and Crying Questionnaire, and the Impact of Event Scale and rated the severity of the infant's medical condition and expected developmental/health outcome. Measures of maternal adaptation and infant characteristics were subjected to exploratory factor analysis from which summary scores were constructed. One maternal adaptation factor and two infant status factors were examined in relation to social support variables, but no significant associations were found for the sample as a whole. However, satisfaction with each area of support was related to maternal adaptation when the infant's post-discharge status was relatively more severe. The results are discussed in terms of the crises of the hospital to home transition and the difficult tasks that face parents after the assumption of full responsibility for a vulnerable infant who required newborn intensive care.     

Mother's prenatal and postpartum depression symptoms and infant's sleep problems at 6 months

Mother's prenatal and postpartum depression have been associated with infant's sleep problems. This study aimed to analyze (a) the effects of mother's prenatal and postpartum depression symptoms, including the effects of prenatal and postpartum anxiety and depression scores of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), on infant's sleep problems at 6 months, and (b) the interaction effect between mother's prenatal and postpartum depression symptoms and infant's sex on infant's sleep problems at 6 months. The sample was comprised of 164 mother–infant dyads whose mothers completed measures of depression at the third trimester of pregnancy, 2 weeks, 3 and 6 months postpartum and a measure of infant's sleep problems at 6 months (CSHQ-I). Mother's prenatal depression symptoms, specifically depression scores of the EPDS, predicted more infant's sleep anxiety and daytime sleepiness, while mother's depression symptoms at 2 weeks postpartum, specifically anxiety scores of the EPDS, predicted more bedtime resistance and CSHQ-I total scores at 6 months. Boys of mothers with more prenatal depression symptoms presented more sleep anxiety at 6 months. Both mother's prenatal and early postpartum depression symptoms have a negative effect on the emergence of infant's sleep problems. Additionally, boys seem more vulnerable to mother's prenatal depression symptoms.     

Maternal sensitivity,infant co-operation and early linguistic development: Some predictive relations

Maternal sensitivity and infant co-operation during free play was analysed at the infant's age of 10 months and their contributions to early communicative and linguistic development at 12 months as well as later language outcome at 30 months were examined. In addition, the possible predictions of early skills to later development were considered. The participants were 27 Finnish-speaking mother – infant dyads. According to the results maternal sensitivity was associated with early intentional communication—particularly the use of communicative gestures, and also with symbolic behaviour and later comprehensive skills. No associations between infant co-operation and communicative and linguistic skills were found. As for expressive language skills, early capacities correlated with later outcome. The findings of the present study suggest that the effects of both maternal sensitivity and child characteristics on language development are likely to be specific rather than global.     

Mothers who are securely attached in pregnancy show more attuned infant mirroring 7 months postpartum

This study contrasted two forms of mother–infant mirroring: the mother's imitation of the infant's facial, gestural, or vocal behavior (i.e., “direct mirroring”) and the mother's ostensive verbalization of the infant's internal state, marked as distinct from the infant's own experience (i.e., “intention mirroring”). Fifty mothers completed the Adult Attachment Interview (Dynamic Maturational Model) during the third trimester of pregnancy. Mothers returned with their infants 7 months postpartum and completed a modified still-face procedure. While direct mirroring did not distinguish between secure and insecure/dismissing mothers, secure mothers were observed to engage in intention mirroring more than twice as frequently as did insecure/dismissing mothers. Infants of the two mother groups also demonstrated differences, with infants of secure mothers directing their attention toward their mothers at a higher frequency than did infants of insecure/dismissing mothers. The findings underscore marked and ostensive verbalization as a distinguishing feature of secure mothers’ well-attuned, affect-mirroring communication with their infants.     

Infant interest in their mother's face is associated with maternal psychological health

Early experience can alter infants’ interest in faces in their environment. This study investigated the relationship between maternal psychological health, mother–infant bonding, and infant face interest in a community sample. A visual habituation paradigm was used to independently assess 3.5-month old infants’ attention to a photograph of their mother's face and a stranger's face. In this sample of 54 healthy mother–infant pairs, 57% of mothers (N = 31) reported symptoms of at least one of stress response to trauma, anxiety, or depression. Interest in the mother-face, but not stranger-face, was positively associated with the mother's psychological health. In regression analyses, anxiety and depression predicted 9% of the variance in looking to the mother-face. Anxiety was the only significant predictor within the model. No direct associations were found between mother–infant bonding and infants’ face interest. Taken together, these findings indicate that infant's visual engagement with their mother's face varies with maternal symptoms of emotional distress, even within a community sample.     

The co‐construction of joint action between mothers and 2–4‐month‐old infants: the mother's role

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to describe object‐centred interactions between mothers and their 2–4‐month‐old infants, before and during the emergence of reaching and grasping movements. We hypothesized that when reaching movements emerge at around 3 months, mothers alternate between attention stimulation and reaching stimulation, before joint actions between mother and infant develop around objects. Twelve dyads were recorded when infants were 2 months, 3 months and 4 months. The interactive sessions lasted 5 min. Three age‐appropriate toys the infant could handle were available to the mother. A principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on verbal and non‐verbal maternal behaviours, motor infant behaviours and co‐occurrences of those behaviours. The developmental course of prehension in infants when playing with their mother follows similar pathways, as was described when they are observed alone. Mothers appeared to early scaffold prehension skills by verbal and non‐verbal means. Moreover, maternal behaviours change according to the infant's behaviour, and conversely, infant's behaviours influence maternal behaviours: mother plays first an active part in joint action, while later on, the infant achieves joint action when motor skills develop. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Watching,waiting, and wondering: Applying psychoanalytic principals to mother-infant intervention

There is general acceptance that the intergenerational repetition of relational patterns is transmitted within the interactions between mother and infant. The highly invested nature of the mother-infant relationship makes it a prime arena for the playing out of unresolved relational conflicts of the mother. This occurs through the mother's responses to her infant in which she projects into the infant certain disavowed but highly invested positive or negative attributes. This leads to the interactional re-creation of a whole relational system reflecting the mother's current and past relationship experiences. When a mother's conflictual past is unresolved and unmitigated by current relationships, her interactions with her infant are more driven by such perceptions than by real appraisal of the infant's actual attributes. The sleeping, eating, and behavioral management problems of infancy are often manifestations of such situations. A deceptively simple set of instructions to the mother, to become a nonintrusive observer of her infant and only interact at the infant's initiative, allows a role for the infant's initiative in changing interactions and thus potentially changing a relational system.     

Infant face interest is associated with voice information and maternal psychological health

Early infant interest in their mother's face is driven by an experience based face processing system, and is associated with maternal psychological health, even within a non clinical community sample. The present study examined the role of the voice in eliciting infants’ interest in mother and stranger faces and in the association between infant face interest and maternal psychological health.Infants aged 3.5-months were shown photographs of their mother's and a stranger's face paired with an audio recording of their mother's and a stranger's voice that was either matched (e.g., mother's face and voice) or mismatched (e.g., mother's face and stranger's voice). Infants spent more time attending to the stranger's matched face and voice than the mother's matched face and voice and the mismatched faces and voices. Thus, infants demonstrated an earlier preference for a stranger's face when given voice information than when the face is presented alone. In the present sample, maternal psychological health varied with 56.7% of mothers reporting mild mood symptoms (depression, anxiety or stress response to childbirth). Infants of mothers with significant mild maternal mood symptoms looked longer at the faces and voices compared to infants of mothers who did not report mild maternal mood symptoms. In sum, infants’ experience based face processing system is sensitive to their mothers’ maternal psychological health and the multimodal nature of faces.     

Preterm behavior,maternal adjustment,and competencies in the newborn period: What influence do they have at 12 months postnatal age?

This article examines whether preterm newborns' behavior and their mother's adjustment to the premature birth and infant hospitalization have an influence on subsequent infant development and behavior, maternal adjustment, and mother–infant relationship. The behavioral competencies of 42 well, singleton preterm infants (mean gestational age=31 weeks) were assessed, as were their mothers' adjustment (depression and coping) and competencies (knowledge of child development). At 12 months of postnatal age, child competencies (development and behavior) were assessed, together with maternal adjustment (parenting stress and depression). Mother–infant interaction also was observed. Regression analyses indicated that in the newborn period, maternal positive reappraisal and a planful coping style, more knowledge of child development, and previous experience with baby‐sitting were associated with better infant development (p=.002), maternal adjustment (p=.012), and mother–child relationship (p=.002) at 12 months. Newborn infant muscle‐tone maturity was predictive of better motor quality at 12 months (p=.011), and being a firstborn infant who was more sleepy and drowsy was associated with subsequent higher maternal parenting stress (p=.007). Social and educational support groups combined with an approach that assists mothers to develop problem‐solving coping styles may have a beneficial influence on infant development.     

Maternal responsiveness and search for hidden objects and contingency learning by infants

The relationship between maternal responsiveness and infant cognition was examined during two activities: the search for hidden objects and the learning of a contingency rule. Thirty-four mother–infant dyads were observed in a laboratory setting when the infants were 11 months old. The experimental session included three phases: a search for hidden objects (Piagetian tasks), the learning of a contingency rule on a touch screen, and a mother–infant play session using a standardised toy. The results indicated a link between performances in the search and contingency tasks. Moreover, infants who succeeded in both tasks had mothers who displayed higher responsiveness score. The findings are discussed in terms of the infant's detection of relevant stimulus information. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.