Preference for infant-directed speech in preterm infants

The current study explores the effects of exposure to maternal voice on infant sucking in preterm infants. Twenty-four preterm infants averaging 35 weeks gestational age were divided randomly into two groups. A contingency between high-amplitude sucking and presentation of maternal voice was instituted for one group while the other group served as a yoked control. No significant differences were observed in sucking of the two groups, but the degree of pitch modulation of the maternal voice predicted an increase in the rate of infant sucking.     

Maternally administered interventions for preterm infants in the NICU: Effects on maternal psychological distress and mother–infant relationship

Although studies have examined the effects of interventions focused on preterm infants, few studies have examined the effects on maternal distress (anxiety, depressive symptoms, post-traumatic stress symptoms, parenting stress) or parenting. This study examined the effects of the auditory–tactile–visual–vestibular (ATVV) intervention and kangaroo care (KC) on maternal distress and the mother–infant relationship compared to an attention control group.240 mothers from four hospitals were randomly assigned to the three groups. Maternal characteristics in the three groups were similar: 64.1% of ATVV mothers, 64.2% of KC mothers, and 76.5% of control mothers were African American; maternal age averaged 26.3 years for ATVV mothers, 28.1 for KC mothers, and 26.6 for control mothers; and years of education averaged 13.6 for ATVV and KC mothers, and 13.1 for control mothers. Mothers only differed on parity: 68.4% of ATVV and 54.7% of KC mothers were first-time mothers as compared to 43.6% of control mothers. Their infants had a similar mean gestational ages (27.0 weeks for ATVV, 27.2 for KC, and 27.4 for control) and mean birthweights (993 g for ATVV, 1022 for KC, and 1023 for control).Mothers completed questionnaires during hospitalization, and at 2, 6 and 12 months corrected age on demographic characteristics, depressive symptoms, state anxiety, post-traumatic stress symptoms, parenting stress, worry about child health, and child vulnerability (only at 12 months). At 2 and 6 months, 45-min videotapes of mother–infant interactions were made, and the HOME Inventory was scored. Behaviors coded from the videotapes and a HOME subscale were combined into five interactive dimensions: maternal positive involvement and developmental stimulation and child social behaviors, developmental maturity, and irritability.Intervention effects were examined using general linear mixed models controlling for parity and recruitment site. The groups did not differ on any maternal distress variable. Kangaroo care mothers showed a more rapid decline in worry than the other mothers. The only interactive dimensions that differed between the groups were child social behaviors and developmental maturity, which were both higher for kangaroo care infants. Change over time in several individual infant behaviors was affected by the interventions. When mothers reported on the interventions they performed, regardless of group assignment, massage (any form including ATVV) was associated with a more rapid decline in depressive symptoms and higher HOME scores. Performing either intervention was associated with lower parenting stress. These findings suggest that as short-term interventions, KC and ATVV have important effects on mothers and their preterm infants, especially in the first half of the first year.     

My mother is sensitive,but I am too tired to know: Infant sleep as a moderator of prospective relations between maternal sensitivity and infant outcomes

This study investigated the moderating role of infant sleep in the connections between maternal sensitivity and three indicators of infant functioning: attachment security, theory of mind, and executive functioning (EF). Maternal sensitivity was assessed when infants (27 girls and 36 boys) were 1 year of age. Infant sleep was assessed with actigraphy at age 2; attachment security, theory of mind, and EF were also assessed at age 2. Results indicated that maternal sensitivity was positively related to attachment security only among infants who got more sleep at night, and to conflict-EF and theory of mind only for infants who got greater proportions of their sleep during the night. These results suggest that sleep may enhance the benefits of maternal sensitivity for some aspects of infants’ functioning, providing further support for the importance of sleep maturation as a salient developmental task of infancy.     

Effects of personality traits and characteristics of child sexual abuse on maternal reactions and support

Objective

This study aimed to examine the relationship between maternal and contextual factors including maternal personality traits, the quality of mother–child relationship, the characteristics of sexual abuse and maternal outcomes: (1) maternal reactions including feelings of anger and responsibility, anger and perceptions of responsibility of the child, and (2) maternal support provided to the child following the disclosure of sexual abuse.

Cognitive development in children of adolescent mothers: The impact of socioeconomic risk and maternal sensitivity

BackgroundAdolescent motherhood is accompanied by a constellation of risk factors that translate into developmental risk for the off-spring. Socioeconomic risk that is associated with adolescent motherhood as well as maternal interactive behaviors may contribute to the impact of adolescent motherhood on children’s developmental outcome.ObjectiveTherefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate differences in children’s cognitive development between children of adolescent and adult mothers in their first two years of life and to examine whether socioeconomic risk (e.g. such as educational and financial problems) and/or maternal sensitivity mediate developmental differences between children of adolescent and adult mothers.MethodsAdolescent mothers (<21 years; N = 64) and adult mothers (>25 years; N = 34) and their infants were included in the current study. Child cognitive development and maternal sensitivity were assessed at three different time points (T1: mean child age 5.26 months; T2: mean child age 14.69 months; T3: mean child age 21.16 months).ResultsChildren of adult mothers showed better cognitive performance at T3 compared to children of adolescent mothers but not at T1 and T2. A multiple mediation model including socioeconomic risk and maternal sensitivity as serial mediators demonstrated that the effect of adolescent motherhood on cognitive development was mediated in a causal effect chain with socioeconomic risk negatively affecting maternal sensitivity and maternal sensitivity affecting children’s cognitive development.DiscussionThe present findings demonstrate that maternal interactive behaviors are not only a simple predictor of cognitive development but may also act as a mediator of the association between more distal variables such as socioeconomic risk and cognitive development in adolescent mothers. This supports the need to promote prevention and intervention programs for adolescent mothers during the early postpartum period to reduce socioeconomic problems and enhance maternal interactive behaviors.     

The onset of childhood amnesia in childhood: A prospective investigation of the course and determinants of forgetting of early-life events

The present research was an examination of the onset of childhood amnesia and how it relates to maternal narrative style, an important determinant of autobiographical memory development. Children and their mothers discussed unique events when the children were 3 years of age. Different subgroups of children were tested for recall of the events at ages 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 years. At the later session they were interviewed by an experimenter about the events discussed 2 to 6 years previously with their mothers (early-life events). Children aged 5, 6, and 7 remembered 60% or more of the early-life events. In contrast, children aged 8 and 9 years remembered fewer than 40% of the early-life events. Overall maternal narrative style predicted children's contributions to mother–child conversations at age 3 years; it did not have cross-lagged relations to memory for early-life events at ages 5 to 9 years. Maternal deflections of the conversational turn to the child predicted the amount of information children later reported about the early-life events. The findings have implications for our understanding of the onset of childhood amnesia and the achievement of an adult-like distribution of memories in the school years. They highlight the importance of forgetting processes in explanations of the amnesia.     

Fortalezas Familiares Program: Building Sociocultural and Family Strengths in Latina Women with Depression and Their Families

The purpose of this article is to describe Fortalezas Familiares (FF; Family Strengths), a community‐based prevention program designed to address relational family processes and promote well‐being among Latino families when a mother has depression. Although depression in Latina women is becoming increasingly recognized, risk and protective mechanisms associated with children's outcomes when a mother has depression are not well understood for Latino families. We begin by reviewing the literature on risk and protective psychosocial mechanisms by which maternal depression may affect Latino youth, using family systems theory and a developmental psychopathology framework with an emphasis on sociocultural factors shaping family processes. Next, we describe the theoretical basis and development of the FF program, a community‐based 12‐week intervention for Latina immigrant women with depression, other caregivers, and their children. Throughout this article, we use a case study to illustrate a Latina mother's vulnerability to depression and the family's response to the FF program. Recommendations for future research and practice include consideration of sociocultural processes in shaping both outcomes of Latino families and their response to interventions.     

Overgeneral autobiographical memory in children of depressed mothers

The goal of this study was to examine overgeneral autobiographical memory in a population at-risk for depression (i.e., children of depressed mothers). We predicted that children of depressed mothers would display less-specific memories than children of non-depressed mothers and that these results would be observed among children with no prior history of depression themselves. Participants in this study were children (age 8–14; 50% girls, 83% Caucasian) of mothers with (n = 103) or without (n = 120) a history of major depressive disorder during the child's life. Mothers' and children's diagnoses were confirmed with a diagnostic interview, and children completed the Autobiographical Memory Test and a measure of depressive symptoms. We found that children of depressed mothers, compared to children of non-depressed mothers, recalled less-specific memories in response to negative cue words but not positive cue words. Importantly, these results were maintained even when we statistically controlled for the influence of children's current depressive symptom levels and excluded children with currently depressed mothers. These results suggest that overgeneral autobiographical memory for negative events may serve as a marker of depression risk among high-risk children with no prior depression history.     

The 'black hole' in the inner universe

Summary The metaphor of the 'black hole' has been borrowed from astronomy in order to describe certain phenomena occurring in work with autistic and psychotic children. This metaphor is different from Tustin's concept of the 'black hole'. I shall attempt to describe another phenomenon: not that of the hole in the self, resulting from premature separation, but the hole in the object that the autistic or psychotic child is relating to - or, rather, turning away from. I describe an autistic boy's need to protect himself against the catastrophic experience of relating to an object with such a hole in its mind. That is a particular kind of a depressed object which emits deadness, instead of the lively, responsive affect that the child should get in communication. It is not an intrusive object, but it sucks in and drowns energy. If the experience of relating to the 'black hole' in the object happens early and in such a powerful way that the child's energy feels insufficient to defend against it in any way, then the fear of annihilation becomes so strong that it may lead to the wiping out of the whole internal universe in order to escape its deadly gravitational pull. Only when a different kind of relationship gets internalized, through therapy, with an object that contains and returns life and energy, can the mind grow enough to be able to communicate the other, darker side of the relationship from which it has closed itself away.     

Prediction of toddlers’ expressive language from maternal sensitivity and toddlers’ anger expressions: A developmental perspective

Despite evidence for the importance of individual differences in expressive language during toddlerhood in predicting later literacy skills, few researchers have examined individual and contextual factors related to language abilities across the toddler years. Furthermore, a gap remains in the literature about the extent to which the relations of negative emotions and parenting to language skills may differ for girls and boys. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate the associations among maternal sensitivity, children's observed anger reactivity, and expressive language when children were 18 (T1; n = 247) and 30 (T2; n = 216) months. At each age, mothers reported on their toddlers’ expressive language, and mothers’ sensitive parenting behavior was observed during an unstructured free-play task. Toddlers’ anger expressions were observed during an emotion-eliciting task. Using path modeling, results showed few relations at T1. At T2, maternal sensitivity was negatively related to anger, and in turn, anger was associated with lower language skills. However, moderation analyses showed that these findings were significant for boys but not for girls. In addition, T1 maternal sensitivity and anger positively predicted expressive language longitudinally for both sexes. Findings suggest that the relations between maternal sensitivity, anger reactivity and expressive language may vary depending on the child's developmental stage and sex.