Testosterone reactivity to infant crying and caregiving in women: The role of oral contraceptives and basal cortisol

Several studies have shown that mothers and fathers have significant lower levels of testosterone (T) than non-mothers and non-fathers, and that in men caregiving is related to a decrease in T. To date, only a few studies have examined T in women. We examined T reactivity to a crying infant simulator in 160 women. Use of oral contraceptives (OC), basal cortisol (CORT) levels and childhood experiences of maternal love withdrawal were taken into account. T levels were consistently significantly higher in women not using OC. In women not using OC, high basal CORT was related to higher initial T levels and larger decreases of T during caregiving. No effect of basal CORT was found in women with OC use. Childhood experiences of maternal love withdrawal did not affect T levels. This is the first study to show support for a decrease of T in women while taking care of a crying infant, supporting the Challenge hypothesis and the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds.     

Infant mental health home visiting in the context of an infant—toddler court team: Changes in parental responsiveness and reflective functioning

This article describes an infant–toddler court team in Michigan, the community-based participatory research approach to the implementation evaluation, and the resulting changes in parenting. Like other court teams, Michigan's Baby Court is led by a science-informed jurist, and all service providers are knowledgeable about the developmental needs of young children and engage in collaborative communication throughout the case. Relationship-based treatment in the form of infant mental health home-visiting was provided to families. Sixteen parents participated in pre- and posttest evaluation visits to assess changes in parents’ reflective functioning and interactions with their child. Findings suggest improvements in parents’ responsiveness, positive affect, and reflective functioning, with moderate effects. Higher risk parents demonstrated significant changes in reflective functioning, as compared to those at lower risk. These findings add to and support the limited literature on the effectiveness of infant–toddler court teams, which include relationship-based and trauma-informed services.     

儿童早期词汇获得的跨语言/文化研究

婴儿词汇学习是国际语言发展研究的前沿领域, 但大多数研究都是以英语婴儿为研究对象。目前国内关于汉语婴儿早期语言发展研究处于起步阶段。由于汉语在词法、句法等方面具有明显的特殊性, 另外, 成人“言语输入”的语用习惯以及非言语线索都会影响婴儿早期词汇学习, 使得不同语言文化下的婴儿呈现不同的单词学习模式。本项目力图从跨语言视角考察汉语和英语婴儿的早期单词学习(包括单词的理解和产生)以及促进婴儿语言发展的成人言语和非言语输入特征。研究将综合采用实验室实验、半结构化实验室观察和量表测量等研究方法, 利用新的研究技术(如习惯化和IPLP), 从多个角度探索婴儿词汇发展, 以及不同语言文化和个体环境对婴儿早期词汇学习的影响, 揭示词汇获得的跨语言一致性和特异性。研究结果有望对儿童的语言学习提供启示。     

What can make the difference? Premature birth and maternal sensitivity at 3 months of age: the role of attachment organization, traumatic reaction and baby's medical risk

The influence of prematurity and maternal attachment organization on sensitivity was investigated in 40 mother–infant dyads. Results show a main effect of attachment and an interaction between attachment and prematurity. Sensitivity was differently associated with medical risk and mothers’ traumatic reaction, depending on the quality of attachment.     

'Dialectical process' and 'constructive method': micro-analysis of relational process in an example from parent-infant psychotherapy

Jung defined experience that takes place between therapist and patient as 'dialectical process', achieved through 'constructive method'. Perspectives from attachment theory, neurobiology, cognitive science, systems thinking and infancy research confirm and extend his view of the centrality of relational process in the development of self. Interactional experiences are embedded within the history of the primary parent-infant relationship and structure within the mind implicit patterns of relating. These patterns influence capacities for managing a whole lifetime of affective relational experience within the self and with others. This paper shows how parent-infant psychotherapy seeks to intervene during the formation of disturbed relational patterns. I offer detailed micro-analysis of the moment-to-moment 'dialectical process' that a mother, her four-month-old infant and myself 'constructed' together.     

The Infant–Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA): Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity

In this paper the refinement and psychometric properties of the Infant–Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) are described. Results from a sociodemographically diverse birth cohort sample of 1,235 parents of children between the ages of 12 and 36 months are presented. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesized Internalizing, Externalizing, Regulatory, and Competence domains as well as the 17 individual scales that comprise the ITSEA. Findings for 3 additional indices useful in identifying significant psychopathology are presented. Subgroup analyses revealed structural invariance and expected mean level differences across both child sex and 6-month age bands. Child sex differences emerged for some problem and most competence scales, with boys rated as higher on Activity–Impulsivity and girls rated higher on Anxiety and most Competence scales. All competence scores increased across age groups. Problem behaviors showed a more mixed developmental pattern. Test–retest and interrater reliability were acceptable. Associations between the ITSEA and independent evaluator ratings and parental ratings of child behavior problems, temperament, and parental distress support the validity of the instrument.     

Role of mothers in the acquisition of tool-use behaviours by captive infant chimpanzees

This article explores the maternal role in the acquisition of tool-use behaviours by infant chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). A honey-fishing task, simulating ant/termite fishing found in the wild, was introduced to three dyads of experienced mother and naïve infant chimpanzees. Four fishing sites and eight sets of 20 objects to be used as tools, not all appropriate, were available. Two of the mothers constantly performed the task, using primarily two kinds of tools; the three infants observed them. The infants, regardless of the amount of time spent observing, successfully performed the task around the age of 20–22 months, which is earlier than has been recorded in the wild. Two of the infants used the same types of tools that the adults predominantly used, suggesting that tool selectivity is transmitted. The results also show that adults are tolerant of infants, even if unrelated; infants were sometimes permitted to lick the tools, or were given the tools, usually without honey, as well as permitted to observe the adult performances closely.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at     

Rhythms of dialogue in infancy: comments on Jaffe,Beebe, Feldstein,Crown, and Jasnow (2001)

Analysis of coordinated interpersonal timing has become an important tool for the study of infant-adult, peer, and marital interactions. Past research suggests that social coordination is informative about the quality of the caregiver-child social relationship. Does infant experience of certain types of coordination and pattern in early social interactions with caregivers predict better cognitive and social developmental outcomes? The recent monograph "Rhythms of dialogue in infancy" (Jaffe, Beebe, Feldstein, Crown, & Jasnow, 2001) provides the strongest evidence to date that it does. Moderately coordinated social interactions in early infancy predicted the most favorable developmental outcomes, and degree of coordination was influenced by contextual factors such as setting and nature of the relationship between the infant and its social interaction partner. This study provides a model for future research in this area and points toward important questions for future research on infant-caregiver social interactions.     

Young infants' perception of unity and form in occlusion displays

Young infants have been reported to perceive the unity of a center-occluded object when the visible ends of the object are aligned and undergo common motion but not when the edges of the object are misaligned (Johnson & Aslin, 1996). Using a recognition-based paradigm, the authors investigated the possibility that past research failed to provide sufficiently sensitive assessments of infants' perception of the unity of misaligned edges in partial occlusion displays. Positive evidence was obtained in 4-month-olds for veridical perception of the motion and location of a hidden region but not its orientation, whereas 7-month-olds, in contrast to the younger infants, appeared to respond to the orientation of the hidden region. Overall, the results suggest that habituation designs tapping recognition processes may be particularly efficacious in revealing infants' perceptual organization. In addition, the findings provide corroborative evidence for the importance of both motion and orientation in young infants' object segregation and for the difficulty in achieving percepts of the global form of a partly occluded object.