Maternal speech style with prelinguistic twin infants

The mother–infant communicative speech of a group of mothers of 4‐month‐old first‐born twin infants was compared to the speech of a group of mothers of first‐born singleton infants. Maternal groups were matched on age, education level, mother–infant attachment status and infant gender, and maternal depression was assessed as a control variable. Maternal speech was coded for focus, content, complexity and syntax of mothers' utterances. The findings of earlier studies with toddler age twins, that maternal speech style was more directive and less infant‐focused, were replicated in this prelinguistic period of infancy. Compared to mothers of singletons, mothers of twins used less infant‐focused speech, were less responsive to their infants' cues, and attributed less agency to their infants. Mothers of twins also used fewer questions and requests but did not differ from mothers of singletons in their use of negatives and imperatives. These early differences in the language learning environments of twin and singleton infants may be due to the reduced opportunities that mothers of twins have to establish dyadic communicative routines with their infants and to familiarize themselves with their infants as interactive partners, and may have implications for the early language development of twins. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biological and caregiver correlates of behavioral inhibition

The aim of this study was to explore the relationships among measures of behavioral inhibition, physiological reactivity, and caregiver attitudes. Measures comprised of heart rate; survey assessments of caregiver empathy with the child, appropriateness of caregiver developmental expectations of the child, and use of positive discipline techniques; and observational measures of behavioral inhibition were gathered in a laboratory setting on 72, 5–6‐year old children. It was found that heart rate and behavioral inhibition were positively correlated (0.595), whereas behavioral inhibition was negatively correlated with caregiver attitudes of empathy (?0.356), appropriate expectations (?0.366), and use of positive discipline techniques (?0.275). However, there was no correlation between heart rate and caregiver attitudes. These data suggest that physiological reactivity to novel stimuli and caregiver attitudes of empathy, appropriate expectations, and use of positive discipline techniques conjointly influence behavioral inhibition in early childhood. Further, these three caregiver variables accounted for significant variance in children who had high reactive physiological profiles associated with inhibited behavior patterns, but did not display such patterns. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of maternal inattentiveness on infant social referencing

The aim of the study was to clarify the meaning of infant looking behaviour when the infant is confronted with an ambiguous situation in order to disentangle the two processes social referencing and attachment. Ninety‐six 12‐month‐olds, presented with an ambiguous or an unambiguous toy, were assigned to one of four conditions; mother inattentive, mother conveyed positive information, and mother conveyed negative information about the ambiguous toy. In the fourth condition (control condition), an unambiguous toy was presented (mother inattentive). The ambiguous situation elicited more referencing looks than the unambiguous situation. During the presentation of the ambiguous toy, infants with inattentive mothers referenced the experimenter more than infants whose mothers provided guidance. In the following free‐play situation, infants in the inattentive group referenced mother to a higher degree than did the other infants. They played less with the toy than infants who had received positive information and infants in the control group, and were less eager to explore the surroundings than infants in the other three groups. When mother turned attentive the infants ceased referencing her and showed an interest in exploring. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessment of the Effectiveness of Genetic Counseling by Telephone Compared to a Clinic Visit

Maternal serum screening, also known as the triple screen, is used during pregnancy to assess the risk of carrying a fetus with specific chromosome abnormalities or open spina bifida. All women in British Columbia who screen positive are eligible for genetic counseling and are offered amniocentesis. The purpose of this study is to determine what differences (if any) exist in patients' understanding and/or anxiety when genetic counseling for a positive triple screen is conducted in person versus over the telephone. Each patient who participated was given the choice of having genetic counseling in person or over the telephone, this after a randomized design failed to elicit any participants. Using a written postcounseling questionnaire, each patient was assessed for her understanding of the information presented in the session, and her anxiety regarding her risk. In this small pilot study, no large differences were detected in patients' understanding or anxiety when genetic counseling was conducted by telephone versus in person.     

Depression in the early postpartum period and attachment to children—in mothers of NICU infants

Depression in early puerperium was evaluated in terms of maternal attachment in mothers of children admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in comparison to a control group of mothers of full‐term infants. A survey including Zung's self‐rating depression scale (ZSDS), a postpartum maternal attachment scale and items addressing the mother's feelings and peripheral conditions was conducted on mothers of children admitted to the NICU. Among the 153 mothers who gave valid responses, positive ZSDS scores of over 40 were seen in 61.8%. In terms of the children's disorder, strong depressive tendency was noted among mothers of low birth weight infants. Significant correlation was noted between the ZSDS and the ‘core maternal attachment’ (negative correlation) and ‘anxiety regarding children’ (positive correlation) subscales of postpartum maternal attachment. Path analysis revealed the father's positive reaction in learning of the pregnancy resulted in elevation of the ‘core maternal attachment’ score, in contrast to the control group mothers. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

'Reverberation time', dreaming and the capacity to dream

In this paper the author suggests that understanding the roots of the subjective sense of time can throw light on the disturbances in psychic time which are found in particular in the more severe pathologies. She introduces the argument that the roots of the development of the sense of time rest on a primitive sense of time she calls 'reverberation time'. By this notion she refers to the particular quality of the earliest 'back and forth' internalized exchange with the mother in which the auditory dimension plays a significant part. Referring to a wide range of literature and clinical examples, the author thus suggests that the subjective sense of time is created by the reverberation between mother and infant. Disturbances in this area will be reflected in the pathological 'arresting' of time which is observed in the different pathologies and, in particular, around the negotiation of the depressive position and the oedipal situation. Extending this argument, the author goes on to suggest that it is the internalization of this experience of 'reverberation' which lies at the heart of the experience of dreaming; she considers that dreaming understood as an internal dialogue points both to its roots in the relationship to the maternal object and to its fundamental role in psychic life. The author concludes that 'reverberation time' is also the building block of a psychoanalysis, leading to 'unfreezing' psychic time and enabling the reconnection of 'here and now' with 'there and then' in a flexible way which promotes open possibilities, and that this takes place via the analyst's reverie, or time of reverberation.     

Reactive and Regulative Temperament in Youths: Psychometric Evaluation of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised

The present study examined the psychometric properties of the self-report version of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised (EATQ-R), which is a scale for measuring reactive and regulative temperament traits, in a large sample of children and adolescents (N = 1,055). The results indicated that the internal consistency was acceptable for most EATQ-R temperament scales. Further, principal components analysis of the instrument yielded a structure with nine components, which generally reflected the temperament scales of the EATQ-R. The test–retest stability of the scale was moderate to good, whereas the parent–child agreement was rather low. Finally, the scale correlated in a theoretically meaningful way with children’s self-reports of personality and psychopathology. It can be concluded that the EATQ-R is a useful scale for measuring aspects of reactive and regulative temperament in children and adolescents, although there is certainly room for improving the instrument.

行为抑制性、母亲养育方式和学步儿问题行为的关系

采用实验室观察及问卷法,考察学步儿行为抑制性、母亲养育方式和问题行为的关系。结果发现:(1)行为抑制性正向预测内隐问题行为;母亲拒绝正向预测外显问题行为;母亲保护担忧负向预测外显问题行为。(2)性别能调节母亲养育方式与问题行为之间的关系,母亲鼓励独立负向预测男孩内隐问题行为;母亲拒绝正向预测女孩内隐问题行为;保护担忧负向预测男孩外显问题行为;母亲惩罚正向预测男孩外显问题行为。     

Update and Review: Maternal Serum Screening

Maternal serum levels of alpha fetoprotein (AFP), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), and unconjugated estriol (uE3) can be used to screen pregnancies for neural tube defects, Down syndrome, Trisomy 18, and pregnancy complications. This article summarizes the most recent information regarding maternal serum screening, including genetic counseling issues.