The association between maternal smoking and secondhand exposure and autonomic functioning at 2-4 weeks of age

This study examined the association between maternal smoking and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) during pregnancy and infant heart rate. Participants were 62 mother-infant dyads where mother smoked during pregnancy, 47 dyads where mother did not smoke during pregnancy but was exposed to ETS and 47 dyads where mother did not smoke and was not exposed to ETS. Average heart rate (HR) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were assessed at 2-4 weeks of age during sleep. Infants in both exposure groups had higher HR and lower RSA than nonexposed infants. Furthermore, boys in both exposure groups had higher HR and lower RSA than girls. These results highlight the importance of considering prenatal ETS exposure and infant gender when assessing infant outcomes.     

The association between prenatal exposure to cigarettes and infant and maternal negative affect

This study examined the association between prenatal exposure to cigarettes and infant and maternal negative affect. Participants were 115 mother-infant dyads (69 prenatally exposed to cigarettes and 46 nonexposed). Infant and maternal negative affect were both assessed during the neonatal period (2-4 weeks of age) and again at 7 months of infant age. Results indicated that only prenatal exposure to cigarettes predicted infant negative affect. Infants who were prenatally exposed to more cigarettes had higher levels of negative affect at both time points. Furthermore, regression analyses indicated that both infant and maternal negative affect during the neonatal period predicted maternal negative affect at 7 months of age. These results highlight the importance of considering the reciprocal relationship between infant and maternal behavior when examining developmental outcomes among infants prenatally exposed to cigarettes.     

Presence and television.

Film and a number of emerging entertainment technologies offer media consumers an illusion of nonmediation known as presence. To investigate the possibility that television can evoke presence, 65 undergraduate students were shown brief examples of rapid point‐of‐view movement from commercially available videotapes on a television with either a small screen (12 inches [30.5 cm], measured diagonally) or a large screen (46 inches [116.8 cm]). Participants' responses were measured via a questionnaire and a computer‐based recording of arousal (electrodermal activity). Viewers of both televisions reported an enjoyable sense of physical movement, excitement, involvement, and a sense of participation. Furthermore, as predicted, participants who watched the large screen television thought the movement in the scenes was faster, experienced a greater sense of physical movement, enjoyed the movement to a greater extent, found the viewing experience more exciting, and were more physiologically aroused. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Forms, uses and functions of children's favourite objects

In this study, the notion of a favourite object is used as a heuristic concept for things that children are occupied with and absorbed by. According to earlier studies, favourite objects can be grouped into four categories: forerunners of transitional objects, primary and secondary transitional objects, and favourite toys. This initial classification was compared to results of cluster analyses of characteristics of favourite objects among 32 preschool and 30 primary school children, corroborating the initial classification and specifying the typology. The distribution of types of objects was different for the two groups of children, but was not dependent on age within groups or, for the preschool children, on mental development. These results indicate that changes of favourite objects with mental maturation are slow.
The softness of the material of primary and secondary transitional objects and the preference for objects that could be kept close to the body suggest that the comforting character of these favourite objects has its root in the child's self-soothing actions with the object.     

Prenatal Cocaine Exposure and Infant Sleep at 7 Months of age: The Influence of the Caregiving Environment

The primary goal of this study was to examine sleep problems in a sample of cocaine-exposed 7-month-old infants and to determine if maternal psychopathology mediated any existing association between substance exposure and sleep behaviors. We also examined the differences in sleep behaviors of cocaine-exposed infants in parental custody and cocaine-exposed infants in nonparental custody. Participants were 65 cocaine-exposed and 53 nonexposed infants and their primary caregivers who were recruited at delivery and assessed at 7 months of infant age. As expected, women who used cocaine during pregnancy had more psychiatric symptoms than nonusers. Prenatal exposure to heavier amounts of cocaine was significantly related to more severe sleep difficulties, and maternal anxiety mediated this association. Approximately 28% of cocaine mothers lost custody of their infants by 7 months of age. Nonmaternal caregivers had significantly fewer symptoms of psychopathology than the cocaine-using women who retained custody of their children. Infants who were in nonparental care at 7 months of age also had less severe sleep problems than did infants who remained in parental care.     

Maternal substance use and mother–infant feeding interactions

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of maternal polydrug cocaine use during pregnancy and associated risk factors such as maternal psychopathology and negative infant temperament on the quality of mother–infant feeding interactions at 2 months of infant age. Participants were 45 mother–infant dyads (19 cocaine‐exposed and 26 nonexposed) who were recruited at birth and assessed again 2 months of infant age. Mother–infant interactions during feeding were videotaped and coded with regard to dyadic reciprocity, maternal noncontingency, and dyadic conflict. Results indicated that maternal cocaine use was associated with higher dyadic conflict. Moreover, cocaine‐using mothers were also more likely to use marijuana and alcohol, and use of such substances was associated with lower dyadic reciprocity and higher maternal noncontingency during interactions. Results also suggested that one pathway to higher dyadic conflict during interactions among cocaine‐using mothers was through the impact of cocaine on infant risk conditions like lower gestational age and negative temperament (e.g., higher distress to novelty). Interventions focusing on promoting the quality of mother–infant interactions in combination with substance abuse treatment may be especially promising for this population. ©2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory and Laboratory Assessment of BIS and BAS in Children

There is considerable interest in Gray’s reinforcement sensitivity theory. However, few measures of the behavioral approach (BAS) and inhibition systems (BIS) exist for children. Moreover, the theory was substantially revised a decade ago and measurement instruments are still largely based on the old theory. Our aim was to revise questionnaire and laboratory assessments of BIS and BAS for children. Performance on the Point Scoring Reaction Time Task for Children-Revised (PSRTT-CR) conformed to theoretical expectations. Caregiver reports of BIS and BAS were associated with corresponding PSRTT-CR indices, suggesting cross-method convergent and discriminant validity. There was convergence with physiological correlates of BAS, but not physiological correlates of BIS. Overall, our revised measures represent promising instruments of children’s BIS and BAS.     

Book reviews

Institutions represent both the conscious and unconscious aspects of the interacting members. Psychotherapists need to address their unconscious position in the institution as well as the conscious aspects of their work. This paper describes the possible relevance that psychotherapy may have at the unconscious level. The notion of the ‘social defence system’ is extremely useful in finding one's way in the engulfing emotional attitudes, and for tolerating the often dismaying sense of irrelevance that psychotherapy appears to attract. The social defence system of a prison and a mental hospital are considered in this light and some thought are devoted to the changing state of the National Health Service at present.     

The Hypothesis Of Ether And Reid's Interpretation Of Newton's First Rule Of Philosophizing

My object is to question a recurrent claim made to the point that Thomas Reid (1710–1796) was hostile to ether theories and that this hostility had its source in his distinctive interpretation of the first of Newton's regulæ philosophandi. Against this view I will argue that Reid did not have any quarrel at all with unobservable or theoretical entities as such, and that his objections against actual theories concerning ether were scientific rather than philosophical, even when based on Newton's first rule. I argue further that Reid's insistence on Newton's rule concerns, not direct observation, but rather the notion of explanation itself.