| Abstract: | 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. |
