Infant-mother attachment and the growth of externalizing problems across the primary-school years

Background:  Some contend that attachment insecurity increases risk for the development of externalizing behavior problems in children. Method:  Latent-growth curve analyses were applied to data on 1,364 children from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care to evaluate the association between early attachment and teacher-rated externalizing problems across the primary-school years. Results:  Findings indicate that (a) both avoidant and disorganized attachment predict higher levels of externalizing problems but (b) that effects of disorganized attachment are moderated by family cumulative contextual risk, child gender and child age, with disorganized boys from risky social contexts manifesting increases in behavior problems over time. Conclusions:  These findings highlight the potentially conditional role of early attachment in children’s externalizing behavior problems and the need for further research evaluating causation and mediating mechanisms.

The role of negative maternal affective states and infant temperament in early interactions between infants with cleft lip and their mothers

OBJECTIVES: The study examined the early interaction between mothers and their infants with cleft lip, assessing the role of maternal affective state and expressiveness and differences in infant temperament. METHODS: Mother-infant interactions were assessed in 25 2-month-old infants with cleft lip and 25 age-matched healthy infants. Self-report and behavioral observations were used to assess maternal depressive symptoms and expressions. Mothers rated infant temperament. RESULTS: Infants with cleft lip were less engaged and their mothers showed more difficulty in interaction than control group dyads. Mothers of infants with cleft lip displayed more negative affectivity, but did not report more self-rated depressive symptoms than control group mothers. No group differences were found in infant temperament. CONCLUSIONS: In order to support the mother's experience and facilitate her ongoing parental role, findings highlight the importance of identifying maternal negative affectivity during early interactions, even when they seem have little awareness of their depressive symptoms.

Evidence for interplay between genes and parenting on infant temperament in the first year of life: monoamine oxidase A polymorphism moderates effects of maternal sensitivity on infant anger proneness

Background The low expression polymorphism of the MAOA gene in interaction with adverse environments (G × E) is associated with antisocial behaviour disorders. These have their origins in early life, but it is not known whether MAOA G × E occurs in infants. We therefore examined whether MAOA G × E predicts infant anger proneness, a temperamental dimension associated with later antisocial behaviour disorders. In contrast to previous studies, we examined MAOA G × E prospectively using an observational measure of a key aspect of the infant environment, maternal sensitivity, at a specified developmental time point. Methods In a stratified epidemiological cohort recruited during pregnancy, we ascertained MAOA status (low vs. high expression alleles) from the saliva of 193 infants, and examined specific predictions to maternal report of infant temperament at 14 months from maternal sensitivity assessed at 29 weeks of age. Results Analyses, weighted to provide general population estimates, indicated a robust interaction between MAOA status and maternal sensitivity in the prediction of infant anger proneness (p = .003) which became stronger once possible confounders for maternal sensitivity were included in the model (p = .0001). The interaction terms were similar in males (p = .010) and females (p = .016), but the effects were different as a consequence of an additional sex of infant by maternal sensitivity interaction. Conclusions This prospective study provides the first evidence of moderation by the MAOA gene of effects of parenting on infant anger proneness, an important early risk for the development of disruptive and aggressive behaviour disorders.

Psychometric properties of the parent-infant caregiving touch scale

Recent work in animals suggests that the extent of early tactile stimulation by parents of offspring is an important element in early caregiving. We evaluate the psychometric properties of a new parent-report measure designed to assess frequency of tactile stimulation across multiple caregiving domains in infancy. We describe the full item set of the Parent-Infant Caregiving Touch Scale (PICTS) and, using data from a UK longitudinal Child Health and Development Study, the response frequencies and factor structure and whether it was invariant over two time points in early development (5 and 9 weeks). When their infant was 9 weeks old, 838 mothers responded on the PICTS while a stratified subsample of 268 mothers completed PICTS at an earlier 5 week old assessment (229 responded on both occasions). Three PICTS factors were identified reflecting stroking, holding and affective communication. These were moderately to strongly correlated at each of the two time points of interest and were unrelated to, and therefore distinct from, a traditional measure of maternal sensitivity at 7-months. A wholly stable psychometry over 5 and 9-week assessments was not identified which suggests that behavior profiles differ slightly for younger and older infants. Tests of measurement invariance demonstrated that all three factors are characterized by full configural and metric invariance, as well as a moderate degree of evidence of scalar invariance for the stroking factor. We propose the PICTS as a valuable new measure of important aspects of caregiving in infancy.

Infant Mortality as a Potential Measure of Community Health in Urban Growth

This document is one of a series which contains the results of research carried out during a 1969 Summer Study of Urban Decentralization at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. The summary of the Summer Study is contained in "An Introduction to Urban Decentralization Research," ORNL-HUD-3.

Final Syllable Lengthening (FSL) in Infant Vocalizations

Final Syllable Lengthening (FSL) has been extensively examined in infant vocalizations in order to determine whether its basis is biological or learned. Findings suggest there may be a U-shaped developmental trajectory for FSL. The present study sought to verify this pattern and to determine whether vocal maturity and deafness influence FSL. Eight normally hearing infants, aged 0 ; 3 to 1 ; 0, and eight deaf infants, aged 0 ; 8 to 4 ; 0, were examined at three levels of prelinguistic vocal development: precanonical, canonical, and postcanonical. FSL was found at all three levels suggesting a biological basis for this phenomenon. Individual variability was, however, considerable. Reduction in the magnitude of FSL across the three sessions provided some support for a downward trend for FSL in infancy. Findings further indicated that auditory deprivation can significantly affect temporal aspects of infant speech production.

Non-nutritive sucking and the preterm infant

Background. Preterm birth is major public health problem. Preterm infants face a post-natal environment that their under developed systems are inapt to manage. Developmentally supportive individualized care has demonstrated positive outcomes in minimizing resulting negative effects. Non-nutritive sucking (NNS) interventions are thought to promote the development of the suck-swallow-breathe mechanism and a calming tool. It is hypothesized that growth and development is maintained by strengthened sucking skills and stable behavioral states.^ Objective. To determine the importance of non-nutritive sucking (NNS) on outcomes that are clinically relevant to the preterm infant population.^ Methods. A computerized search of MEDLINE and PUBMED databases during the period of 1975 and May 2011 was conducted. Relevant articles were selected using published criteria for detecting clinically validated studies. The search yielded 10 randomized controlled studies relative to the outcomes of interest: weight gain, time to full feeds, time to discharge from hospital, and pain response.^ Results. NNS was found to decrease significantly the length of hospitalization in preterm infants. Although positive results were reported in some of the studies, the results did not show a consistent benefit of NNS with respect to other major clinical variables. NNS was shown to reduce distress following painful stimuli.^ Conclusion. Although NNS shows promise for the development of preterm infants, there is lack of agreement concerning some of the outcomes of interest. Evidence does support NNS's positive contribution to early hospital discharge and pain relief. Future research should focus on long-term, comparable outcomes. ^

Types and amplitudes of touch as reinforcing stimuli in operant conditioning of infant behavior

The reinforcing effects of diverse tactile stimuli were examined in this study. The study had two purposes. First, this study expanded on the Pelaez-Nogueras, Field, Gewirtz, Cigales, Gonzalez, Sanchez and Clasky (1997) finding that stroking increases infants' gaze duration, and smiling and vocalization frequencies more than tickling/poking. Instead of presenting poking and tickling as a single stimulus combination, this study separated poking and tickling in order to measure the effects of each component separately. Further, the effects of poking, tickling/tapping and stroking intensity (i.e., tactile pressure) were compared by having both mild and intense conditions. Second, this study compared the reinforcing efficacy of mother-delivered tactile stimulation to that of infant-originated tactile exploration. Twelve infants from 2- to 5-months of age participated in this study. The experiment was conducted using a repeated measures A-B-A-C-A-D reversal design. The A phases signified baselines and reversals. The B, C, and D phases consisted of alternating treatments (either mild stroking vs. mild poking vs. mild tickling/tapping, intense stroking vs. intense poking vs. intense tickling/tapping, or mother-delivered tactile stimulation vs. infant-originated tactile exploration). Three experimental hypotheses were assessed: (1) infant leg kick rate would be greater when it produced stroking or tickling/tapping (presumptive positive reinforcers), than when it produced poking (a possible punisher), regardless of tactile pressure; (2) infant leg kick rate would be greater when it produced a more intense level of stroking or tickling/tapping and lower when it produced intense poking compared to mild poking; (3) infant leg-kick rate would be greater for mother-delivered tactile stimulation than for infant-originated tactile exploration. Visual inspection and inferential statistical methods were used to analyze the results. The data supported the first two hypotheses. Mixed support emerged for the third hypothesis. This study made several important contributions to the field of psychology. First, this was the first study to quantify the pressure of tactile stimulation, via a pressure meter developed by the researcher. Additionally, the results of this study yielded valuable information about the effects of different modalities of touch. ^

Two -way direction of influence in mother-infant interaction as denoted by concurrent reciprocal learning processes

This series of 5 single-subject studies used the operant conditioning paradigm to investigate, within the two-way influence process, how (a) contingent infant attention can reinforce maternal verbal behaviors during a period of mother-infant interaction and under subsequent experimental manipulation. Differential reinforcement was used to determine if it is possible that an infant attending to the mother (denoted by head-turns towards the image of the mother plus eye contact) increases (reinforces) the mother's verbal response (to a cue from the infant) upon which the infant behavior is contingent. There was also (b) an evaluation during the contrived parent-infant interaction for concurrent operant learning of infant vocal behavior via contingent verbal responding (reinforcement) implemented by the mother. Further, it was noted (c) whether or not the mother reported being aware that her responses were influenced by the infant's behavior. Findings showed: the operant conditioning of the maternal verbal behaviors were reinforced by contingent infant attention; and the operant conditioning of infant vocalizations was reinforced by contingent maternal verbal behaviors. No parent reported (1) being aware of the increase in their verbal response reinforced during operant conditioning of parental behavior nor a decrease in those responses during the DRA reversal phase, or (2) noticing a contingency between infant's and mother's response. By binomial 1-tail tests, the verbal-behavior patterns of the 5 mothers were conditioned by infant reinforcement (p < 0.02) and, concurrently, the vocal-response patterns of the 5 infants were conditioned by maternal reinforcement (p < 0.02). A program of systematic empirical research on the determinants of concurrent conditioning within mother-child interaction may provide a way to evaluate the differential effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving parent-child interactions. The work conducted in the present study is one step in this direction. ^

Mother-Infant Reciprocity and the Development of Joint Attention in 12 Month Old Infants

Social contingency is the ability to connect social stimuli, such as those behaviors performed by oneself and those performed by others. Detecting social contingencies occurs by means of reciprocity through shared experiences with others. Reciprocity denotes a circumstance in which two individuals participate in a collaborative exchange, and is distinguished from an event in which two individuals engage in separate, unrelated activities. Specifically, reciprocity incorporates joint attention (JA), which occurs when two individuals simultaneously and visually attend to the same item. JA is facilitated by gazing and pointing, whereby one individual initiates the action and the second individual follows suit by, for example, gaze-following. However, little is known about the role the mother may play in the development of JA. The purpose of our study was to investigate social contingency between mothers and infants engaging in dyadic interactions. Thirty-three 12-month-old typically developing infants (M = 12.2, SD = .19; N = 19 males) were filmed for 10 minutes during free play with their mothers and toys provided by an experimenter. Reciprocity was measured by coding mother-infant interactions when a precise chain of events occurred: (1) mother initiated a bid by introducing a toy/activity or request to the infant, (2) infant accepted the bid/request by engaging in play with the given toy/activity, and (3) mother persisted by continuing to engage in play with said toy/activity. We computed a Pearson Correlation to assess the relation between the mothers’ initiations of JA and their infants’ responses to JA. We found a moderately positive correlation between the two variables (r= 0.37, p<.05). Our findings suggest that reciprocity, an important component of social relationships, during parent-infant dyads may serve as a scaffold for joint attention abilities, which have been linked to social and language development.

A Longitudinal Investigation of Infant Gesture Use and Parent Speech: Unique and Dynamic Influences on Infant Vocabulary Acquisition

How do infants learn word meanings? Research has established the impact of both parent and child behaviors on vocabulary development, however the processes and mechanisms underlying these relationships are still not fully understood. Much existing literature focuses on direct paths to word learning, demonstrating that parent speech and child gesture use are powerful predictors of later vocabulary. However, an additional body of research indicates that these relationships don’t always replicate, particularly when assessed in different populations, contexts, or developmental periods.

The current study examines the relationships between infant gesture, parent speech, and infant vocabulary over the course of the second year (10-22 months of age). Through the use of detailed coding of dyadic mother-child play interactions and a combination of quantitative and qualitative data analytic methods, the process of communicative development was explored. Findings reveal non-linear patterns of growth in both parent speech content and child gesture use. Analyses of contingency in dyadic interactions reveal that children are active contributors to communicative engagement through their use of gestures, shaping the type of input they receive from parents, which in turn influences child vocabulary acquisition. Recommendations for future studies and the use of nuanced methodologies to assess changes in the dynamic system of dyadic communication are discussed.

[impact Variables On The Decline In Infant Mortality In The State Of São Paulo, Brazil: 1998-2008].

This is an ecological, analytical and retrospective study comprising the 645 municipalities in the State of São Paulo, the scope of which was to determine the relationship between socioeconomic, demographic variables and the model of care in relation to infant mortality rates in the period from 1998 to 2008. The ratio of average annual change for each indicator per stratum coverage was calculated. Infant mortality was analyzed according to the model for repeated measures over time, adjusted for the following correction variables: the city's population, proportion of Family Health Programs (PSFs) deployed, proportion of Growth Acceleration Programs (PACs) deployed, per capita GDP and SPSRI (São Paulo social responsibility index). The analysis was performed by generalized linear models, considering the gamma distribution. Multiple comparisons were performed with the likelihood ratio with chi-square approximate distribution, considering a significance level of 5%. There was a decrease in infant mortality over the years (p < 0.05), with no significant difference from 2004 to 2008 (p > 0.05). The proportion of PSFs deployed (p < 0.0001) and per capita GDP (p < 0.0001) were significant in the model. The decline of infant mortality in this period was influenced by the growth of per capita GDP and PSFs.