Early mother and infant antecedents of Bayley Scale Performance at 21 months.

Investigated the predictability of performance on the Mental scale of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) at 21 mo from characteristics of infants and mothers. 25 low-risk mother–infant pairs participated. Mother's level of education, a responsive maternal attitude, and 3-mo smiling and eye contact predicted infant performance on the Mental scale of the BSID. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of specific emotions in children's responses to interparental conflict: A test of the model.

Mothers, fathers, and their 6-year-old children (N?=?164) participated in a study testing key tenets of the specific emotions model of marital conflict. Parents reported their marital conflict strategies, were observed interacting with their children, and rated children's behavioral adjustment. Children reported their emotional reactions to specific interparental conflicts. Results support the specific emotions model. Children's behaviors mirrored the marital or parental behaviors of same-gender parents. Indirect effects of marital aggression through parental behavior were detected, and marital and parental behaviors interacted to predict girls' externalizing. Girls' anger, sadness, and fear increased with fathers' marital aggression. Fear and the anger by fear interaction predicted girls' internalizing. Fathers' marital aggression interacted with anger to predict externalizing and interacted with fear to predict internalizing behavior in boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autonomy as competence in 2-year-olds: Maternal correlates of child defiance, compliance, and self-assertion.

95 mothers and their 2-yr-old children participated in a study of maternal control strategies and child autonomy as measured by children's defiant, compliant, and self-assertive behavior. Mothers and children were observed in a laboratory compliance task and at home at dinnertime. Compliance and self-assertion were associated with mothers' use of less powerful methods of control. Defiance loaded on a different factor than either compliance or self-assertion and was associated with more power-assertive control strategies. In situations in which the child had said "no" to the mother, maternal negative control was more likely than any other control strategy to elicit defiance in both settings. The strategy of combining control with guidance was the most likely to elicit compliance and the least likely to elicit defiance in both settings. These associations are discussed in terms of reciprocity and power sharing in relationships and their congruence with D. Baumrind's (1973) pattern of authoritative parenting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental acceptance, postpartum depression, and maternal sensitivity: Mediating and moderating processes.

Mothers (n=92), fathers (n=84), and their infants (60% male) participated in a longitudinal study of postpartum depression and maternal sensitivity. Mothers completed questionnaire measures of remembered parental acceptance, depressive symptoms, and infant distress to novelty and limits. Mothers and partners reported on marital aggression and avoidance. Maternal sensitivity was observed in the laboratory at 6 months. Characteristics of mothers, partners, and infants combined to predict postpartum depression and maternal sensitivity. Remembered parental rejection predicted postpartum depressive symptoms with prenatal depression controlled; self-esteem mediated this effect. Paternal acceptance buffered against postpartum depression when infants were highly reactive and when partners were aggressive. Paternal acceptance reduced the impact of postpartum depression on maternal sensitivity; having an aggressive marital partner exacerbated the effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infant and Maternal Behaviors Regulate Infant Reactivity to Novelty at 6 Months.

Three issues were investigated: (a) the regulatory effects of presumed infant and maternal regulation behaviors on infant distress to novelty at 6 months, (b) stability of infant regulatory effects across contexts that vary in maternal involvement, and (c) associations and temporal dynamics between infant and maternal regulation behaviors. Participants were 87 low-risk infants and their mothers, observed at 6 months postpartum during infant exposure to novel toys. Contingencies derived from sequential analyses demonstrate that, by 6 months, some infants reduce their own distress to novelty by looking away from the novel toy or self-soothing, maternal engagement and support have comparable effects, and certain infant and maternal behaviors co-occur. Moreover, infants whose mothers engaged contingently when they looked away from the novel toy expressed less distress than comparable infants whose mothers did not. These findings implicate both infants and mothers in the development of emotion regulation during the infant's first year. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)