Poster group
Details of individual items:
poster
Recent advancements in attachment research involved the discovery of associations between parents' state of mind related to attachment, and the security of their infants attachment to them. To explain these associations, researches suggested that the coherence, openness, objectivity and self reflection of secure mothers' states of mind regarding the past, also shape their current perceptions of their children. Continuing this line of thought, our work hypothesizes that such states of mind enable mothers to demonstrate empathic understanding of their children internal experiences, which in turn contribute to the child's security. In our previous work we developed a new method to assess maternal empathic understanding - the Empathic Understanding Procedure (EUP). In this procedure mothers watched 3 videotaped segments of their children's interaction with them and were questioned regarding their children and their own thoughts and feelings. Mothers' Empathic Understanding was reflected in their ability to see various experiences through their children's eyes, as well as their willingness to try and understand the motives underlying their children's behavior. Mothers' interviews were classified into four categories: One Empathic/Balanced and three Non-Empathic: (One Sided; Disengaged and Mixed). Results showed significant associations between infants' attachment classifications (assessed using the SSP) and mothers' EUP classifications obtained 3 years later. These results paved the way to the present study in which mothers' EUP classifications were obtained prior to the infants' strange situation assessment, and maternal sensitivity was observed in a number of contexts at the home.Participants: One hundred and thirty 12 month-olds infants and their mothers.Procedure: The study involve 3 visits: The first visit: was conducted in the families' homes and included 6 episodes of caregiving and play. These episodes provided a range of contexts for the assessment of maternal sensitivity (using the Emotional Availability Scales by Biringen and Robinson, 1991). Moreover, three episodes (structured play, diaper change and maternal distraction observations) were used as the videotaped material for the EUP. Second visit: One week following the home visit mothers were visited again and interviewed using the EUP. Third visit: One week following the second visit, mothers were invited with their infants to the laboratory and were observed in 10 minutes of free play followed by the Ainsworth's Strange Situation Procedure.Results: Results showed significant associations between mothers' empathic understanding, mother-infant interaction, and infants security of attachment. Mothers' empathic understanding predicted infants' attachment classifications: Mothers who were classified as Balanced tended to have securely attached infants, as opposed to mothers' who were classified as Non-Balanced. Further more, mothers' empathic understanding was positively related to maternal sensitivity, child's involvement (both during the home and the lab observations), and child's responsiveness (during the home observation only). Maternal sensitivity, child's responsiveness, and child's involvement (both during the home and the lab observations) were positively related to infants' quality of attachment. This study sheds light on mothers' representational process as related to caregiving, their translation to actual interaction, and their contribution to infants' security of attachment.
poster
This research focused on maternal postpartum adjustment as it washypothesized to be related to attachment expectancies and maternalself-efficacy beliefs in first-time mothers. Additionally, it wasexpected that maternal self-efficacy would mediate relations betweenattachment expectancies and maternal adjustment (i.e., a mediationalmodel). The rationale for these hypotheses was directed by the theorythat self-efficacy beliefs and attachment are directly related tomaternal cognition (Bowlby 1973; Bowlby 1980; Bnadura 1977) and byprevious research conducted in this area (Grusec, hastings, & Mammone,1994; Crowell & Feldman, 1989). To test the associations between the study variables, mothers who wereidentified through newspaper announcements and day care providers weremailed a packet of questionnaires consisting of (1) The relationshipsquesttionnaire (RSQ; Griffen & Bartholomew, 1994), (2) The maternalEfficacy Questionnaire (MEQ; Teti & Gelfand, 1991), (3) The postpartumAdjustment Questionnaire (PPAQ; O'Hara, Hoffman, Phillips, Wright, 1992)and (4) a demographic questionnaire. Participants were also asked tocomplete the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe,1960) as a control for social desirability. Mothers (n 3D 75) who wereinterested in participating in the study were asked to return thecompleted questionnaire packet. The results obtained from this study suggest that attachmentexpectancies and maternal self-efficacy beliefs are related to amother's postpartum adjustment. However, contrary to expectations andprevious research (Grusec et. al., 1994) a relationship betweenattachment expectancies and maternal self-efficacy beliefs was notconfirmed, and maternal self-efficacy did not mediate relations betweenattachment expectancies and maternal adjustment.
poster
no abstract
poster
As reported previously, 92 primiparous mothers completedmeasures assessing maternal self-efficacy and infanttemperament and were videotaped interacting with their6-month-old infants during two emotionally arousing situations. Contrary to prediction, maternal self-efficacy did notfunction as a protective factor; high self-efficacy motherswith reactive infants were less sensitive than moderateself-efficacy mothers with reactive infants and than highself-efficacy mothers with less reactive infants. Thesefindings are consistent with the theory of illusory controlview (Donovan & Leavitt, 1989; Donovan, Leavitt, & Walsh, 1990) that mothers with an unrealistic sense of control over infantbehavior are less sensitive because they experience learnedhelplessness and are unable to attend to infant cues wheninfants cry, particularly if their infants are reactive. The purpose of the present study is to test further the theoryof illusory control by identifying the patterns of behaviorthat characterize high self-efficacy mothers interacting withtheir own infants across different states of affect (i.e.,positive/neutral vs. negative) and in relation to stable infant temperament characteristics. We will determine whether all high efficacy mothers are at risk for insensitive behavior or onlythose with reactive infants and whether high efficacy mothersare typically insensitive or only in response to infantdistress. The hypotheses are as follows: 1) when infants arenegative, moderate self-efficacy mothers will engage in moreflexible and sensitive strategies than high self-efficacymothers who will engage in intrusive and rigid behaviors; 2)overall, high self-efficacy mothers will behave similarly tomoderate self-efficacy mothers when their infants are neutralor positive; 3) when infants are distressed, high self-efficacy mothers with less reactive infants will behave similarly tohigh self-efficacy mothers with reactive infants.To test the current hypotheses, 14 videotapes of mothers fromeach of the three groups of interest (high efficacy/ reactivebaby; high efficacy/ low reactive baby; moderate efficacy/ high reactive baby) were randomly selected for additional coding ofmaternal behavior. Maternal behavior was observed and rated in relation to different states of infant affect. Based on preliminary examination of the data, mothers with high self-efficacy and temperamentally reactive infants werereasonably sensitive when their infants displayed positive orneutral affect and were less sensitive when their infantsdisplayed negative affect. Only one mother withdrew and wasnon-responsive to her infant; the others used regulationstrategies inflexibly (e.g., continued to encourage distressedinfant to look at novel toy). High efficacy mothers with lesstemperamentally reactive babies displayed the same pattern ofbehavior. In contrast, mothers with moderate self-efficacyengaged in a variety of strategies contingent upon infant cueswhen their infants were distressed. These preliminary results are consistent with the illusorycontrol view that mothers with an unrealistic sense of controlare at greater risk for insensitive maternal behaviorparticularly when their infants are distressed. Further, mostmothers with high self-efficacy were insensitive when theirinfants were distressed, but high self-efficacy mothers withreactive infants were at greater risk for behavinginsensitively by virtue of their infants' predisposition toward negative affect.
poster
In current models, maternal depressive symptoms result from childhood experiences of rejection, neglect, and overprotection, current circumstances, and infant temperament. Depressive symptoms are associated with less sensitive maternal behavior because depressed mothers do not believe they will be able to be good mothers (low self-efficacy), and because they focus on their own negative cognitions and feelings, and therefore are less attuned to their infants. Empirical support links poor developmental history, lack of social support, and irritable infant temperament with mothersâ depressive symptoms, although the full model has not been tested previously. In addition, the causal links between temperament and depression are suspect as typically both have been assessed postnatally via maternal report. There is evidence also linking maternal depression with less sensitive maternal behavior, and demonstrating a mediating effect of maternal self-efficacy in a clinical sample. In the current study, we test the model in a community sample of 92 mothers and infants, using prenatal depression as a control in evaluating the association between infant temperament and postnatal depression. During the 8th month of pregnancy, mothers completed the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) to assess their own developmental histories and the CES-D to assess depressive symptoms. The CES-D was repeated again at 1 and 5 months postpartum at which time measures of maternal self-efficacy, social support, and infant temperament (IBQ fear, frustration, and soothability) were obtained. At 6-months postpartum, mothers and infants were observed in two contexts in which infants were expected to become emotionally aroused; maternal sensitivity was rated.Data were analyzed using simple correlations and hierarchical multiple regressions. As predicated, poor parental care during childhood was associated with prenatal and postnatal (5-month) maternal depressive symptoms. Social support was associated with 1 and 5-months depressive symptoms also, but this effect was not independent of developmental history. In contrast, infant temperament (IBQ soothability) was associated with maternal depressive symptoms only at 1-month postpartum, controlling for prenatal depression, suggesting that infant characteristics may have only a fleeting effect on maternal depression during the early adjustment period in low-risk samples. Also as predicted, maternal depression at 5 months postpartum correlated with both maternal self-efficacy and maternal sensitivity, but the absence of a main effect of self-efficacy on maternal behavior precluded any mediating effect. As previously reported, however, maternal self-efficacy interacted with infant temperament to predict maternal sensitivity; there was no comparable interaction of maternal depression and infant temperament. When both effects were entered into a regression equation, depression and the self-efficacy by temperament interaction significantly predicted maternal sensitivity. Results are discussed in terms of the multiple determinants of maternal depression at various points in the postpartum period and the impact of maternal depression on maternal behavior when infants express negative emotions.
poster
The Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment (HOME; Caldwell &Bradley, 1984) has been found to predict children's intelligence during childhood (Bradley &Caldwell, 1976; Johnson & Swank, 1993). Recently researchers have begun to explore theprocess by which the items measured by the HOME, such as parental responsiveness, influencechild development (Bradley, 1989). The present study attempts to expand this knowledge in twoways: First, by investigating the relation of the HOME subscales of parental responsiveness andinvolvement to standard assessments of the parent-infant relationship; and second, to preform thisanalysis for both mother and father. Seventy families with young infants participated in home visits when their infants were 6-and 18-months of age. During the 6-month home visit the HOME inventory was completed, bothmother and father were scored for items in the two subscales; emotional and verbal responsivityand involvement with child. The parents' interaction with their infants was also rated bothqualitatively, using Ainsworth's (1973) four rating scales, and quantitatively, measuring eachparents' caretaking, holding and play with the infant. During the 18-month home visit bothparents were again scored for the items in the HOME subscales of emotional and verbalresponsivity and involvement with child and the parents completed the attachment Q-sort (Waters& Deane, 1985). The first set of analyses looked at the relation between the 6-month qualitative andquantitative measures of parental behavior and the HOME subscales of responsivity andinvolvement. At 6-months, mothers who were rated higher on maternal acceptance, accessibility,cooperation, and sensitivity also scored higher on the responsivity and involvement subscales. At6-months, fathers who were rated higher on acceptance and accessibility scored higher onresponsivity and involvement. Fathers' sensitivity was also positively related to his level ofinvolvement. Mothers who were rated higher on acceptance at 6-months scored higher onresponsiveness and involvement at 18-months and mothers who were rated higher on sensitivity at6-months scored higher on responsiveness at 18-months. At 6-months, mothers who scoredhigher on responsivity provided more caretaking and fathers who scored higher on responsivityand involvement played more often with their infants and their infants were less likely to be left bythemselves during the home visit. The second set of analyses looked at the relation between the HOME subscales at 6-and18-months and the parents' Q-sort responses. At 18-months only, mothers who scored higher onresponsivity and fathers who scored higher on involvement reported higher attachment securityscores for their infants. The next step in the analysis was to investigate the relation between theHOME subscales and the attachment Q-sort subscales (Pederson & Moran, 1995; Posada,Waters, Crowell, & Lay, 1995). Mothers who scored higher on responsiveness at 18-monthsreported that their infants were more compliant, had greater affect sharing, and smootherinteractions. Fathers who scored higher on involvement at 18-months reported greatercompliance, secure base behavior, and smooth interactions and less fussy and difficult behavior fortheir infants. The pattern of relationships found in this study support the validity of the HOMEinventory to assess the parent-infant relationship. This suggests that one process measured by theHOME inventory, which has a strong influence on development, is the quality of the parent-infantrelationship.
poster
Responsivity to and involvement of a primary maternal figure hasbeen identified as an indicator of infants' sense of trust andeffectiveness in relationships. Other significant caregivers may also beinfluential in shaping an infant's experience of self and other. Researchsuggests infants respond differentially to their depressed, relativelyinsensitive, mothers and their non-depressed, generally sensitive, fathersand infant day care teachers. Less is known about infants' ability torespond to and involve sensitive and insensitive mothers and sensitivesignificant caregivers over time. This study examines infant- caregiverrelationships over a six month period. It took place in a child care centerin an urban high school in the United States. The study sample was composed of seven, low-income, ethnicallydiverse infants enrolled in the child center, their mothers, and child careteachers . The healthy infants, four girls and three boys were three tofour months of age at the beginning of the study and nine to eleven monthsold at the end. The teen mothers, ranged in age from 16 to 20 years of age. The study period began within the first two weeks of each infant'sentry into child care. Every three months, the principal investigator videotaped approximately 12 hours of naturalistic interactions during a two weekperiod. Infants were video-taped interacting with their mothers, teachers,and other infants. A twenty minute segment of each infant interacting withher mother and infant day care teachers during each time period wasselected for coding caregiver-infant interactions. The EmotionalAvailability Scales developed by Zeynep Biringen and Joanne Robinson withRobert Emde were used to measure caregiver sensitivity and directivenessand infant involvement of and responsivity to the caregiver. The scalesrange from 7 to 9 points. Correlations between measures were computed withSpearman's r. Each infant developed an independent relationship with with hismother and teacher. Caregivers' sensitivity was a significant predictor ofinfants' responsivity and involvement. Supporting other findings with younginfants but contrary to findings with older children, caregiverdirectiveness was not correlated with infant involvement or responsivity.Mothers' sensitivity stabilized or increased between Time One and Time Twoand were paralleled by increased infant responsivity and involvement. Somemother's sensitivity scores decreased from Time Two to Time Three. Infantswith mothers with low sensitivity were responsive to and involving of theirsensitive infant day care teachers. A qualitative analysis usingvideo-clips suggests how infants cope with an insensitive mother and theways their behavior changes and remains the same with their infant day careteachers. The results support that from an infants' perspective eachsignificant relationship is important in developing a sense of self andothers. The decrease in some maternal sensitivity scores as children movedfrom six months to nine months of age suggests the need for additionalsupport for mothers as children make developmental leaps. The resultspoints to the possibility that infants learn about new interactionalpossibilities with one caregiver and experiment with these in otherimportant relationships.
poster
According to attachment theory, mothers' responsiveness and sensitivity during mother-infant interactions should influence infant attachment security. Mothers' interactions with their babies and the quality of their caregiving will likely to be influenced by maternal psychological characteristics such as mothers' relationship attitudes and depression, and behaviors such as their discipline strategies. Two hundred and two mothers and their infants were recruited to participate in this study. All participants were part of an Early Head Start Program. Selection criteria was based on families meeting federal poverty guidelines (90%) or infants with disabilities (10%). Mothers' ages ranged from 14 to 44 years old, (M 21.48, mode 18). Most mothers were Caucasian (80%) and married or living with a partner (83%). When infants were 10-months old, mothers were interviewed about their close relationship attitudes and depression. The CES-D (Radloff, 1977) measures frequency within the past week of symptoms associated with depression. The Relationship Attitudes (RA;Simpson, Rholes, & Nelligan, 1992) measure provides scores related to mothers' anxious and avoidant attachment attitudes. When infants were14 months old, mothers were interviewed about their discipline strategies with questions adapted from the HOME Inventory (Caldwell & Bradley, 1984). Mothers also completed the Q-set attachment measure (AQS, version 3.0, Waters, 1987) of their infants' attachment security. Trained researchers assisted parents in sorting 90 cards with behavior descriptions of infant behaviors that were used to calculate infant security scores. Mothers' anxiety and avoidance about close relationships were positively correlated with depression and whether or not the child had been spanked and the frequency of spanking during the past week (Table 2). Infant attachment security was negatively correlated with maternal relationship insecurity, maternal depression, and with spanking and frequency of spanking. Regression analysis indicated that the frequency of spanking and mothers' insecurity about close relationships accounted for about 14% of the variance in infant security. Path modeling illustrated direct paths from mothers' relationship insecurity and discipline to infant security and an indirect path from maternal depression to infant (Figure 1). These findings suggest that mothers' close relationship insecurity and frequency of spanking both directly affect infant security, whereas maternal depression indirectly affects infant security through frequency of spanking. Mothers with anxious and avoidant attitudes about close relationships were more likely to have infants with lower attachment security. Infant security was also lower when these children were spanked. Maternal depression was associated with a greater likelihood of spanking and indirectly influenced infant security through mothers' discipline strategy. Other studies have reported that mothers who are depressed show more covert hostility and interference with or attempts at controlling infant activities (Lyons-Ruth, Zoll, Connell, & Grunebaum, 1986). Consistent with attachment theory, mothers' insecurity did correspond with infant attachment insecurity, suggesting an inter-generational transmission of attachment security from mothers to their infants.
poster
Forty mother-infant pairs were evaluated in face-to-face interaction at 4months and in the Ainsworth Strange Situation at 12 months. Mothers’self-reported depression (CES-D) was assessed at 4 and 12 months. Mothers’object relations were assessed through TAT stories at 4 months, coded byWesten’s Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale (internalizedrepresentations of relationships). Mutual gaze was measured in two ways, a)by observed interactive behavior, and b) by the discrepancy between observedvs. expected probabilities. The Ainsworth was coded as a continuousvariable, measuring degree of security (Richters, Waters, & Vaughn, 1988).Controlling for maternal depression, there was a two-way interaction effectbetween maternal object relations and mutual gaze (discrepancy measure)assessed at 4 months, which predicted infant security of attachment at 12months. Infant attachment security was higher when mutual gaze was closerto expected values, that is, closer to random sampling. In addition, therewas a three-way interaction between maternal object relations, maternaldepression, and observed mutual gaze in predicting infant security ofattachment. There is a complex interplay among these three variables inpredicting security of attachment. Where there is a mixed picture, suchthat only one of the two maternal variables (depression/object relations) isproblematic, higher mutual gaze predicts higher attachment security. Wherethere is a concordance, such that the two maternal variables (depression,object relations) are both favorable or both unfavorable, lower mutual gazepredicts greater attachment security.
poster
Continuity and factors predicting discontinuity of maternal sensitivity across the child's first three years of life were examined at child age 6, 15, 24, and 36 months. Qualitative ratings of maternal behavior were made from 15-minute videotaped mother-child interactions of 1085 mother/child dyads at each age from 10 sites across the United States. Interaction ratings were made in a central location by raters who were blind to all other family and child measures. Maternal sensitivity was measured by the sum of 4-point ratings of sensitivity, intrusiveness (reversed), and positive regard at 6, 15, and 24 months; at 36 months 7-point ratings of supportive presence, respect for autonomy, and hostility (reversed) were combined for the sensitivity composite. Moderately strong continuity in maternal sensitivity was found; correlations between composite measures ranged from .30 (between 6 and 24 months) to .48 (between 24 and 36 months). 33% of the variance in 36-month maternal sensitivity was predicted by mothers' sensitivity ratings at 6, 15, and 24 months (F (3, 1082) 179.84, p < .0001). Child and maternal factors related to discontinuity in maternal sensitivity were examined in analyses of the sensitivity residual scores obtained from regressing the 36-month measure on the 6, 15, and 24-month measures. The factors examined were obtained prior to the 36-month assessment. Correlations between the maternal and child factors and the 36-month sensitivity residual score are shown in Table 1. In these bivariate relations, mothers who were rated as less sensitive at 36 months than predicted from their ratings at 6-24 months had less income, less education, more authoritarian child-rearing beliefs, less social support at 24 months, more stressful life events, less satisfaction with their employment role, and more depressive symptoms at 24 months and were from single-parent households. In addition, their children had more behavior problems, as measured by the mothers' reports from the Child Behavior Problem Checklist, and were less cooperative, according to maternal report on the Adaptive Social Behavior Inventory. Multiple prediction of discontinuity in maternal sensitivity at 36 months over 6, 15, and 24-month sensitivity was examined by regressing 36-month maternal sensitivity on the earlier measures of sensitivity plus family factors (income-to-needs ratio, two-parent household), maternal characteristics (authoritarian beliefs, depressive symptoms, role satisfaction), and child characteristics (gender, behavior problems and cooperative behavior at 24 months). After accounting for the variance in 36-month maternal sensitivity attributable to the earlier sensitivity measures, the maternal and child factors accounted for a significant additional 4% of the variance, thus predicting discontinuity in sensitivity (see Table 2). Greater maternal sensitivity than predicted from earlier ratings was associated with nonauthoritarian child-rearing beliefs, a two-parent household, greater maternal role satisfaction, and fewer stressful life events. Thus, despite the bivariate relations found between discontinuity in sensitivity at 36 months and child behavior at age 2, child behavior did not significantly contribute to discontinuity in sensitivity after accounting for the maternal factors.
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A significant number of American children must cope with stresses relatedto maternal health status such as physical illness or lack of physicalwell-being (National Center for Health Statistics,1994). Thus, within theessential nucleus of their developmental context, many children must copewith sub-optimal health of their mothers during the earliest, mostdependent and vulnerable periods of their development. Unfortunately, asnoted by Armistead and colleagues (Armistead, Klein, & Forehand,1995), thisarea has received minimal attention with only a handful of between-groupstudies to credit. Consequently, the literature is too sparse to yieldspecific, detailed conclusions for parental physical health and childoutcomes (1995). The purpose of this study is to explore the relationbetween maternal physical health status during each of the infant's firstthree years of life, and 1) child attachment security at 36 months, and 2)child health status during those first three years. A third purpose is toexamine the relation between child health status during each of theinfant's first three years of life and attachment security at age 3. Sample included 111, predominantly non-Hispanic White, and middle class,mothers and their healthy newborn infants who were participants in a largemulti-site longitudinal study. Mothers and infants were visited at home at1, 6, 15, 24, and 36 months, and contacted by telephone every three monthsbetween visits to obtain information about maternal and infant health. At36 months, mother-child pairs were observed in the laboratory in a modifiedversion of the Strange Situation.A series of Repeated Measures ANOVAs with security (2) at 36 months, as theindependent variable and time of assessment (4) ---every three monthsduring a given year---as the repeated measure, and maternal health/infanthealth (1 poor, 2 fair, 3 good, 4 excellent) as the dependentvariable were conducted for each year. Overall, findings showed that maternal health for the first three years oftheir children's lives was consistently associated with security ofattachment at 36 months. This relationship was not found for child healthand attachment security, thus indicating in this study, that maternalhealth is an important factor in resulting child attachment, even morecrucial than the child's health. Additionally, significant positivecorrelations were found between maternal and child health, indicating thatan association exists---not one of causality---between health status forboth mother and child. Implications: In intervention programs, it is important that maternalhealth be considered a crucial factor in the development of attachmentsecurity. Also, maternal health should be monitored beyond the first 12months since mothers of insecure children reported poorer health at 12months, but not earlier, and also due to the finding of a relationshipbetween maternal and child health status. Armistead, L., Klein, K., & Forehand, R. (1995). Parental physical illnessand child functioning. Clinical Psychology Review, 15(5), 409-422.National Center for Health Statistics (1994). Health, United States, 1993(Table 31). Hyattsville, MD: Public Health Service.
poster
It is well established that infants between the ages of 8 to 18 monthsconstruct attachment relationships with both their mothers and fathers(Lamb, 1997). It is also well established that mother-infant andfather-infant attachment relationships are independent of each other.Finally, the literature supports the connection between maternal sensitivityand mother-infant attachment (Wolff & Ijzendoorn, 1997). What is less clearare the antecedents, or correlates, of the father-infant attachmentrelationship (van Ijzendoorn & Wolff, 1997). The present study attempts toaddress the issue of the proximal correlates of father-infant attachment --excluding the characteristics and behaviors typically studied following themother-infant attachment model (e.g., sensitivity, warmth, responsivity).The study consisted of 90 father-infant dyads, from intact families, whowere participants in a larger, multi-site, longitudinal investigation. Wheninfants were 18 months, father and toddler were observed in the laboratoryin two situations. Attachment security was assessed using the AinsworthStrange Situation. Father-infant interaction was assessed during a 10-minutebreak in which the dyad was given a snack. A coding scheme for paternalbehaviors was developed which included behaviors previously investigated instudies of parent-child interaction (Lindsey & Mize, in press; Gottman,Katz, & Hooven, 1997; Sutton-Smith, 1997). The behaviors coded were asfollows: synchronicity/harmony (extent to which interaction is reciprocaland mutually rewarding), instrumental scaffolding/praise (providingstructure, stating goals, and procedures in a relaxed manner, with lowinformation density, and constructive commenting), positive (affectionatetone, humor, laughter) and negative (derisive humor, sarcasm, taunting)playfulness, and respect (acknowledging child's limitations, appreciative ofchild's strengths). The videotapes are in the process of being coded and itis expected that coding will be completed in a couple of months. Data willbe analyzed and results will be available before the conference takes place.The results of this investigation will significantly contribute to ourunderstanding of the father-infant relationship.
poster
This study has investigated the relationship between maternal and infantattachment security and the quality of contingent affect-regulativeinteractions in 60 6.5-month-old infants and their mothers in a novel,mildly stress-inducing observational laboratory procedure, The MirrorInteraction Situation (MIS). Maternal attachment was established by theAdult Attachment Interview, while infant attachment was measured at 12months using the standard Strange Situation Test. In the MIS mother andinfant were separated by a screen, but could interact with each other'smirror image through a one-way mirror. After 2 min free interaction (Phase1), the mother put on a neutral motionless 'still-face' for 2 min (Phase2), which was followed by a 2 min period of free interaction again (Phase3). The video recorded behaviours of the mother-infant pairs were analysedfor the relative frequencies of different types of behavioural categoriesand affective reactions as a function of maternal and infant security ofattachment. The 'still-face' intervention resulted in increased negativeaffect in infant irrespective of maternal or infant attachment security.Mothers reacted to their infants' negative emotional reactions withincreased amount of interactive behaviours intended to regulate theirinfants' affect state. Maternal attachment status was found to besignificantly related to maternal affect state (more negative affect ininsecure mothers) and degree of mentalizing verbalizations (more mentalattributions in secure mothers) in the MIS, but it was unrelated to thebehavioural and affective reactions of the infants. Infant security ofattachment was significantly related to contingency testing in the mirror(insecure infants showing more contingency testing of their self-imagewhile secure babies looking more at their mother's image).
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The Budapest Infant-Parent (BIP) Study is currently investigating thedeveloping relationship between both parents and first-born infants in 100families. In the present report we focus on father-infant interactions andask how they are related to infant's age, sex and father-infant attachmentsecurity. Results are reported on 42 father-infant (19 boys, 23 girls) dyadsvideotaped in their home during a 10-minute semi-structured play sessionat the infant's age of 12 and 16 months. Paternal and infant behaviour,and the quality of interactions were rated by trained observers using5-point global scales. Intra- and inter-observer reliabilities have beenestimated previously. Father-infant attachment quality was assessed in theStrange Situation at age of 17 months and classified by trained coders whowere blind to the home interactions.In order to examine the associations between father-infant interactivebehaviours and the infant's age, sex and attachment security we computed aseries of repeated-measures ANOVAs with the infant's age as within-subjectfactor and infant's sex and attachment security to the father as groupingfactors. Results showed (a) main effects of attachment security forfather's quality of speech, paternal affect/warmth, paternalresponsiveness, paternal control, father's mood, paternal intrusiveness,and fun of interaction, (b) as well as complex patterns of effects ofinfant's age, sex and attachment quality on 6 behavioural variablesdescribing father-infant interactions. For these 6 variables (paternalsensitivity, father follows infant's focus, infant attends father,infant's positive responsiveness, smooth interaction, and mutuality ofinteraction) changes in dyadic behaviour from 12 to 16 months wereinfluenced by both infant's sex and attachment security. The three-way interaction effects were examined with further two-wayANOVAs and t-tests. It was shown that at 12 months father-girl andfather-boy dyads strongly differed in their behaviour according to laterattachment security. Thus, father-daughter interactions at this age couldbe distinguished on the basis of later attachment security, but father-sondyads behaved similarly regardless of attachment quality. However,significant changes of father-boy interactions occurred from 12 to 16months of age. At 16 months, the quality of interactions differedaccording to the attachment security for both father-daughter andfather-son dyads. In addition, at 16 months a change was detected forinsecurely attached father-daughter dyads: compared to age 12 months, theinteractive behaviour of these dyads showed more optimal quality inseveral aspects such as father's willingness to follow infant's focus,infant's positive responsiveness, and smooth interaction.In summary, (1) the 10-minute semi-structured play situation provided agood basis for the evaluation of important aspects of father-infantinteractions; (2) early sex-of-infant effects on father-infantinteractions were detected; (3) quality of father-infant interactions at16-months of infant's age as described by global rating scales predictedfather-infant attachment security. However, quality of interactions at 12months predicted attachment security only for father-girl dyads.