Kotila Letitia E, Schoppe-Sullivan Sarah J, Kamp Dush Claire M
The Ohio State University, 135 Campbell Hall, 1787 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43123, United States.
The Ohio State University, 135 Campbell Hall, 1787 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43123, United States.
Infant Behav Dev. 2014 Nov;37(4):787-99. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2014.09.002.
Positive engagement activities support children's adaptive development and new parents are encouraged to be highly engaged with infants. Yet, fathers' engagement is widely understudied and maternal engagement quantity is frequently overlooked. Our study contributes to growing knowledge on associations between infant temperament and parental engagement by testing transactional and moderation models in a recent sample of first-time parents when infants were 3, 6, and 9 months old. Stringent longitudinal, reciprocal structural equation models partially confirmed an engagement "benefit". Mothers' engagement marginally contributed to their children's gains in effortful control from 3 to 6 months regardless of child gender. Further, mothers' engagement reduced infant negative affect from 6 to 9 months regardless of child gender. Mothers' ratings of infant negative affect were gendered; mothers' ratings of infant negative affect increases more from 3 to 6 months for boys. Fathers' engagement was contextually sensitive; child gender moderated the link between negative affect and engagement from 6 to 9 months, such that fathers became more engaged with boys whom they rated higher on negative affect; there was no effect for daughters. Finally, we found that effortful control moderated associations between negative affect and maternal engagement; mothers' engagement increases from 3 to 6 months were greater for children initially rated lower in effortful control. Implications for future research and parenting education and support services are discussed.
积极的互动活动有助于儿童的适应性发展，因此鼓励新父母多与婴儿互动。然而，父亲的互动情况在很大程度上尚未得到充分研究，而母亲的互动量也常常被忽视。我们的研究通过对近期一组首次为人父母者在婴儿3个月、6个月和9个月大时进行测试，采用相互作用和调节模型，为增进对婴儿气质与父母互动之间关联的了解做出了贡献。严格的纵向、相互结构方程模型部分证实了一种互动“益处”。无论孩子性别如何，母亲的互动在一定程度上有助于孩子在3到6个月大时在努力控制方面取得进步。此外，无论孩子性别如何，母亲的互动在6到9个月大时会减少婴儿的负面情绪。母亲对婴儿负面情绪的评分存在性别差异；母亲对男孩负面情绪的评分在3到6个月间增加得更多。父亲的互动对环境敏感；孩子性别在6到9个月大时调节了负面情绪与互动之间的联系，即父亲会更多地与他们认为负面情绪较高的男孩互动；对女儿则没有影响。最后，我们发现努力控制调节了负面情绪与母亲互动之间的关联；对于最初在努力控制方面得分较低的孩子，母亲在3到6个月间的互动增加得更多。文中还讨论了对未来研究以及育儿教育和支持服务的启示。
