Yaari Maya, Rotzak Natalie Lisette, Mankuta David, Harel-Gadassi Ayelet, Friedlander Edwa, Eventov-Friedman Smadar, Bar-Oz Benjamin, Zucker David, Shinar Oren, Yirmiya Nurit
Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Department of Neonatology, Hadassah University Hospital, Israel.
Infant Behav Dev. 2018 Aug;52:56-65. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2018.05.008. Epub 2018 Jun 1.
Very-preterm (VPT), moderately-preterm (MPT), and full-term (FT) infants' emotion-regulation behaviors were assessed via the Still-Face procedure at a corrected age of four months. As a developmental task during the first year of life, emotion regulation is important for social and cognitive development. Although substantial evidence indicates that VPT infants exhibit emotion-regulation difficulties, little is known about MPT infants' emotion regulation capabilities, this group also possibly being at risk. The participants included 135 parent-infant dyads: 46 VPT (gestational age 24-32 weeks), 51 MPT (gestational age 32-34 weeks), and 38 FT (gestational age 37-41 weeks). The infants' affect, gaze-aversion, and self-comforting behaviors were coded. Preterm infants responded to parental still face in similar fashion to FT infants, displaying robust still-face and recovery effects. The preterm infants exhibited less developed emotion-regulation behaviors, however, manifested in less positive affect and more gaze aversion in the face-to-face and reunion episodes compared to FT infants. With respect to self-comforting behaviors, each group displayed a significantly different pattern of behaviors throughout the procedure, suggesting better emotion regulation skills among MPT infants compared to the VPT infants. The findings on gaze aversion and self-comforting behaviors could have implications for strategies to incorporate into intervention programs supporting development of emotion regulation skills.
在矫正年龄为四个月时，通过静脸程序对极早产儿（VPT）、中度早产儿（MPT）和足月儿（FT）的情绪调节行为进行了评估。作为生命第一年的一项发育任务，情绪调节对社交和认知发展很重要。尽管大量证据表明极早产儿存在情绪调节困难，但对于中度早产儿的情绪调节能力知之甚少，这一群体也可能面临风险。研究对象包括135对母婴：46名极早产儿（胎龄24 - 32周）、51名中度早产儿（胎龄32 - 34周）和38名足月儿（胎龄37 - 41周）。对婴儿的情感、目光回避和自我安慰行为进行了编码。早产儿对父母静脸的反应方式与足月儿相似，表现出强烈的静脸和恢复效应。然而，与足月儿相比，早产儿的情绪调节行为发育较差，在面对面和重逢环节中表现为积极情感较少且目光回避较多。关于自我安慰行为，在整个程序中每组表现出显著不同的行为模式，这表明与极早产儿相比，中度早产儿的情绪调节技能更好。关于目光回避和自我安慰行为的研究结果可能对纳入支持情绪调节技能发展的干预项目的策略有启示。
