Bader Lauren R, Fouts Hillary N
University of Michigan.
University of Tennessee.
Infant Ment Health J. 2018 Sep;39(5):497-510. doi: 10.1002/imhj.21734. Epub 2018 Aug 6.
How mothers perceive their infants' emotions and their subsequent responses are influenced by cultural values and beliefs. Mothers who live in particularly harsh environments may have perceptions about their infants' emotions that reflect not only cultural values but also constraints of the environment. In this qualitative study, 29 Gamo mothers living in rural Ethiopia were interviewed about perceptions of their infants' emotions, how they felt about these emotions, and what they believed their infants needed in response. Through constant comparative analysis and thematic coding, several patterns emerged in mothers' perceptions about their infants' emotions and what constituted appropriate responses. Mothers said that their infants' negative emotions were possibly related to illness and that appropriate responses were focused mostly on breastfeeding, complementary food, and needing to be held. Mothers also discussed their work demands and how they conflicted with their desire to respond to their infants; however, many mothers said that they relied on their older children to help. Mothers' responses were centered on a parenting strategy aimed at promoting infant health and survival, which is consistent with research on parents living in rural environments who subsist by farming and have relatively high risk for infant mortality.
母亲如何感知婴儿的情绪以及她们随后的反应受到文化价值观和信仰的影响。生活在特别恶劣环境中的母亲对婴儿情绪的认知，可能不仅反映文化价值观，还反映环境的限制。在这项定性研究中，对生活在埃塞俄比亚农村的29位加莫族母亲进行了访谈，内容涉及她们对婴儿情绪的认知、对这些情绪的感受，以及她们认为婴儿需要怎样的回应。通过持续比较分析和主题编码，母亲们对婴儿情绪及适当回应的认知呈现出几种模式。母亲们表示，婴儿的负面情绪可能与疾病有关，适当的回应主要集中在母乳喂养、辅食以及需要被抱。母亲们还讨论了工作需求以及这些需求如何与她们回应婴儿的愿望相冲突；然而，许多母亲表示她们依靠年长的孩子来提供帮助。母亲们的回应集中在一种旨在促进婴儿健康和生存的育儿策略上，这与对生活在农村、以务农为生且婴儿死亡率相对较高的父母的研究一致。
