Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, United States.
Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, United States.
Infant Behav Dev. 2019 Aug;56:101299. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2018.12.004. Epub 2019 Jan 19.
Existing evidence indicates that maternal responses to infant distress, specifically more sensitive and less inconsistent/rejecting responses, are associated with lower infant negative affect (NA). However, due to ethical and methodological constraints, most existing studies do not employ methods that guarantee each mother will be observed responding to infant distress. To address such limitations, in the current study, a distressed infant simulator (SIM), programmed to be inconsolable, was employed to ensure that mothers (N = 150; 4 months postpartum) were observed responding to infant distress. Subsequently, maternal report of infant NA and an early aspect of regulatory capacity, sootheability, were collected at eight-months postpartum, and observational assessments of infant fear and frustration, fine-grained aspects of NA, were collected at 12-months of age. After controlling for infant sex, the proportion of time mothers spent using soothing touch during the SIM task was related to less overall maternal reported NA and sadness at eight-months postpartum. Similarly, greater use of touch was associated with less fear reactivity, and greater maternal use of vocalizations was related to lower infant frustration, at 12-months postpartum. Specific maternal soothing behaviors were not related to infant soothability at 8 months postpartum. Total time spent interacting with the SIM was not related to infant temperament, suggesting that type of soothing, not quantity of interactions with distressed infants, is important for reducing infant NA. The implications of these findings and important future directions are discussed.
现有证据表明，母亲对婴儿痛苦的反应，特别是更敏感和不那么不一致/拒绝的反应，与婴儿负性情绪（NA）的降低有关。然而，由于伦理和方法学的限制，大多数现有研究并未采用方法来保证每位母亲都会被观察到对婴儿痛苦做出反应。为了解决这些限制，在当前研究中，使用了一个苦恼婴儿模拟器（SIM），该模拟器被编程为无法安慰，以确保母亲（N=150；产后 4 个月）对婴儿痛苦做出反应。随后，在产后 8 个月收集了母亲对婴儿 NA 的报告和早期调节能力的一个方面，即安抚能力，在 12 个月时收集了婴儿恐惧和挫折的观察评估，即 NA 的精细方面。在控制婴儿性别后，母亲在 SIM 任务中使用安抚触摸的时间比例与产后 8 个月时母亲报告的总体 NA 和悲伤程度较低有关。同样，母亲使用触摸的次数越多，12 个月时婴儿的恐惧反应越低，母亲使用声音的次数越多，婴儿的挫折感越低。特定的母亲安抚行为与 8 个月时婴儿的安抚能力无关。与 SIM 互动的总时间与婴儿气质无关，这表明，对婴儿 NA 的减少，重要的是安抚的类型，而不是与苦恼婴儿互动的次数。讨论了这些发现的意义和未来的重要方向。
