Bornstein Marc H, Putnick Diane L, Suwalsky Joan T D
Child and Family Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, USA; Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, UK.
Child and Family Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, USA.
Infant Behav Dev. 2019 May;55:100-111. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2019.03.009. Epub 2019 Apr 16.
Given the large numbers of families with more than one child, understanding similarities and differences in siblings' behaviors and in parents' interactions with their sibling infants is an important goal for advancing more representative developmental science. This study employed a within-family design to examine mean-level consistency and individual-order agreement in 5-month-old sibling behaviors and maternal parenting practices with their firstborns and secondborns (ns = 61 mothers and 122 infants). Each infant was seen independently with mother. Firstborn infants were more social with their mothers and engaged in more exploration with objects than secondborn infants; firstborn and secondborn infants' behaviors were correlated for smiling, distress communication, and efficiency of exploration. Mothers engaged in more physical encouragement, social exchange, didactic interaction, material provisioning, and language with their firstborns than with their secondborns. Notably, only maternal nurturing (e.g., feeding, holding) did not differ in mean level when mothers were with their two infants. However, mean differences in mothers' social exchange and material provisioning with their two children attenuated to nonsignificance when controlling for differences in siblings' behaviors. Individual-order agreement of mothers' behaviors with firstborn and secondborn infants (across an average of almost 3 years) was only moderate. These findings suggest that mother-firstborn interactions may differ from mother-secondborn interactions. Future research should move beyond studying mother-firstborn dyads to understand broader family and developmental processes.
鉴于有多个孩子的家庭数量众多，了解兄弟姐妹行为以及父母与同胞婴儿互动中的异同，是推进更具代表性的发展科学的一个重要目标。本研究采用家庭内部设计，以考察5个月大的同胞行为以及母亲对其头胎和二胎（n = 61位母亲和122名婴儿）的养育方式在均值水平上的一致性和个体顺序上的一致性。每个婴儿与母亲单独见面。头胎婴儿与母亲的社交更多，与物体的探索互动也比二胎婴儿更多；头胎和二胎婴儿在微笑、痛苦交流和探索效率方面的行为具有相关性。与二胎相比，母亲对头胎给予了更多的身体鼓励、社交互动、教导性互动、物质供应和语言交流。值得注意的是，当母亲与两个婴儿在一起时，只有母亲的养育行为（如喂食、怀抱）在均值水平上没有差异。然而，在控制了兄弟姐妹行为的差异后，母亲与两个孩子在社交互动和物质供应方面的均值差异减弱至不显著。母亲与头胎和二胎婴儿行为的个体顺序一致性（平均跨度近3年）仅为中等程度。这些发现表明，母亲与头胎的互动可能不同于母亲与二胎的互动。未来的研究应超越对母亲与头胎二元组的研究，以了解更广泛的家庭和发展过程。
