Development of the Infant Tenderness Scale.

This article describes the development of a new instrument, the Blank Infant Tenderness Scale (BITS), designed to measure mothers' perceptions of infant tenderness needs. These infant needs include physiological requirements, such as nourishment and adequate body temperature, and contact requirements, such as physical closeness and manipulation. Guided by Sullivan's (1953) theorem of tenderness, a 36-item instrument was constructed. To assess reliability and validity of the BITS and to develop a beginning data base with new mothers, 65 healthy postpartum mothers participated in the study. The results demonstrated that the BITS has high internal consistency and construct validity, and sufficient split-half reliability. Parity was found to affect mothers' perceptions, with multiparous mothers differentiating more among infant tenderness needs than primiparous mothers. Although maternal age did not significantly influence mothers' perceptions, a graded effect was noted. The results further support the view that both physiological and contact needs are important in providing an infant with tenderness.