TY - JOUR
T1 - Infant and parent factors associated with early maternal sensitivity
T2 - A caregiver-attachment systems approach
AU - Mills-Koonce, W. Roger
AU - Gariépy, Jean Louis
AU - Propper, Cathi
AU - Sutton, Kelly
AU - Calkins, Susan
AU - Moore, Ginger
AU - Cox, Martha
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by The North Carolina Child Development Research Collaborative which is funded by the National Science Foundation through a Children's Research Initiative grant #BCS-0126475. The authors would like to thank all of the parents who participated in the Durham Child Health and Development Study and the research assistants for their valuable help in collecting this data. Special thanks go to Melissa Barnett and Beth Corrington for their contribution to the coding of the current data.
PY - 2007/2
Y1 - 2007/2
N2 - We examined variations in maternal sensitivity at 6 months of child age as a function of child negativity and maternal physiology. We expected maternal vagal withdrawal in response to infant negative affect to facilitate the maintenance of sensitivity, but only for mothers of securely attached children. One hundred and forty-eight infant-mother dyads were observed in multiple contexts at 6 months of child age, and associations among maternal and child variables were examined with respect to 12-month attachment quality. Mothers of later securely attached children were more sensitive than mothers of avoidant children. However, sensitivity decreased for all mothers at high levels of infant negative affect. Furthermore, for mothers of avoidant children, vagal withdrawal was associated with sensitivity to child distress. No association was found between vagal withdrawal and sensitivity for mothers of securely attached children. This suggests that mothers of avoidant children may be uniquely challenged by the affective demands of their infants.
AB - We examined variations in maternal sensitivity at 6 months of child age as a function of child negativity and maternal physiology. We expected maternal vagal withdrawal in response to infant negative affect to facilitate the maintenance of sensitivity, but only for mothers of securely attached children. One hundred and forty-eight infant-mother dyads were observed in multiple contexts at 6 months of child age, and associations among maternal and child variables were examined with respect to 12-month attachment quality. Mothers of later securely attached children were more sensitive than mothers of avoidant children. However, sensitivity decreased for all mothers at high levels of infant negative affect. Furthermore, for mothers of avoidant children, vagal withdrawal was associated with sensitivity to child distress. No association was found between vagal withdrawal and sensitivity for mothers of securely attached children. This suggests that mothers of avoidant children may be uniquely challenged by the affective demands of their infants.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.infbeh.2006.11.010
DO - 10.1016/j.infbeh.2006.11.010
M3 - Article
C2 - 17292784
AN - SCOPUS:33846810169
SN - 0163-6383
VL - 30
SP - 114
EP - 126
JO - Infant Behavior and Development
JF - Infant Behavior and Development
IS - 1
ER -