Early Mother (early + mother)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Development of Displaced Speech in Early Mother,Child Conversations

CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2006
Lauren B. Adamson
This study documents the development of symbolic, spatial, and temporal displacement of toddler's speech. Fifty-six children and their mothers were observed longitudinally 5 times from 18 to 30 months of age during a staged communication play while they engaged in scenes that encouraged interacting, requesting, and commenting and scenes that explicitly focused on the past and the future. Reliably coded transcripts revealed that toddlers highlighted symbols at a high and stable rate and that over time they became less focused on the here and now and more focused on internal states. The greatest expansion was into the near future. Only in scenes designed to discuss the past and future did conversations turn to the past and expand spatially beyond here. [source]


Young infants' vocalizations towards mother versus stranger: associations with the infant,mother relationship

INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2005
Susanne Völker
Abstract Infants' differential vocal response (DVR) towards their mother and a female stranger at 3 months of age has been predominantly investigated as an index of early cognitive functioning. The present study explored the relationship between DVR and different infant and mother indicators of the developing relationship quality in a sample of 23 mother,infant dyads. Mother,infant interactions and stranger,infant interactions were videotaped during home visits when the infants were 3 months old. At the age of 12 months, infants' behaviour was assessed in the Ainsworth's strange situation. In both assessments, mothers noted the infants' behavioural states on 3 successive days. Results revealed a specific relation between DVR and the emotional atmosphere of the early mother,infant interaction. Particularly, DVR was less pronounced in favour of the mother when the mother displayed emotional expressions defined as rejection. DVR is discussed as an index that may indicate both infant emotional engagement and infant cognitive competencies. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Language development of pre-school children born to teenage mothers

INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2001
Louise J. Keown
Abstract An Erratum has been published for this article in Infant and Child Development 10(4) 2001, 241. This paper compares the language development of pre-school children born to teenage (n=22) and comparison mothers (n=20) and examines the extent to which differences in language development can be explained by social background, child and parenting factors. Mothers and children were assessed at home using a range of measures, including a structured interview, the language scales of the Child Development Inventory, the HOME Inventory, and videotaped mother-child interaction. Results showed that children of teenage mothers perform significantly poorer than children of comparison mothers on measures of expressive language and language comprehension. Subsequent analyses showed that these differences are largely explained by differences in the parenting behaviour of teenage and comparison mothers. Specifically, maternal verbal stimulation and intrusiveness accounted for the relationship between teenage motherhood and children's poorer language comprehension, while maternal intrusiveness and involvement with the child account for the relationship between teenage motherhood and children's poorer expressive language development. These findings highlight the importance of early mother,child interaction for children's language development. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Contributions of the mother,infant relationship to dissociative, borderline, and conduct symptoms in young adulthood

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 3 2008
Karlen Lyons-Ruth
Recent high-risk longitudinal studies have documented a unique contribution of the quality of the early mother,child relationship to diverse forms of psychopathology in young adulthood, even with family economic status, later traumatic experiences, and some genetic factors controlled. In addition, measures of attachment-related deviations in caregiver,infant interaction predict more than measures of infant attachment behavior alone. This article reviews those findings in the context of cross-disciplinary thinking on the importance of shared subjectivities in human evolution and development and in the context of recent studies beginning to map the intersection between processes of interaction and the development of the child's propensities to share mental states with others. [source]


How Do Mothers Feel About Their Very Low Birth Weight Infants?

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 2 2006
Development of a New Measure
The early relationship between a mother and her very low birth weight (VLBW; <1.5 kg) infant may be difficult to evaluate. Therefore, we aimed to develop a useful and practical method to describe a mother's early relationship with her VLBW infant. Mothers (mean age=27 years, 46% married) of 119 singleton VLBW infants (mean BW=1,056 g, mean GA=28 weeks) admitted to the neonatal ICU at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital completed a novel questionnaire regarding their feelings about their infant at 3 weeks' postnatal age, and at 35 weeks', 40 weeks' (term), and 4 months' postmenstrual ages. Factor analysis of initial interview data was used to construct subscales to measure unique domains hypothesized to underpin the beginning maternal,infant relationship. Three subscales were identified: (a) The Worry subscale focuses on the mother's concerns about her infant's current medical condition and future development, (b) the Enjoyment subscale examines the mother's positive feelings about and responsiveness to her infant, and (c) the Separation Anxiety subscale examines the mother's mental anxiety about being physically separated from her infant. Statistical and clinical validation of the subscales produced positive supporting evidence that the subscales are a meaningful measure of the mother,infant relationship. We have developed a unique and practical measure for describing the early mother,VLBW infant relationship. [source]


Interplay of genes and early mother,child relationship in the development of self-regulation from toddler to preschool age

THE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 11 2009
Grazyna Kochanska
Background:, A broad capacity for deliberate self-regulation plays a key role in emotion regulation. This longitudinal investigation from infancy to preschool age examines genotype by environment (G × E) interaction in the development of self-regulation, using molecular measures of children's genotypes and observed measures of the quality of early mother,child relationship, as reflected in attachment organization in infancy. Methods:, In 89 children, we assessed the polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR, ss/sl vs. ll allele status), security of attachment to mothers at 15 months in the Strange Situation, and children's ability for self-regulation at 25, 38, and 52 months, using behavioral batteries of tasks that called for deliberately suppressing a dominant response and performing instead a sub-dominant response. Results:, There was a robust G × E interaction between genetic risk and the quality of early relationship. Among children who carried a short 5-HTTLPR allele (ss/sl,), those who were insecurely attached developed poor regulatory capacities, but those who were securely attached developed as good regulatory capacities as children who were homozygotic for the long allele (ll,). There was no effect of security for ll homozygotes. Conclusions:, Those findings, consistent with diathesis-stress model, bridge research on self-regulation in typically developing children with research on non-human primates and research on psychopathology. They also indicate that a secure attachment relationship can serve as a protective factor in the presence of risk conferred by a genotype. [source]


The effect of cleft lip and palate, and the timing of lip repair on mother,infant interactions and infant development

THE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 2 2008
Lynne Murray
Background:, Children with cleft lip and palate are at risk for psychological problems. Difficulties in mother,child interactions may be relevant, and could be affected by the timing of lip repair. Method:, We assessed cognitive development, behaviour problems, and attachment in 94 infants with cleft lip (with and without cleft palate) and 96 non-affected control infants at 18 months; mother,infant interactions were assessed at two, six and 12 months. Index infants received either ,early', neonatal, lip repair, or ,late' repair (3,4 months). Results:, Index infants did not differ from controls on measures of behaviour problems or attachment, regardless of timing of lip repair; however, infants having late lip repair performed worse on the Bayley Scales of Mental Development; the cognitive development of early repair infants was not impaired. Difficulties in early mother,infant interactions mediated the effects of late lip repair on infant cognitive outcome. Conclusions:, Early interaction difficulties between mothers and infants having late repair of cleft lip are associated with poor cognitive functioning at 18 months. Interventions to facilitate mother,infant interactions prior to surgical lip repair should be explored. [source]