Emotional availability in mother-child interactions: a reconceptualization for research.
The literature on an earlier view of emotional availability as a maternal construct and on the related concepts of psychological unavailability, depression, sensitivity, and control is reviewed. A reconceptualization of emotional availability as a relational construct, incorporating maternal sensitivity and nonintrusiveness and child responsiveness and involvement of the mother, is presented. Several research issues are proposed for further exploration.
Biringen
Z
Z
Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver.
Robinson
J
J
D000339:Affect; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010553:Personality Development; D010556:Personality Tests