Behavioral patterns in full-term and preterm twins.
Scores from a behavioral assessment of 160 stable preterm newborn twins were compared with those obtained from 120 full-term newborn twins. The twins were examined during various activities to obtain representative samples of behavior in the following behavioral categories: irritability, resistance to soothing, reactivity, reinforcement value, and activity level. Within-pair correlations were found in all of the behavioral categories, suggesting a constitutional influence on behavioral patterns during the neonatal period. The preterm infants demonstrated internal consistency of behavior similar to that of the full-term group in the first three categories. However, group differences were found when comparing the preterm with the full-term infants on actual ratings of the items. Behavioral differences between these full-term and preterm twins were comparable to those published for samples of singleton infants.
D001143:Arousal; D002652:Child Behavior; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000523:psychology*; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D011247:Pregnancy; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012894:Sleep Stages; D012919:Social Behavior; D014427:Twins / Q000523:psychology*