title: Maternal sensitivity behavior and infant crying, fussing and contented behavior: the effects of mother's experienced social support.
abstract: Maternal sensitivity behavior, mother's experienced difficulties, experienced social support, and the amount of infant's crying, fussing and contented behavior were studied when the infants were 3 and 12 months of age. Fifty-seven Finnish low-risk mothers' sensitivity behavior was assessed by the Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment method. Infant's crying behavior was assessed by the Baby's Day Record and by the Crying Patterns Questionnaire. The Social Support Questionnaires (SSQ 1 and 2) were used to evaluate mother's experienced difficulties and support. The infants of More Sensitive (MS) mothers were more contented than those with Less Sensitive (LS) mothers. The MS mothers experienced fewer difficulties with their infants and experienced more support from their best friend and their husband than LS mothers. In addition, some gender differences were found concerning infant behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Finland. marja.kivijarvi@utu.fi
authors.forename: Marja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kivijärvi
authors.forename: Hannele
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Räihä
authors.forename: Sami
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Virtanen
authors.forename: Kalle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lertola
authors.forename: Jorma
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piha
mesh_terms: D003448:Crying; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires