title: Infants' interactions with professional caregivers at 3 and 6 months of age: a longitudinal study.
abstract: This study longitudinally investigated the quality and stability of 64 infants' interactions with their professional caregivers in child care centers at 3 and 6 months of age, i.e., across the first 3 months after they entered child care. It was also examined whether the infants' negative emotionality (as rated by the mother) predicted the quality of the caregiver-infant interaction. The interactive behavior of the professional caregivers (sensitivity, cooperation) and the infants (responsiveness, involvement) was rated from videotapes recorded in three different caregiving situations, lasting about 25 min in total. In contrast to our expectation, the quality of the caregiver-infant interaction did not significantly increase across the first 3 months in child care. As expected, significant rank order stability was found for the quality of the caregivers' behavior over time. Also in accordance with our expectations, infants with higher negative emotionality scores experienced less sensitivity and cooperation in interactions with their primary professional caregivers at both ages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9140, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands. e.albers@psych.ru.nl
authors.forename: Esther M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Albers
authors.forename: J Marianne
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Riksen-Walraven
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de Weerth
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D001143:Arousal; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D012919:Social Behavior