Brief report: maternal emotional availability and infant pain-related distress.
OBJECTIVE
The current study investigated the relationships between maternal emotional availability and infant pain expressions.


METHODS
A group of 73 mother-infant dyads were recruited prior to their routine immunization appointment and were subsequently filmed.


RESULTS
Analyses revealed that maternal non-intrusiveness was related to lower infant pain expressions both immediately and 1 min following needle. In addition, maternal sensitivity and overall emotional availability were related to lower infant pain expressions 1 min after needle.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that intrusive caregiving behaviors can increase infant pain reactivity and hinder the regulation of pain-related distress. On the other hand, sensitive and emotionally available caregiving help infants to regulate their pain-related distress. The results support that infant pain expressions are related to the quality of maternal caregiving.
Department of Psychology, York University, Ontario, Canada. ldin@yorku.ca
Laila
L
Din
Rebecca
R
Pillai Riddell
Stuart
S
Gordner
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization / Q000523:psychology; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*