Association of maternal interaction with emotional regulation in 4- and 9-month infants during the Still Face Paradigm.
This study used the Still Face Paradigm to investigate the relationship of maternal interaction on infants' emotion regulation responses. Seventy infant-mother dyads were seen at 4 months and 25 of these same dyads were re-evaluated at 9 months. Maternal interactions were coded for attention seeking and contingent responding. Emotional regulation was described by infant stress reaction and overall positive affect. Results indicated that at both 4 and 9 months mothers who used more contingent responding interactions had infants who showed more positive affect. In contrast, mothers who used more attention seeking play had infants who showed less positive affect after the Still Face Paradigm. Patterns of stress reaction were reversed, as mothers who used more attention seeking play had infants with less negative affect. Implications for intervention and emotional regulation patterns over time are discussed.
Department of Pediatrics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, United States. jrlowe@unm.edu
Jean R
JR
Lowe
Peggy C
PC
MacLean
Andrea F
AF
Duncan
Crystal
C
Aragón
Ronald M
RM
Schrader
Arvind
A
Caprihan
John P
JP
Phillips
D000367:Age Factors; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results