Mother-infant socioemotional contingent responding in families by adoption and birth.
Contingencies of three maternal and two infant socioemotional behaviors that are universal components of mother-infant interaction were investigated at 5 months in 62 mothers (31 who had adopted domestically and 31 who had given birth) and their first children (16 males in each group). Patterns of contingent responding were largely comparable in dyads by adoption and birth, although the two groups of mothers responded differentially to the two types of infant signals. Mothers in both groups were more responsive than infants in social and vocal interactions, but infants were more responsive in maternal speech-infant attention interactions. Family type × gender statistical interactions suggested a possible differential role of infant gender in establishing mother-infant contingencies in families by adoption and birth.
Child and Family Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892-7971, USA. Joan_Suwalsky@nih.gov
Joan T D
JT
Suwalsky
Linda R
LR
Cote
Marc H
MH
Bornstein
Charlene
C
Hendricks
O Maurice
OM
Haynes
Roger
R
Bakeman
D000293:Adolescent; D000300:Adoption / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002657:Child Development; D004644:Emotions; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D014741:Video Recording; D014831:Voice