title: Do distracting activities increase tolerance for an infant cry?
abstract: Professionals recommend parents engage in distracting activities to mitigate negative effects of inconsolable infant crying (e.g., Deyo, Skybo, & Carroll, 2008; Goulet et al., 2009). We evaluated the availability of alternative activities on six undergraduates' tolerance for a recorded infant cry; three students tolerated the cry longer when distracting activities were available. Our results show that distracting activities could decrease the aversiveness of inconsolable infant crying for some individuals; additional research in natural caregiving situations will help determine the generality and social validity of this finding.
authors: Western New England University.
authors: Kathryn
authors: K
authors: Glodowski
authors: Western New England University.
authors: Rachel
authors: R
authors: Thompson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003448:Crying / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: aversive noise; infant crying; negative reinforcement; shaken baby syndrome