Responding to Distressed Infants: Does Mothers’ Positive Versus Negative Affect Matter for Infants' Behavior and Physiology? Público

Abstract

How mothers respond to infants’ distress has implications for infants’ development of self-regulation and social competence. In a sample of 35 mothers and their 4- to 8-month-old infants, the current study evaluated the question of how different maternal affective responses to infant distress might directly predict infant recovery from that distress. Using a within-subjects design, we induced infant distress using an arm restraint task and compared infants’ observed affect and physiological responses under two conditions: 1) when mothers were instructed to respond with positive affect and 2) when mothers were instructed to respond with negative affect. Based on theoretical and empirical support that suggest that mothers should match their infants’ negative affect, we predicted that infants’ duration of negative affect would be shorter, infants’ average affect intensity would be less negative, and infants’ respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA) withdrawal would be lower when mothers respond with negative, relative to positive affect. Opposite to our hypotheses, we found evidence in support of alternative theory that suggests that mothers’ display of mild positive affect when infants are distressed may be helpful for infants. Results showed that when mothers responded to their distressed infants with negative affect versus positive affect, infants spent significantly more time in negative affect, their intensity of expressed negative affect was greater, and their RSA withdrawal was greater. The current findings, with the strength of the experimental design, add to accumulating evidence that the way in which mothers respond with their affect to their distressed infants can produce observable differences in infants’ duration and intensity of negative affect, as well as their physiology. Findings have the potential to inform future research that investigates how mothers can most effectively reduce their infants’ distress and intervention that targets the moment-to-moment behaviors in mother-infant reciprocal interactions.

Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………....…………………..1

Method………………………………………………………....……………………………….....25

Results……………………………………………………………....…………………….…….....35

Discussion………………………………………………………………………....……………...45

References…………………………………………………………....…………………………...57

Tables………………………………........……………………………………………................69

Figures………………………………........…………………………………………….............. 82

Appendices………………………………...……………...……………...………………………85

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Psychology
Subfield / Discipline	Clinical Psychology
Degree	Ph.D.
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Developmental
Palavra-chave	infants mothers
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Sherryl Goodman, PhD, Emory University Scott Lilienfeld, PhD, Emory University Patricia Brennan, PhD, Emory University Stella Lourenco, PhD, Emory University Philippe Rochat, PhD, Emory University

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