Origins of Maternal Sensitivity to Infant Distress

描述（申请人提供）：本项目的目的是通过以下方式确定母亲对痛苦的敏感性和母亲对非痛苦的敏感性是否是独特的结构：1）检查它们的因素结构，2）确定它们是否具有不同的起源，强调起源家庭中的情感社会化和由此产生的情感相关图式;以及3）确定它们是否差异地预测婴儿社会情绪适应。另一个目的是确定结果是否在非裔美国人和欧洲裔美国人的二人组之间存在差异。这项工作与儿童的心理健康有关，因为母亲对痛苦的敏感性是积极儿童结果的预测因素，但我们对促进婴儿哭泣敏感行为的过程知之甚少。识别的过程，影响母亲如何应对他们的苦恼的婴儿和这些过程的起源将告知筛查工具的发展，以确定母亲在养育困难的风险和个性化的干预措施的设计，以促进敏感的母亲行为和积极的社会情感功能在生命早期。250例经产妇（150例欧洲裔美国人，100例非洲裔美国人）及其婴儿将参与本研究。在产前阶段，母亲将完成问卷调查和采访，他们与自己的父母的关系，并将采访他们的反应，录像带的困扰婴儿;生理指标的唤醒和情绪控制将收集在后者。在产后6个月和12个月，母亲和婴儿将参加母亲对痛苦和非痛苦的敏感性，婴儿气质和情绪调节以及依恋安全性的录像评估。在这些母婴互动任务中，将收集母亲和婴儿的情绪唤醒和情绪控制的生理指标。在完成这些任务后，母亲们将观看他们的视频片段，并接受采访，了解他们的想法，情绪和目标以及他们的婴儿在任务中的行为。结果将扩大我们的知识的过程中，影响母亲的敏感性，在情绪激动的设置，儿童的情绪发展的关键背景。公共卫生相关性：拟议的研究解决了情感和认知因素相关的敏感的母亲的行为，以应对婴儿的哭声。先前的研究表明，母亲对痛苦的敏感性有助于在生命早期实现最佳的社会情感功能;然而，对这种育儿行为的起源知之甚少。对预测这种母亲敏感性的家庭和个人特征的研究将产生丰富的数据，可以为制定早期干预战略和程序提供信息，以确定需要这种服务的家庭。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this project is to determine if maternal sensitivity to distress and maternal sensitivity to non- distress are unique constructs by: 1) examining their factor structure, 2) determining if they have different origins with an emphasis on emotion socialization in the family of origin and resulting emotion-related schema; and 3) determining if they differentially predict infant social emotional adjustment. An additional aim is to determine if the results vary between African American and European American dyads. This work is relevant to the mental health of children because maternal sensitivity to distress is a predictor of positive child outcomes, but we know little about the processes that promote sensitive behavior in response to infant crying. Identifying the processes that influence how mothers respond to their distressed infants and the origins of these processes will inform the development of screening tools to identify mothers at risk for parenting difficulties and the design of individually tailored intervention efforts to foster sensitive maternal behavior and positive social emotional functioning early in life. Two hundred and fifty primiparous mothers (150 European American, 100 African American) and their infants will participate in this study. During the prenatal period, mothers will complete questionnaires and an interview about their relationship with their own parents and will be interviewed about their responses to videotapes of distressed infants; physiological indices of arousal and emotional control will be collected during the latter. At 6 and 12 months postpartum, mothers and infants will participate in videotaped assessments of maternal sensitivity to distress and non-distress, infant temperament and emotion regulation, and attachment security. Physiological indices of mothers' and infants' emotional arousal and emotional control will be collected during these mother-infant interaction tasks. Upon completion of these tasks, mothers will watch their video footage and be interviewed about their thoughts, emotions, and goals and their infants' behavior during the tasks. Results will extend our knowledge of the processes that influence maternal sensitivity in emotionally arousing settings, a critical context for children's emotional development. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed research addresses emotional and cognitive factors relevant to sensitive maternal behavior in response to infant crying. Prior research has demonstrated that maternal sensitivity to distress facilitates optimal social-emotional functioning early in life; however, little is known about the origins of this type of parenting behavior. The examination of familial and personal characteristics that predict this type of maternal sensitivity will yield rich data that can inform the development of early intervention strategies and procedures to identify families in need of such services.