Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
The Functions of Mutual Touch in Full-Term and Very Low-Birthweight/Preterm Infant-Mother Dyads: Associations with Infant Affect and Emotional Availability During Face-to-Face Interactions. |
| Authors: |
Mantis, Irene, Stack, Dale M. |
| Source: |
International Journal of Comparative Psychology. 2018, Vol. 31, p1-24. 24p. |
| Subjects: |
Infants, Dyads, Mother-infant relationship, Premature infants, Relationship quality |
| Abstract: |
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the communicative functions of mutual touch during mother-infant interactions and their relation with infants' affect and the quality of the mother-infant relationship. The two normal periods of the Still-Face procedure were examined for mothers and their 5 1/2-month-old full-term (n = 40) and very low-birthweight/preterm (VLBW/preterm; n = 40) infants. The Functions of Mother-Infant Mutual Touch Scale was used to code the function of each mutual touch. Results indicated that full-term infant-mother dyads spent significantly more time engaged in playful and regulatory mutual touch compared to VLBW/preterm infant-mother dyads who spent significantly more time engaged in attention-centered, unbalanced, and guided mutual touch. Infant smiling was found to significantly co-occur with playful mutual touch for both the full-term and VLBW/preterm infants, while fretting co-occurred with unbalanced mutual touch for VLBW/preterm infants. Higher levels of maternal sensitivity and regulatory mutual touch were associated for full-term dyads, while lower levels of maternal sensitivity were associated with unbalanced mutual touch for VLBW/preterm dyads. Results from this study enable a more comprehensive understanding of the functions of mutual touching, and suggest differences in which mutual touching behaviors are organized with infants' affect and relationship dimensions between mothers and their infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: |
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
