Rigidity in mother-infant dyads
Subtitle: a state space analysis of emotion regulation
By: by Gaylene McCutcheon.
Published: 2005
Language: eng
Number of pages: 49
Subjects: Infants -- Development.; Mother and infant.
Description: Investigations of externalizing behavior in young children have tended to focus on the content of parent-child interaction. Recently, however, researchers have become interested in the form of interaction as well, and its impact on developmental outcomes. In this study, a dynamic systems perspective was used to track the emergence of externalizing behavior in young children, by focusing on the flexibility versus rigidity of mother-child states that mediate emotion regulation. It was proposed that a new methodology known as state space grids (SSGs) could be used to quantify temporal sequences of dyadic behavior as rigid or flexible patterns of interaction that predict subsequent outcomes. Low socioeconomic status infants (n = 72) and their mothers were videotaped for three minutes in a high-chair task designed to elicit infant distress.Levels of maternal and infant engagement were coded separately in 1-second intervals and the temporal sequence of codes for each dyad's behavior was plotted on a 5 x 5 state space grid. Six measures of dyadic flexibility and rigidity were used to describe patterns of interaction and predict subsequent age 3 externalizing behavior. State space grid analysis of the time-series data revealed that dyadic flexibility, as measured by the range of unique behavioral states, was related to lower externalizing scores 2 years later. Specifically, there was a significant correlation between rigidity in mother-infant interactions and higher externalizing scores at 3 years of age. However, there were no externalizing scores in the clinical range, so these results must be interpreted cautiously. Finally, content (maternal involvement) and SSG predictors, used together, were significant in explaining variance in behavioral outcomes at three years of age. Strengths and limitations of this new methodology were discussed in terms of the implications for future research in developmental psychopathology.
Notes: Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-63).