AN ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF FACE-TO-FACE INTERACTION BETWEEN PARENT AND INFANT.
Contributors: University of Texas at Austin.
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 215
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Sociology, Individual and Family Studies.
Description: The purpose of this study was to explore individual differences in parental sensitivity to infant cues. This overall purpose was divided into two sub-purposes: (1) To test the relationships between parental perceptions of their own infant's temperament, ability to decode nonverbal communication, attitudes toward reciprocity with an infant, capacity for empathy, the quality of the marital relationship as judged by the parents and sensitivity to infant cues during interaction. (2) To test the relationship between gender of the child and parental sensitivity to infant cues during interaction.

An adaptation of Bronfenbrenner's model of the ecology of human development guided the analysis of the familial, social, and cultural contexts that constitute the infant's world. Thirty-two white, middle-class families with first-born infants, equally divided according to gender, participated in the study. Data were collected related to the parents' (1) perceptions of their baby's temperament, (2) attitudes toward reciprocity, (3) ability to decode nonverbal communication, (4) capacity for empathy, (5) quality of the marital relationship, and (6) sensitivity to infant cues.

Data were analyzed utilizing bivariate correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and t-tests. There were several major findings of this study. First, mothers' and fathers' attitudes toward reciprocity, capacity for empathy and assessment of their marital relationship were found to be significantly related to their sensitivity to infant cues. Second, parents' perceptions of baby temperament and ability to decode nonverbal communication, as well as the gender of the child were found to be unrelated to sensitivity to cues.

Finally, parents' scores on each of the instruments were similar except for the Parental Attitude Scale and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. On both these scales, mothers' and fathers' scores differed significantly with mothers having more adaptive attitudes and being more empathic than fathers.

Findings from this study represent a beginning effort to explore the concept of parental sensitivity to infant cues. Individual differences in parental sensitivity were found to be related to a personality characteristic--capacity for empathy; an attitudinal factor--attitudes toward reciprocity; and a situational factor--the quality of the marital relationship. These factors, and no doubt others, interact in a complex manner to influence the parent's tendency to monitor, interpret and respond appropriately to infant signals.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-08, Section: B, page: 3293.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 1986.

School code: 0227.