Ordinary Variations in Maternal Caregiving Influence Human Infants' Stress Reactivity

• Published in: Psychological science Vol. 17; no. 6; pp. 550 - 556
• Main Authors: Hane, Amie Ashley, Fox, Nathan A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Blackwell Publishing 01-06-2006; SAGE Publications
• Subjects: Caregivers; Caring; Champagne; Child, Preschool; Developmental biology; Electroencephalography; Exploratory Behavior; Female; Frontal Lobe - physiology; Humans; Infant; Infants; Literature; Male; Maternal behavior; Mental stress; Mother-Child Relations; Mothers; Parenting; Parents; Psychology; Reactivity; Sociability; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Temperament
• ISSN: 0956-7976; 1467-9280
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01742.x

We sought to extend earlier work by examining whether there are ordinary variations in human maternal caregiving behavior (MCB) that are related to stress reactivity in infants. We observed 185 mother-infant dyads and used standard coding systems to identify variations in caregiving behavior. We then created two extreme groups and found that infants receiving low-quality MCB showed more fearfulness, less positive joint attention, and greater right frontal electroencephalographic asymmetry than infants receiving high-quality MCB. Group differences in stress reactivity were not a result of measured infant temperament. However, infants receiving low-quality MCB manifested significantly more negative affect during caregiving activities than did infants receiving high-quality MCB. The results suggest that ordinary variations in MCB may influence the expression of neural systems involved in stress reactivity in human infants.