Touching behaviors of infants of depressed mothers during normal and perturbed interactions
Abstract
The present study investigated the touching behaviors of 4-month-old infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers during the still-face (SF; maternal emotional unavailability) and separation (SP; maternal physical unavailability) procedures. Forty-one dyads participated in the present study; dyads were from low SES backgrounds and they exhibited poor relationship qualities (e.g. poor maternal sensitivity, low infant responsiveness); thus, they were considered at-risk. Results indicated that infants exhibited more patting and pulling when mothers were unavailable during the SF and SP procedures. Moreover, depression affected infants' tactile behaviors: infants of depressed mothers used more reactive types of touch (i.e. active touching behaviors, such as grab, pat, pull) than infants of non-depressed mothers during emotional and physical unavailability, suggesting greater activity levels in infants of depressed mothers. Negative relationship indicators, such as maternal intrusiveness and hostility, predicted soothing/regulatory (i.e. nurturing) and reactive/regulatory types of touch, even after controlling for maternal depression. Taken together, these results underscore the importance of touch for infant communication and regulation during early social interactions.
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The formation of a secure attachment bond is one of the most important developmental tasks in the first year of life.
“The formation of a (secure) attachment bond is one of the most important developmental tasks in the first year of life (Moszkowski et al., 2009).”
From Smartphones in the nursery: Parental smartphone use and parental sensitivity and responsiveness within parent–child interaction in early childhood (0–5 years): A scoping review (2021) · cites this paper as Moszkowski et al., 2009
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- Authors
- Moszkowski, R. J., Stack, D. M., Girouard, N., Field, T. M., Hernandez-Reif, M., & Diego, M.
- Affiliations
- Concordia University (CA)
- University of Miami (US)
- Corresponding author
- Moszkowski, Robin J.
- Stack, Dale M.
- Venue
- Infant Behavior and Development
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-04
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 183-194
- ISSN
- 0163-6383 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1975716906
- Cited by
- 43
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 2.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Infant Behavior and Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Miami
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH#46586, MH-00331, R37MH046586)
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (K05AT001585, AT 001585)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Infant Health and Development
- Keywords
- maternal depression, tactile behavior, still-face procedure, separation processes, maternal intrusiveness, maternal hostility, infant communication, early social interaction, low socioeconomic status
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analysis of Variance, Communication, Depression, Emotions, Female, Humans, Infant, Male, Maternal Behavior, Mother-Child Relations, Mothers, Predictive Value of Tests, Psychological Tests, Regression Analysis, Touch, Video Recording, Infant Behavior, Young Adult
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