Forty-eight middle-class mothers answered questionnaires about their 11-through 18-month-old infants' typical television watching and interest, the frequency and duration of their independent play with toys and dyadic play with and without toys, and whether the television was typically on or not on in the room at the time. Mothers reported that…

Using a version of the "learned helplessness" paradigm, assesses mothers' performance on a solvable task following pretreatments that involved exposure to an infant cry but that differed in the mothers' ability to exert control over termination of the cry. Proposes that learned helplessness models are relevant to the study of…

A total of 73 three- to six-month-old infants of depressed and nondepressed mothers were videotaped in face-to-face interactions with their mothers and with nondepressed female strangers. Depressed mothers and their infants received lower ratings on all behaviors than did nondepressed dyads. (SKC)

This study of the stability of parent behaviors toward toddlers over a 3-week period used both aggregated and nonaggregated data. Comparison of stability correlations indicated higher stabilities for aggregated scores, with the level of stability increasing as scores from additional single sessions were aggregated. (PCB)

The behavioral dynamics of three different types of early mother-infant interactions were examined. Mothers were instructed to play with, imitate, and hold the attention of their infants. Frequency of vocalization, gaze direction, and smiling by both interactants, tactile play by the mother, and crying by the infant were recorded. (PCB)

Findings suggest that infant temperament affects the manner in which security or insecurity is expressed, but does not determine whether an infant develops a secure or insecure attachment to parent. (PCB)

This study assessed the extent to which infants use fathers as referencing targets and the familial context that might mediate referencing to both parents. Infants used fathers and mothers as referencing targets to an equal extent. Marital satisfaction was found to be a significant modifier of referencing. (PCB)

No differences were found in mother-infant attachment between nonadopted and intraracial adopted subjects or between intraracial and interracial adopted subjects. Suggests that the higher incidence of psychological problems found among adoptees in middle childhood and adolescence cannot be explained in terms of insecure attachment relationships…

Investigates the evolution of specific lexical and syntactical clues and the recurrence of various semantic fields in mothers' spontaneous speech to their infants. Content of mothers' speech was related to age in newborn to 10-month-old children. (Author/RH)

Discusses the distinction between species-typical (elicitation) and operant reinforcement interpretations of infant/adult social interaction; considers procedural and analytic components of Poulson's 1983 paper (v36 p471-89); and clarifies differences in Poulson's interpretation and the author's interpretation of the vocal conditioning studies of…

Tested the hypothesis that development of secure attachments is predictable from synchronous, and insecure attachments from asynchronous interactions across the first year. Findings from 30 dyads (10 secure, 10 avoidant, 10 resistant) supported the hypothesis at one and three months, with synchronous interaction observed at significantly,…

Reports development as compared to age-related changes in maternal task instruction to children in their second year. Interactions of 12 mother-infant pairs involved with simple tasks were video-recorded bimonthly between the infants' 14th and 22nd month. Comparison revealed the superiority of the development-centered model of adaptation of…

Provides overview of attachment theory as parented by John Bowlby in "Attachment and Loss". Uses two major concepts from this work to interpret refinements and elaborations of attachment theory attibuted to Mary Ainsworth. Considers how recent insights into development of socioemotional understanding and development of event…

Investigates the possible relationships among the variables of infant's temperament, mother's mode of interaction, and the quality of the subsequent mother-infant attachment. (Author/NH)

A year after their firstborn child was delivered, 100 fathers were asked about their attitudes toward and their actual participation in infant care. Results concerned several dimensions of paternal involvement and suggested that fathers' intention to participate in delivery is more important than their actual presence. (Author/RH)