Goodness of fit in infancy: Maternal and infant temperaments and their relationship to maternal sensitivity.
Item
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Title
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Goodness of fit in infancy: Maternal and infant temperaments and their relationship to maternal sensitivity.
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Identifier
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AAI3103104
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identifier
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3103104
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Creator
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Dunckel, Lindsay Sutherland.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Herbert D. Saltzstein
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Date
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2003
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Developmental
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Abstract
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The purpose of this research project was to explore the concept of goodness of fit, which holds that it is not just a child's temperament that contributes to the course of his or her development, but how that temperament fits with the child's environment, including the mother's temperament. This fit has been widely discussed but has lacked an operational definition. Within the immediate context of maternal-child interaction, fit is generally understood to be a compatible relationship between mother and child; however, the components of this compatibility are not fully understood.;The current study explores the relationship of maternal and infant temperaments to maternal sensitivity, used here as a marker of a good fit. Maternal sensitivity is conceptualized and measured in two ways: (1) as quality of interaction, which was assessed in a 20-minute observation, and (2) as maternal reflective functioning, or the extent to which the mother considers her own and her infant's mental states as underlying behavior, which was assessed in maternal interviews about highpoints and lowpoints in interaction with the infants. Maternal and infant temperaments were assessed by established questionnaires. Thirty-four mothers and their four- to seven-month-old infants participated in the study.;While hypothesized relationships between easy maternal and infant temperaments and high quality interaction were not supported, an intriguing finding was that mothers who rated themselves as much more difficult in temperament than their infants had higher quality interactions than did other mothers. Several explanations for this finding are put forth, including that difficult temperament has a different meaning when applied to mothers, or that mothers who scored themselves as more difficult than their infants are likely to hold themselves accountable for problems in interaction with their infants, which contributes to their higher quality interactions.;Additionally, mothers who breastfed their infants longer scored higher on reflective functioning; and when controlling for breastfeeding history, mothers who scored higher on reflective functioning touched their infants more. These findings may reflect a discomfort with infant dependence among mothers who are less able to understand their infants' behavior.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
