SYNOPSIS

Objective. Maternal sensitivity is a commonly used construct to capture the quality of mother–child interactions, but inconsistencies in conceptualizing and defining maternal sensitivity limit understanding of how sensitive caregiving may be associated with child development. The purposes of this study are to (1) examine and compare the developmental trajectories of individual maternal sensitivity behaviors to that of a global index of sensitivity across the first year of infant life and (2) determine whether differences in trajectories of sensitivity are meaningful for infant emotion competence and dyadic reciprocity at 12 months. Design. A total of 322 low-income, Mexican American mothers and infants were observed during a free play task at 3, 4.5, 6, and 12 months. Observations were coded for 11 distinct behaviors known to compose maternal sensitivity. At 12 months, mother-infant interactions were also coded for dyadic reciprocity, and mothers reported on infant emotion competence. Results. Latent growth models indicated that individual sensitivity behaviors differed from the global index of sensitivity with respect to initial levels and slopes, with increasing (e.g., vocal appropriateness), decreasing (e.g., touch), and stable (e.g., elaboration) trajectories. The individual and global indices of sensitivity differed in prediction of emotion competence and dyadic reciprocity. Trajectories of global and individual indices of maternal sensitivity operated similarly in predicting dyadic reciprocity, with the exception of consistency of style. In contrast, the global index of sensitivity was unrelated to emotion competence, and only initial levels of positive affect emerged as significant predictors of emotion competence. Conclusions. The findings offer a more nuanced understanding of maternal sensitivity and suggest that component aspects of maternal sensitivity uniquely contribute to child and family competencies.

概要

客观的。母亲敏感性是衡量母婴互动质量的常用结构，但在概念化和定义母亲敏感性方面的不一致限制了对敏感性护理与儿童发育的关联程度的理解。本研究的目的是（1）检查和比较个体母亲敏感性行为的发展轨迹与婴儿生命第一年的全球敏感性指数的发展轨迹，以及（2）确定敏感性轨迹的差异是否有意义12个月时的婴儿情绪能力和二元互惠。设计。在 3、4.5、6 和 12 个月大的自由游戏任务中，共观察了 322 名低收入墨西哥裔美国母亲和婴儿。观察被编码为已知构成母体敏感性的 11 种不同行为。在 12 个月时，母婴互动也被编码为二元互惠，母亲报告了婴儿的情感能力。结果。潜在增长模型表明，个体敏感性行为在初始水平和斜率方面与全球敏感性指数不同，具有增加（例如，声音适当性）、减少（例如，触摸）和稳定（例如，精心制作）的轨迹。个体和全局敏感性指数在预测情绪能力和二元互惠方面存在差异。除了风格的一致性外，母体敏感性的全球和个体指标的轨迹在预测二元互惠方面的作用相似。相比之下，全球敏感性指数与情绪能力无关，只有初始的积极情绪水平成为情绪能力的重要预测指标。结论。研究结果提供了对母亲敏感性的更细致入微的理解，并表明母亲敏感性的组成方面对儿童和家庭能力有独特的贡献。