Infants who experience sensitive caregiving are at lower risk for numerous adverse outcomes. This is especially true for infants born preterm, leading them to be more susceptible to risks associated with poorer quality caregiving. Some research suggests that preterm and full-term infants differ on temperament, which may contribute to these findings. This study aimed to investigate associations between infant temperament (negative emotionality, positive affectivity/surgency, and orienting/regulatory capacity) and maternal sensitivity among infants born preterm (M = 30.2 weeks) and full term. It was hypothesized that mothers of infants born preterm and mothers of infants with more difficult temperaments would display lower sensitivity, indicated by lower responsiveness to nondistress, lower positive regard, and higher intrusiveness. Videotaped play interactions and a measure of temperament (Infant Behavior Questionnaire) were coded for 18 preterm and 44 full-term infants at 9 months (corrected) age. Results suggest that mothers of preterm and full-term infants differed significantly in responding to their infants, but these results cannot be explained by infant temperament. Preterm status and sociodemographic risk emerged as correlates of maternal behavior, such that mothers of infants born preterm and mothers with greater sociodemographic risk displayed lower levels of maternal sensitivity.

中文翻译：

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早产儿和足月儿婴儿气质与母亲敏感性的关系

经历敏感照料的婴儿发生许多不良后果的风险较低。对于早产婴儿来说尤其如此，导致他们更容易受到与较差护理质量相关的风险的影响。一些研究表明，早产儿和足月儿的气质不同，这可能有助于这些发现。本研究旨在调查早产儿的婴儿气质（消极情绪、积极情感/冲动和定向/调节能力）与母亲敏感性之间的关联（M = 30.2 周）和整个学期。据推测，早产婴儿的母亲和性格较难相处的婴儿的母亲会表现出较低的敏感性，表现为对非痛苦的反应较低、积极关注程度较低和侵入性较高。对 18 名早产儿和 44 名 9 个月（校正）足月婴儿的游戏互动录像和气质测量（婴儿行为问卷）进行了编码。结果表明，早产儿和足月儿的母亲对婴儿的反应有显着差异，但这些结果不能用婴儿气质来解释。早产状态和社会人口学风险与母亲行为有关，因此早产婴儿的母亲和社会人口学风险较高的母亲表现出较低的母亲敏感性水平。