BEHAVIORAL DIALOGUES BETWEEN MOTHERS AND INFANTS: THE 22 EFFECT OF PREMATURITY

Abstract

This paper compares interaction styles of premature and full-term infant-mother dyads. The subjects were 49 low income black mothers and their infants (26 prematures, 23 fullterms). Interactions were observed during a feeding in the hospital and at 3 months. A subset of mother and infant behaviors were defined as “communicative acts” and the interaction was viewed as a sequence of “dialogic states” (infant acts, mother acts, both act, neither acts). The 4 simple probabilities and the 16 transitional probabilities were used as indices of interaction style. In the hospital, 12 Indices differentiated the two groups of dyads at the .10 level or better. At 3 months, 9 of these 12 indices still differentiated the groups. In the hospital, prematures were less active than fullterms, while their mothers were more active. Mothers of prematures were more likely to attempt to influence their infants' activity states, while mothers of fullterms were more likely to let their infants determine active or quiet periods. At 3 months, mothers of prematures persisted in their old behavior patterns even though the activity levels of their infants had doubled and were by then similar to those of full-terms. It is suggested that mothers of prematures compensate for the inactivity of their infants and continue to do so even when this is no longer adaptive and that prematures, therefore, have less opportunity to learn to regulate their own activity patterns.

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