EARLY INTERACTION, INFANT SELF-REGULATION AND ATTACHMENT: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY DURING THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE

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Early interaction, infant self-regulation and attachment : a longitudinal study during the first year of life

Publication . Barbosa, Miguel Marques da Gama, 1982-; Moreira, João Manuel, 1964-; Dionísio, Marina Gabriela Gonçalves Fuertes; Tronick, Edward Zigler

The current study sought to examine the coherence, stability, and predictors of organized behavioral regulatory patterns employed by infants to manage stressful interactive situations during the first year of life. Using a longitudinal prospective design, the study aimed: (1) to validate a revised form of Lester´s six-factor structure of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS); (2) to test a new categorical approach to the assessment of infants´ regulatory patterns in the Face-to-Face Still-Face (FFSF) paradigm and to identify their predictors; (3) to examine the stability of these regulatory patterns in the FFSF from 3 to 9 months; and (4) to evaluate the extent to which patterns of infants´ regulatory behavior in the FFSF predict later attachment. The sample consisted of 196 healthy full-term infants and their mothers (from the Obstetrics Service of the Hospital de Santa Maria, in Lisbon). Infants were assessed in the first 72 hours of life with the NBAS and all dyads participated in a free-play task and in the FFSF at 3 and 9 months, and in the Strange Situation procedure at 12 months. The infants´ heart rate was recorded during the three episodes of the FFSF paradigm and the mothers completed the Mother and Baby Scales (MABS) at all ages and the Escala de Temperamento do Bebé (ETB) at 3 months. Results showed that a revised form of Lester´s six-factor structure, which included revising the scoring rules for some items, performed better than previous solutions in NBAS scoring. The Social-Positive Oriented Pattern was found to be the most frequent regulatory pattern in the FFSF, followed by the Distressed-Inconsolable and the Self-Comfort Oriented patterns, at both 3 and 9 months. Individual differences in infants´ heart rate activity throughout the FFSF episodes were consistent with the distinctive behaviors that infants used to regulate this stressful interactive situation. Maternal interactive behaviors played a iv crucial role in the organization and stability of the infant´s regulatory patterns. Crosstabulation analyses indicated a robust cross-age stability of infants´ regulatory patterns in the FFSF paradigm and an association between the Social-Positive Oriented Pattern and Secure attachment, the Distressed-Inconsolable Pattern and Insecure Ambivalent attachment, and the Self-Comfort Oriented Pattern and Insecure Avoidant attachment. We may therefore conclude that, as early as 3 months, infants have developed expectations of reciprocal social behavior that are reflected in organized regulatory patterns, stable over a period of 6 months, and significantly related to patterns of attachment presenting some degree of behavioral similarity.

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Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Número da atribuição

SFRH/BD/78605/2011