Videotapes of mother/infant pairs were made to assess the influence of selected infant and maternal characteristics on parent/child interaction. Characteristics of interest were infant mental age, infant chronological age, infant gender, and parity. Subjects were 37 mothers (20 primiparous, 17 multiparous) and their infants (19 males, 18 females)…

The objectives of this study were to investigate (1) whether prior opinions concerning a child's sex influence the qualities attributed to the child; (2) whether differences exist in the responses of male and female raters; and (3) the effect of forced-choice responses vis-a-vis non-forced responses. An 8-minute videotape of a 22-month-old infant…

Findings from three studies that used a laboratory procedure to assess individual differences in various dimensions of infant temperament in relation to later Brazelton scores are presented. Participants included 59 healthy, full-term and sick, preterm infants. The sick, preterm infants included infants who developed respiratory or neurological…

Evidence concerning the developmental correlates of nonmaternal care in the first year of life are examined with respect to infant-mother attachment and subsequent social development. Even though the evidence is not without its inconsistencies, a circumstantial case, consistent with attachment theory, can be made that extensive infant day care…

This study was designed to identify aggressive actions in 12-, 18-, and 24-month-old infants and to investigate what type of responses these actions elicit in peers. Nine infants were observed and videotaped in interaction with each other and with toys. The focus was on four 18-month-olds observed in two sessions, one with an older child, the…

Reviews the theory and research on the physiological or genetic origins of parenting behavior, noting that an ethological or evolutionary analysis of parenting behavior supports the idea that primates, including man, have evolved psychological structures which are particularly adapted to respond to cues from young children. (Author/JM)

Reports on development of a model for studying communicative competencies using naturalistic observations of specific behaviors. Discussion focuses on ways mothers and toddlers train each other to be successively more effective in their relationships. (ED)

Differences in 3-month-old infants' vocal responsiveness to vocal-visual stimulation by mothers and strangers has been shown to be related to performance on both the Stanford-Binet at 3 years of age and the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistics at 5 years of age. The present retesting of 12 of the original 14 normal, first-born male subjects, now 12…

The purpose of this paper was to examine whether a pediatrician in well child care could promote mother-child interaction in the infant's first 6 months of life, and whether this intervention could affect the infant's cognitive development. Thirty-two mothers and their healthy, first born infants were followed by one pediatrician at 2, 4, 8, 15…

This guide for parents discusses social competence in 2-year-old children, drawing upon anecdotal data to provide a sampling of 2-year-old children's social behavior and their parents' child rearing techniques. The data were collected from questionnaires, telephone interviews, and home visits in a 12-month study of the interactions of 86…

This study analyzes the interaction patterns and behavioral characteristics of mentally ill and well mothers and their young children. The children were between 1 and 4 years of age. The group of mentally ill mothers was comprised of 18 schizophrenic and psychotically depressed women each with a history of at least one psychiatric hospitalization.…

The ability of infants to recognize their mothers as distinct from others was investigated by presenting 6 boys and 6 girls at two age levels (5 weeks and 13 weeks) with the following six sequential stimulus conditions: (1) mother's face (MO); (2) stranger's face (SO); (3) mother's face with stranger's voice (MS); (4) stranger's face with mother's…

This study examined differences between premature and fullterm infants and their mothers in three areas: infant characteristics, early mother-infant interaction and mothers' emotional involvement when the child was 9 months old. Forty-nine low-income black mothers and their infants (26 prematures, 23 fullterms) participated in the study. In…

The performances of three groups of neonates on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale were compared to determine if cultural differences exist. Subjects were 90 full term, healthy infants; 30 born in Puerto Rico, 30 black and 30 white born in Florida who were administered the scale within the first two days of life. Eight summary…

This paper discusses early identification of children with developmental handicaps, a subject highlighted recently through the creation of federal and state sponsored Early Periodic Screening Programs (EPSDT). The Minnesota Child Development Inventory (MCDI) provides a systematic means of obtaining parental (usually maternal) information about the…