Provides an overview of the development of the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), the nature of the instrument and conditions for its proper administration, and issues underlying the use of the NBAS in research (e.g., reliability). The first in a series of articles in a single monograph assessing the NBAS. (BH)

Reviews issues of reliability (especially test-retest reliability) in newborn assessment, discusses predictive models based on newborn assessment, and presents information on modifications of the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale which may help in pursuing fruitful questions involving prediction of development. (Author/BH)

Discusses the role and limitations of the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale in the continuing effort to construct an adequate account of infant development. (BH)

Examined cardiac response and ratings of subjective aversiveness to recordings of unfamiliar infant cries in 60 primiparous women at 32 weeks' gestation. Mothers who prenatally rated the crying recordings as more aversive postnatally described their infants as more fussy and unpredictable. Women who showed greater cardiac acceleration to the cries…

Examined predictive validity of measures of infant habituation and later aspects of temperament. Found babies who habituated sooner (fewer trials to criterion) at five months of age and had fewer peak fixations during habituation were rated by mothers as more active, intense, and negative in mood, and less persistent and adaptable. Age differences…

Investigated shifts of gaze to peripheral targets in full-term and very preterm infants with transient periventricular echogenicity, a type of short-term brain damage, between 6-26 weeks old. Found that differences between full- and preterm infants was small, but after 16 weeks, there were subtle differences between them as preterms took longer to…

Examined in four studies whether and when infants connect information about an actor's affect and perception to their action. Found that 12-month-olds, but not 8-month-olds, recognized that an actor was likely to grasp the object she had visually regarded with positive affect. Replicated findings with 12- and 14-month-olds and with several…

Models the survival outcomes of children in developing countries born to women infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who are breast-fed, bottle-fed, and wet-nursed. Uses decision analysis to assess the relative risk of child mortality from HIV transmission and non-HIV causes associated with different methods of feeding. (FMW)

High-risk infants may exhibit hearing impairments which can subsequently impede speech/language development. Discussed are prenatal risk factors, including environmental toxins and infections; and perinatal factors such as prematurity, asphyxia, intracranial hemorrhage, bilirubin, ototoxic drugs, and environmental noise. A table summarizes factors…

Reports that mothers' responsiveness to young infants' distress predicts language capacity at two years. Mothers' responsiveness to older infants' nondistress vocalizations predicts cognitive performance, perceived self-esteem, social competence, and family relations in preadolescents. (PCB)

Finds that mothers high in responsiveness in the infant's first year have more secure infants and have children who are more likely to use prosocial interaction strategies with peers, are rated by teachers as having fewer school problems, and score higher on the Stanford-Binet. (pcb)

Findings of a study of 32 infants attending a neonatal intensive care unit follow-up clinic included mechanically ventilated infants were more irritable than nonventilated infants; infants from lower income families were fussier than infants from higher income families; 5-minute Apgar scores were more predictive of infants' success on a visual…

Examined differences within 34 pairs of parents bereaved by Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), 3-40 months after their loss. Findings revealed that bereaved parents sought support from within family most frequently and from outside resources the least. Bereaved mothers used these coping patterns significantly more often than did fathers. Found…

Examined the possibility that auditory stimuli with properties of adult-to-infant speech are more detectable in a noisy ambient environment than ones that resemble adult-to-adult speech. Findings suggests that properties that characterize adult-to-infant speech may compensate for young infants' low-frequency deficits and therefore facilitate the…

Studied perinatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality of diabetic mothers and their offspring in Qatif, Saudi Arabia. Suggests diabetes mellitus in pregnancy may be a common problem in Saudi Arabia, as poor maternal diabetic control results in high perinatal morbidity and mortality. Results suggest that health education and improved coverage of…