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Relationship assessment in infant mental health
Author(s) -
Zeanah Charles H.,
Boris Neil W.,
Heller Sherryl Scott,
HinshawFuselier Sarah,
Larrieu Julie A.,
Lewis Marva,
Palomino Rhonda,
Rovaris Michael,
Valliere Jean
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
infant mental health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1097-0355
pISSN - 0163-9641
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0355(199722)18:2<182::aid-imhj7>3.0.co;2-r
Subject(s) - infant mental health , mental health , psychopathology , psychology , construct (python library) , developmental psychology , context (archaeology) , strengths and weaknesses , naturalistic observation , association (psychology) , component (thermodynamics) , naturalism , clinical psychology , psychiatry , psychotherapist , social psychology , philosophy , physics , epistemology , computer science , programming language , thermodynamics , paleontology , biology
Infant‐caregiver relationships are the crucial contextfor infant development and psychopathology. Considerable evidence suggeststhat infants may construct qualitatively different relationships withdifferent caregivers. For these reasons, infant‐caregiverrelationships should be a centerpiece of assessment in infant mentalhealth. We advocate assessing infant relationships with all importantcaregivers in both clinic based and naturalistic settings. In this articlewe describe our approach, which attends both to the external component ofthe relationship, behavioral interaction, as well as the internal componentof the relationship, subjective experience. By integrating resultsfrom assessments of these two components, we determine both level of relationshipadaptation and the specific domains of strengths and weaknesses. © 1997 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health