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The adaptiveness of mothers' working models of caregiving through the first year: Infant and mother contributions
Author(s) -
Pridham Karen F.,
Schroeder Michele,
Brown Roger
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
research in nursing and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1098-240X
pISSN - 0160-6891
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-240x(199912)22:6<471::aid-nur5>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - developmental psychology , psychology , birth weight , depression (economics) , temperament , pregnancy , personality , social psychology , genetics , macroeconomics , economics , biology
How a mother's working model of caregiving develops through an infant's first postterm year has implications for the infant's health. Change in the adaptiveness of the working model of caregiving through the first year and influencing conditions (mother and infant) were examined for 33 premature infants and 44 full‐term infants. Adaptiveness was coded from the transcription of a video‐assisted interview at 1, 4, 8 and 12 months postterm age. Mother conditions included years of education, symptoms of depression, and evaluation of caregiving. Infant conditions included status at birth, birth weight, weight‐for‐age, and amenability of temperament. Hierarchical fixed occasions repeated measures analysis showed significant change in workingmodel adaptiveness with time. The highest adaptiveness scores were at 4 months and the lowest scores were at 8 months. At 8 months, mother's education had a significant positive effect on adaptiveness, mother's symptoms of depression had a negative effect, and infant weight‐for‐age had a positive effect. Further research is needed to learn what features of a mother's education enhance working model adaptiveness and to identify mechanisms that explain the effects of the infant's weight‐for‐age on adaptiveness. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Res Nurs Health 22:471–486, 1999