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Maternal cognitions, psychopathologic symptoms, and infant temperament as predictors of early infant feeding problems: A longitudinal study
Author(s) -
Farrow Claire,
Blissett Jackie
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/eat.20220
Subject(s) - temperament , psychopathology , psychology , developmental psychology , pregnancy , longitudinal study , cognition , clinical psychology , personality , medicine , psychiatry , social psychology , pathology , biology , genetics
Objective The current study examined the contribution of prenatal and postnatal maternal core beliefs, self‐esteem, psychopathologic symptoms, and postnatal infant temperament to the prediction of infant feeding difficulties. Method Ninety‐nine women completed questionnaires assessing their core beliefs, psychopathology, and self‐esteem during pregnancy and at 6 months postpartum. At 6 months, mothers also rated their infant's temperament and feeding, and were ob‐served feeding their infants. Results Maternal reports of child feeding difficulties were predicted by higher levels of emotional deprivation and entitlement core beliefs and lower levels of self‐sacrifice and enmeshment core beliefs during pregnancy. Postnatal social isolation core beliefs, lower maternal self‐esteem, and more difficult infant temperament added significantly to the variance explained by prenatal factors. Maternal core beliefs, self‐esteem, psychopathology, and infant temperament failed to significantly predict independent observations of child food refusal. Conclusion Maternal cognitions are implicated in the development of maternal reports of feeding difficulty. © 2005 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.