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Infant Crying Patterns in the First Year: Normal Community and Clinical Findings
Author(s) -
JamesRoberts Ian St,
Halil Tony
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1991.tb01922.x
Subject(s) - crying , infant crying , psychology , referral , developmental psychology , temperament , psychiatry , medicine , personality , social psychology , family medicine
– To provide information about persistent infant crying, crying durations and patterns were measured at four age points (1–3, 4–6, 7–9 and 10–12 months) in normal community ( N = 400) and clinical ( N = 68) samples. The findings provide a range of prevalence figures and descriptive statistics which may be useful for parents and professionals faced with infant crying. A large developmental shift in crying amount, and two age‐related changes of crying pattern, were found. Clinical infants showed the same crying profiles as the general community infants, but were found to cry substantially more. Although mothers of first‐borns were more likely to seek clinical referral, there were no birth‐order differences in crying amount or pattern. The findings’implications for studies of infant temperament and development are indicated.