Continuity of Individual Differences in the Mother-Infant Relationship from Six to Thirteen Months

Abstract

The current study searched for continuities in mother-infant interaction observed at home, maternally perceived infant difficultness, and infant developmental competency. Also assessed were the possible moderator variables of maternal report of satisfaction with adjustment to the infant and background characteristics, for example, SES, presence of other young children, and infant gender. 128 dyads were assessed at ages 6 and 13 months. Many of the variables used to evaluate continuity were composites based on factor analysis. Bivariate correlations between 6- and 13-month variables produced a complex picture. In broad overview, as predicted by the prior literature, they indicated some degree of stability for mother variables and markedly less for the infant variables. Canonical correlation analysis yielded 3 significant canonical variates, producing a more integrated picture. The dimensions of continuity revealed by these variates were (1) Affectionate, Intellectually Stimulating Mothering, which had modest-to-moderate links to the indexes of infant competence; (2) Infant Temperamental Difficultness, which was determined mainly by consistency in mother report on 2 age-adjusted versions of the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire but which also contained loadings for objectively observed infant fussing, crying, and social demandingness; and (3) an unnamed dimension which resembles a pattern of intense involvement, both positive and negative, seen in older, clinically referred families.