Abstract
Background: During the last decades, the research on mother-infant dyad has produced a great amount of data, methods and theories, which largely contributed to set a revolution in the way we look at developmental changes during infancy and childhood. Very different constructs depict the different aspects of the “dyadic dance” occurring between a mother and her infant; nonetheless, a comprehensive and consistent systematization of these concepts in a coherent theoretical landscape is still lacking.Aim: In the present work, we aim at disentangling the different theoretical and methodological definitions of 9 dyadic constructs and we highlight their effects on infants' and children developmental outcomes.Methods: A literature search has been conducted on three databases—PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science. Three different reviews are reported here: (1) a review on the theoretical definitions of dyadic constructs; (2) a review of operational definitions, settings and methods of dyadic processes; (3) a systematic review of dyadic processes' outcomes for infants' and children developmental trajectories.Results: Two constructs emerged as wide meta-theoretical concepts (reciprocity and mutuality) and seven described specific processes (attunement, contingency, coordination, matching, mirroring, reparation, synchrony). A global model resuming the relationships among different processes is reported, which highlights the emergence of two specific cycles of dyadic functioning (i.e., matching-mismatching-reparation-synchrony; contingency, coordination, attunement, mirroring). A comprehensive review of the adopted measures is also provided. Finally, all the processes provided significant contributions to infants' behavioral, cognitive, and socio-emotional development during the first 3 years of age, but limited research has been conducted on specific processes (e.g. reparation and mirroring).Conclusion: The present study provides an original research-grounded framework to consider the different nature of mother-infant dyadic processes within a unified dyadic eco-system. Different levels of evidence emerged for the role of diverse mother-infant dyadic processes on infants' and children development. Open questions and future research directions are highlighted.
Highlights
At the Origins of Mother-Infant Dyadic Processes ResearchCompared to other mammalian species, human newborns present larger and more adaptable brains that are immature and dependent on caregiving behaviors and environment (Trevathan, 2015)
The percentage of excluded studies due to poor quality appraisal ranged from 0% (Matching, 0/10 records; Mirroring, 0/3; Reciprocity, 0/5; Reparation, 0/4) to 66% (Mutuality, 2/3)
More than 40 years of infant research have completely revolutionized the scientific view of the mother-infant dyad
Summary
At the Origins of Mother-Infant Dyadic Processes ResearchCompared to other mammalian species, human newborns present larger and more adaptable brains that are immature and dependent on caregiving behaviors and environment (Trevathan, 2015). The scientific interest in the form, quality and developmental relevance of early caregiver-infant relationship is as old as Bowlby’s trilogy on attachment (Bowlby, 1969/1982, 1973, 1980) Based on these works, Ainsworth and colleagues (Ainsworth et al, 1978) considered maternal sensitivity, i.e., the ability to perceive infant signals, to interpret them correctly and to promptly and appropriately respond to them, as the key component in mother-infant relationship. Ainsworth and colleagues (Ainsworth et al, 1978) considered maternal sensitivity, i.e., the ability to perceive infant signals, to interpret them correctly and to promptly and appropriately respond to them, as the key component in mother-infant relationship While this concept has been critical to understand infant attachment (Behrens et al, 2016), it was recognized as a global, unidirectional scale that does not help in depicting the underlying mechanisms which occur moment-by-moment and require bidirectional or reciprocal contributions of both the mother and the infant behavioral and emotional states (Mesman, 2010). Very different constructs depict the different aspects of the “dyadic dance” occurring between a mother and her infant; a comprehensive and consistent systematization of these concepts in a coherent theoretical landscape is still lacking
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