Abstract
Infant massage programs have proved to be effective in enhancing post-natal development of highly risk infants, such as preterm newborns and drug or HIV exposed children. Less studies have focused on the role of infant massage in supporting the co-construction of early adult–child relationships. In line with this lack of literature, the present paper reports on a pilot study aimed at investigating longitudinally the quality of mother–child interactions, with specific reference to emotional availability (EA), in a group of mother–child pairs involved in infant massage classes. Moreover, associations between mother–child EA, maternal wellbeing, marital adjustment, and social support were also investigated, with the hypothesis to find a link between low maternal distress, high couple satisfaction and high perceived support and interactions of better quality in the dyads. The study involved 20 mothers and their children, aged between 2 and 7 months, who participated to infant massage classes. The assessment took place at three stages: at the beginning of massage course, at the end of it and at 1-month follow-up. At the first stage of assessment self-report questionnaires were administered to examine the presence of maternal psychiatric symptoms (SCL-90-R), perceived social support (MSPSS), and marital adjustment (Dyadic Adjustment Scale); dyadic interactions were observed and rated with the Emotional Availability Scales (Biringen, 2008) at each stage of data collection. The results showed a significant improvement in the quality of mother–child interactions, between the first and the last evaluation, parallel to the unfolding of the massage program, highlighting a general increase in maternal and child’s EA. The presence of maternal psychological distress resulted associated with less optimal mother–child emotional exchanges, while the hypothesis regarding couple satisfaction and social support influence were not confirmed. These preliminary results, if replicated, seem to sustain the usefulness of infant massage and the importance of focusing on early mother–infant interactions.
Highlights
During T3 and T4 average scores resulted adequate (≥5) for all of the six dimensions. As far as it concerns the distribution of the dyads in the zones of the emotional availability (EA) clinical screener, as it is possible to see in Table 2 during the periods considered a progressively larger amount of dyads fell in the Emotionally Available (EA) zone, while the “lower” zones were progressively less represented
According to the literature that highlights the intervention of multiple factors in determining the quality of parenting practices (Belsky, 1984; Feiring et al, 1987; Jennings et al, 1991; Melson et al, 1993; Bender and Losel, 1998; Singer et al, 2003; Favez et al, 2006), we aimed to test whether aspects such as the maternal perception of couple adjustment, social support and psychological wellbeing were associated to mother–child EA
A significant increase in child responsiveness was recorded, suggesting an improvement in the ability to find an adequate balance between self- and interactive-regulation and in the possibility to organize affects and behaviors in a coordinated way in order to respond to the caregiver’s bids
Summary
To date no studies have examined the quality of mother–infant interactions in the context of infant massage through the application of the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS; Biringen, 2008), nor have adopted a longitudinal approach. The present preliminary research aimed to investigate mother–child EA during infant massage classes. According to the extant literature that highlights the role of multiple factors in shaping the quality of early parenting practices, we investigated whether EA was associated to mothers’ perception of couple adjustment, social support and psychological wellbeing. An increase in dyadic EA was expected and we hypothesized that more optimal adult– child interactions would be associated with a lower degree of maternal psychological distress, and with a higher level of couple satisfaction and perceived social support
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