Interactional model for the association among maternal alcohol use, mother-infant interaction, and infant cognitive development

Abstract

The association among maternal alcohol consumption, mother-infant interaction, and infant cognitive development was examined in this experiment. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model in which infant cognitive development, as measured by the Bayley Mental Scale, was assumed to be influenced by the infant's affect and the mother's ability to interact with the infant. It was hypothesized that infants of mothers who drank more heavily prenatally would have increased negative affect in interaction. The mothers of these infants were predicted to be less stimulating and elaborative in interaction. Infants experiencing less optimal interactions with their mothers were posited to exhibit lower cognitive performance. A direct path between maternal prenatal alcohol use and infant outcome was also hypothesized. Results were consistent with the model suggesting that the mother's alcohol use is directly associated with infant mental development and has teratogenic effects on infant affect which, in turn, relates to the mother-infant relationship and to infant cognitive performance. Postnatal alcohol consumption was found to relate directly to infant cognition and not to infant affect or material interaction characteristics.