Mom is developing too: Preliminary evidence for the reciprocal effects of infant sensory reactivity and maternal behavior.

Although aversive responses to sensory stimuli are common in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), it remains unknown whether the social relevance of aversive sensory inputs affects their processing. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural responses to mildly aversive nonsocial and social sensory stimuli as well as how sensory over-responsivity (SOR) severity relates to these responses. Participants included 21 ASD and 25 typically-developing (TD) youth, aged 8.6-18.0 years. Results showed that TD youth exhibited significant neural discrimination of socially relevant versus irrelevant aversive sensory stimuli, particularly in the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), regions that are crucial for sensory and social processing. In contrast, ASD youth showed reduced neural discrimination of social versus nonsocial stimuli in the amygdala and OFC, as well as overall greater neural responses to nonsocial compared with social stimuli. Moreover, higher SOR in ASD was associated with heightened responses in sensory-motor regions to socially-relevant stimuli. These findings further our understanding of the relationship between sensory and social processing in ASD, suggesting limited attention to the social relevance compared with aversiveness level of sensory input in ASD versus TD youth, particularly in ASD youth with higher SOR.

In this study we examined relations between adolescents' perception of parental care and intrusiveness and the abilities-achievement gap. Cognitive abilities and academic achievement were assessed for 200 Israeli 10th graders. Representations of maternal and paternal care and intrusiveness and externalizing and internalizing symptoms were self-reported. Gender differences were found for the abilities-achievement gap. Boys' achievement in mathematics and language was significantly lower than could be expected from abilities in these domains. Representations of maternal care predicted achievement while aptitude and socioemotional symptoms were controlled and moderated the relations of abilities and achievement. Paternal representations were unrelated to abilities or achievement. Among boys, maternal intrusiveness had a unique contribution to the prediction of achievement, above and beyond abilities, socioemotional symptoms, and maternal care. The relevance of the findings to cognitive and attachment perspectives on adolescent achievement is discussed.

Sensory differences and anxiety disorders are highly prevalent in autistic individuals with and without ADHD. Studies have shown that sensory differences and anxiety are associated and that intolerance of uncertainty (IU) plays an important role in this relationship. However, it is unclear as to how different levels of the sensory processing pathway (i.e., perceptual, affective, or behavioral) contribute. Here, we used psychophysics to assess how alterations in tactile perception contribute to questionnaire measures of sensory reactivity, IU, and anxiety. Thirty-eight autistic children (aged 8-12 years; 27 with co-occurring ADHD) were included. Consistent with previous findings, mediation analyses showed that child-reported IU fully mediated an association between parent-reported sensory reactivity and parent-reported anxiety and that anxiety partially mediated an association between sensory reactivity and IU. Of the vibrotactile thresholds, only simultaneous frequency discrimination (SFD) thresholds correlated with sensory reactivity. Interestingly, we found that sensory reactivity fully mediated an association between SFD threshold and anxiety, and between SFD threshold and IU. Taken together, those findings suggest a mechanistic pathway whereby tactile perceptual alterations contribute to sensory reactivity at the affective level, leading in turn to increased IU and anxiety. This stepwise association can inform potential interventions for IU and anxiety in autism.

Although most infants born prematurely do not have major developmental problems, those with perinatal medical problems and lengthy stays in the neonatal intensive care unit are at risk for sensory modulation problems and developmental sequelae. This study compared sensory responsiveness in preterm and full-term infants and examined the relationship of sensory responsiveness to temperament and developmental function. Caregivers of infants with (n = 45) and without (n = 22) prematurity were asked to complete the Sensory Rating Scale. The preterm infants were also evaluated with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second Edition (BSID-II). The preterm infants exhibited more frequent behaviors indicating tactile defensiveness and difficult temperament than did the full-term infants. When specific items were examined, the preterm infants displayed sensory-seeking behaviors and high activity levels. As measured by caregivers' report, sensory responsiveness was significantly related to temperament. It was not related to BSID-II Mental and Psychomotor scale scores. This study supports the findings of others that preterm infants have mild problems in sensory responsiveness and temperament. Correlational results do not support a definitive relationship between parents' reports of their infants' sensory responsiveness and developmental function.

Avoidant and resistant reunion behaviors as predicted by maternal interactive behavior and infant temperament

In mammals, maternal care represents a major constituent of the early-life environment and its influence on individual development has been documented in rodents, non-human primates, humans and recently in adult dogs. The quality and quantity of mother-offspring interactions exerts a multilevel regulation upon the physiological, cognitive, and behavioural development of the offspring. For example, in rats variations in maternal behaviour, such as mother-pup body contact and the amount of licking towards pups in the nest during the early days after parturition, influences the endocrine, emotional, and behavioural responses to stress in the offspring. This produces long-term consequences, which may remain into adulthood and can be transmitted to subsequent generations. Literature about maternal care in dogs and its effect on puppy behaviour is still scarce, although the topic is receiving a growing interest. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of morning maternal care on behavioural responses of puppies to new environmental and social stimuli. In order to achieve this, maternal care (licking, ano-genital licking, nursing and mother-puppy contact) was assessed in eight litters of domestic dogs living in standard rearing conditions during the first three weeks post-partum. Puppies were subjected to two behavioural tests (arena and isolation tests) at 58–60 days of age, and their behavioural responses were video recorded and analysed. Data was analysed using multivariate analyses (PCA, PLS).During the isolation test, a higher level of maternal care was associated with more exploration and a higher latency to emit the first yelp; on the contrary, a lower level of maternal care was associated with increased locomotion, distress vocalisations and destructive behaviours directed at the enclosure.These results, comparable to those reported in laboratory rat models and to some extent to those recently reported in dog literature, highlight the importance of maternal care on the behavioural development of domestic dog puppies.

The relations among child negative interactive behavior, child temperament, and maternal behavior

Infants at elevated likelihood of developing autism display differences in sensory reactivity, especially hyporeactivity, as early as 7 months of age, potentially contributing to a developmental cascade of autism symptoms. Caregiver responsiveness, which has been linked to positive social communication outcomes, has not been adequately examined with regard to infant sensory reactivity. This study examined the multiplicative impact of infant sensory hypo- and hyperreactivity on caregiver responsiveness to sensory reactivity and regulation cues in 43 infants at elevated likelihood of autism. Sensory hyperreactivity was found to moderate the association between sensory hyporeactivity and caregiver responsiveness, such that caregivers of infants with moderately high sensory hypo- and hyperreactivity demonstrated higher responsiveness.

To examine how maternal behaviors may foretell change in toddlers’ stranger anxiety, 168 Hong Kong Chinese middle‐class mother‐toddler dyads were assessed when the toddlers were 12‐month‐olds (M = 11.9 months, SD = .48, 83 or 49% boys); 160 dyads were assessed again 6 months later. Maternal and toddler behaviors were video‐recorded to assess: maternal encouragement and intrusiveness during stranger‐toddler interaction; toddlers’ fearfulness and avoidance of the stranger. Toddlers experiencing more maternal intrusiveness at 12 months increased more in fearfulness and avoidance of strangers 6 months later, whereas maternal encouragement had the opposite, albeit weaker, effect. Reciprocal effects between maternal intrusiveness and toddler temperamental shyness in predicting change in toddler stranger fearfulness were found. Maternal intrusiveness when toddlers interact with a stranger directly predicted developmental changes in stranger anxiety during the second year of life, and this association was mediated by changes in child temperamental shyness.

Children with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDC) often have sensory reactivity differences, such as being overwhelmed by sounds, which can elicit distress in their everyday life. Furthermore, children with an NDC often present with a greater frequency of mental health symptoms compared to their typically developing peers. However little research has examined the relationship of these sensory reactivity differences on broader mental health. This study set out to explore the relationship between sensory reactivity and mental health symptoms. Data from parent-reported measures of sensory reactivity and mental health symptoms were collected for 49 children presenting with a neurodevelopmental condition and 42 typically developing (TD) controls. Partial correlational analyses, controlling for IQ, were used to elucidate the relationship between sensory reactivity and mental health symptoms. Children with an NDC were significantly more likely to present with a sensory reactivity difference or mental health symptom. Sensory seeking was found to be the sensory subtype most related to mental health symptoms, especially in externalising conditions. There was evidence also found for a relationship between depression, sensory seeking and sensory hypo-reactivity, and GAD and hyper-reactivity. Findings suggest a relationship between sensory reactivity and mental health symptoms in children with a neurodevelopmental condition. There is also preliminary evidence of unique sensory-based profiles of mental health. Assessment of sensory difficulties as part of more rigorous mental health assessments within mental health services will support more accurate diagnoses and intervention.

Very preterm (VPT) infants are hospitalized in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) and are exposed to life-saving procedures eliciting pain-related stress. Recent research documented that pain-related stress might result in birth-to-discharge increased methylation of serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) in VPT infants, leading to poorer stress regulation at 3 months of age in VPT infants compared to their full-term (FT) counterparts. Maternal sensitivity is thought to support infants' stress response, but its role in moderating the effects of altered SLC6A4 methylation is unknown. To assess the role of maternal sensitivity in moderating the association between altered SLC6A4 methylation and stress response in 3-month-old VPT and FT infants. 53 infants (27 VPTs, 26 FTs) and their mothers were enrolled. SLC6A4 methylation was obtained from peripheral blood samples at NICU discharge for VPT infants and from cord blood at birth for FT infants. At 3 months (age corrected for prematurity), both groups participated to the face-to-face still-face (FFSF) paradigm to measure both infants' stress response (i.e., negative emotionality) and maternal sensitivity. Maternal sensitivity did not significantly differ between VPT and FT infants' mothers. In VPT infants, higher SLC6A4 methylation at hospital discharge associates with higher negative emotionality during the FFSF. In FT infants, SLC6A4 methylation and maternal sensitivity significantly interacted to predict stress response: a positive significant association between SLC6A4 methylation and negative emotionality emerged only in FT infants of less-sensitive mothers. Although no differences emerged in caregiving behavior in the two groups of mothers, maternal sensitivity was effective in moderating the effects of SLC6A4 methylation in FT infants, but not in VPT infants at 3 months. Speculatively, the buffering effect of maternal sensitivity observed in FT infants was disrupted by the altered early mother-infant contact due to NICU stay of the VPT group. These findings indirectly support that the effects of maternal sensitivity on infants' socio-emotional development might be time dependent, and that mother-infant interventions in the NICU need to be provided precociously within a narrow sensitive period after VPT birth.

Before too much time slips by, it occurred to me to share my recollections of some remarkable people—trailblazers in maternity care. For upwards of 50 years and more, these women and men have made vital contributions to the care of mothers, babies, and families, and in so doing, have greatly influenced my own life's work over the past 35 years. They are Murray Enkin, Kitty Ernst, Doris Haire, John Kennell, Marshall Klaus, Sheila Kitzinger, Ruth Lawrence, and Nancy Sutherland. When I think of Murray Enkin today, I picture him resplendent in a brilliantly colored and flowered vest, designed and presented to him by Sheila Kitzinger at a memorable tribute to him and his wife Eleanor one evening in June 1998. There, at the 12th Birth Conference in Boston, a group of long-time friends and colleagues gathered to honor Murray, professor emeritus in obstetrics and clinical epidemiology of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, for his extraordinary contributions to women's health, beginning in the 1940s. It is significant to note, too, that without his urging, Birth and the Family Journal, forerunner to Birth, might never have been launched by Madeleine Shearer in 1973. Soon Murray joined forces with activists and childbirth education organizations of the day to initiate reforms in woman- and family-centered care—the time when I first met him. Then, in 1978 came the beginning of his ongoing collaboration and crusade with Iain Chalmers, and later Marc Keirse, forming a united and powerful voice to challenge and reform current obstetric practices. Their landmark, two-volume, Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth was published in 1989—a detailed meta-analysis of the systematic reviews and observational data of the evidence. It was followed by the summary text, A Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth (1989, 1995, 2000), which today's birth practitioners describe as their ‘‘bible'’ and is my essential and primary reference to the research. Next, in 1993, these three pioneers established the rapidly growing Cochrane Collaboration, an international group that prepares systematic reviews about the effects of clinical interventions. We are grateful that through Murray's endorsement, Birth was able to receive permission to reprint abstracts from selected Cochrane Systematic Reviews. Today, Murray is an honored charter member of the Birth Editorial Board. More than any others, he and his collaborators have established a solid scientific basis for effectiveness and excellence in perinatal care, setting the gold standard for research and clinical practice everywhere. I often wonder where childbearing and maternity care would be today if it were not for Kitty (Eunice K.) Ernst, who began her life's work with the Frontier Nursing Service in Kentucky in the 1940s. Certainly, it is because of the vision and efforts of two nurse-midwives and ‘‘movers and shakers,‘’ Kitty Ernst and Ruth Lubic, that childbearing women in North America and other countries have a real choice today about where their baby will be born. Kitty and Ruth were the pioneers of today's free-standing birth centers and continue to be two mainstays of midwifery in the United States. I think back with warmth and gratitude to the time when I enjoyed wonderful hospitality at Kitty's country home in Perkiomenville, Pennsylvania. That was in the early days of the National Association of Childbearing Centers (NACC), which Kitty and Ruth established under the Maternity Center Association of New York about 20 years ago. Kitty became NACC's first Director, and with her strong guidance, it became a highly respected, progressive, and primary resource for birth centers—setting birth center standards, regulating and accrediting birth centers, conducting research, and promoting birth centers through workshops, conferences, a web site, and other programs. Then, in 1982, as a pioneer in distance learning, Kitty founded the Community-Based Nurse-Midwifery Education Program. She fought many battles with ‘‘the establishment'’ in her untiring efforts on behalf of mothers, babies, and families and to achieve recognition for the importance and safety of birth centers— always with marvelous and unfailing good humor, tenacity, political mastery, and courage. She continues today to offer wonderful support and sage advice to me and countless others throughout the world in the field of maternity care. I first met Doris Haire while on my Greyhound bus travels (‘‘99 Dollars for 99 Days'’) through the United States in 1963 as a tourist with my mother, who already knew about Doris's work to improve hospital maternity practices. A decade later her writings, encouragement, and advice were invaluable to me as I began my own efforts to change maternity care. For 40 years or more, Doris has been a tireless and brilliant consumer advocate and spokesperson in her work to reform maternity practices in North America. The classic and landmark manual, Family-Centered Maternity Care with a Central Nursery, by Doris and her ever-supportive husband John, published in 1971 by the International Childbirth Education Association (ICEA), literally became my maternity care ‘‘bible'’ and remains one of the most valuable items in my library. Her monographs, The Cultural Warping of Childbirth (1972), The Pregnant Patient's Bill of Rights (c1971), and How the FDA Determines the ‘‘Safety'’ of Drugs—Just How Safe is ‘‘Safe'’? (1980) have had lasting influence. Doris and John were co-presidents of ICEA from 1970 to 1972. Later they established the American Foundation for Maternal and Child Health, and convened an outstanding series of conferences in New York City on obstetrics management and birth outcomes. Over the years Doris and I worked together on many state and national health advisory groups. She has fought for reforms in informed consent and patients’ rights, and frequently gave testimony and lobbied the United States government, especially the Food and Drug Administration, on the safety of obstetric drugs and need for patient package inserts. Her enduring work has given major impetus to improvements in women's reproductive health and maternity care both in the United States and abroad. John Kennell and Marshall Klaus are two remarkable neonatologists who have probably stimulated more reforms in the humane care of newborns and their families than anyone else. Their landmark research paper, ‘‘Maternal Attachment: Importance of the First Post-partum Days” (N Engl J Med 1972;286:460–463) and their book, Maternal-Infant Bonding (1976), changed hospital care of infants forever and also, incidentally, the direction of my life's interest and work. Books in maternity care were often sent my way when I was employed as a free-lance medical book editor for The C.V. Mosby Company in St. Louis, and in 1975, the extraordinary manuscript of Maternal-Infant Bonding arrived on my doorstep and into my hands. Because of my interest and knowledge of the topic, the publishing company, in an unusual step, agreed for me to talk to, and then meet the authors in Cleveland to visit their hospital and discuss the book. Thus, one memorable night, I spent 5 hours or so in a motel bedroom with John and Marshall, intensely re-working the manuscript. And so our friendship began! Together these two pediatricians, through their research and writing, have brought to the world's attention the importance of the maternal-infant bonding process, the significance of the first minutes and days after childbirth to mother and newborn, the need to humanize and improve hospital care of sick and premature newborns, the importance of using doulas to attend mothers in labor, and more. Marshall, with his wife Phyllis, wrote The Amazing Newborn (1985), and together with John, the noteworthy Mothering the Mother (1993) and Bonding: Building the Foundations of Secure Attachment and Independence (1995). Birth and its readers have benefited enormously from their work and expertise—Marshall Klaus has been a valued and long-standing member of Birth‘s Editorial Board, and he, John, and Phyllis continue to author articles and review manuscripts for the journal. But, most of all, Marshall and John forever humanized and changed the care of newborns so that families could have the best possible start in life. I am one of the worldwide legions of Sheila Kitzinger admirers and individuals whose work has long been influenced by her writing, teachings, and example. Sheila, world-famous childbirth educator, consumer advocate, author, and activist, is an institution all by herself. Her countless books on pregnancy, childbirth, and reproductive health have found their way into homes all over the world. In England and many other countries, she has campaigned relentlessly for the rights of childbearing women, for the elimination of unnecessary medical intervention, for midwifery, and for reforms in health care and services, using every strategy at her disposal—lobbying the government, institutions, and health professions; working the media; testifying for expert panels; bending the ear of whoever will listen; locking horns with the powerful; and always writing, lecturing, and energizing others in her causes. After sharing several conferences with Sheila and marveling at her ability to captivate her listeners, I had the pleasure of visiting her splendid home near Oxford, where I first discovered another realm of her special talents—art and textiles. Some of this work is included in Sheila's recent Rediscovering Birth (2000), an elegant and exciting book that reveals childbirth in all its emotional and physical power. Sheila, through her writing and teaching, more than anyone else, has influenced individual women to change the way they birth their babies. We are tremendously fortunate that Sheila has contributed to Birth for many years, and her lively ‘‘Letter from Europe'’ regularly provides readers with updates and provocative commentary about current birth issues. In education and advocacy for childbirth, without a doubt, she is paramount. One of the world's leading authorities on breastfeeding and human lactation, neonatologist Ruth Lawrence began her illustrious medical career in 1950 at the famed Yale-New Haven Hospital—home of the country's first ‘‘rooming-in'’ unit under Edith Jackson. Ruth and I met in the late 1970s at the University of Rochester Medical Center (when I was in my consumer advocacy role) to talk about the best ways to meet the emotional and social needs of young hospitalized children. At the time, as I mentioned earlier, I was working as a medical book editor for The C.V. Mosby Company. Then, one day Ruth telephoned me to ask if I thought that a breastfeeding guide for health professionals would be of interest to medical publishers. Well! I remember how excited I was—nothing like that was available, and I couldn't phone Mosby fast enough to put publisher and author together! The rest, as they say, is history, and Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession (1980) is now in its fifth edition, one of Mosby's most influential and best-selling texts. Since then, I have enjoyed working with Ruth on various maternal-child health and breastfeeding advisory groups in New York State and nationally. She has been an essential member of the Birth Editorial Board since 1990 and speaker at Birth conferences. One of her notable efforts to improve breastfeeding rates nationwide was organizing and chairing the U.S. Surgeon General's Workshop on Breastfeeding and Human Lactation in1984. Later she was instrumental in developing the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative in the United States. Indeed, her advocacy for breastfeeding and her tireless work educating professionals for 45 years or more have contributed enormously to scientific understanding of human lactation and, thereby, both to the improvement in breastfeeding rates in the United States and to the health of mothers and babies. Nancy Sutherland, consumer advocate and activist extraordinaire, and now aged 93 years, of Auckland, New Zealand, is not only my mother, but also has been my role model and inspiration all my life. She was years ahead of her time in the health and social welfare causes and campaigns to which she devoted her life—education for childbirth and parenting, antenatal exercises, children's rights, rooming-in, pregnant teenagers, single mothers, breastfeeding, emotional needs of hospitalized children, mother-infant attachment, sex education, family planning, home birth, child care centers, social welfare reform, services for the elderly, and more. She is the mother of five—two sets of twins and one single—and was New Zealand's first mother to use the Grantly Dick-Read method of natural childbirth for her first set of twins in 1938. She was a powerful speaker, fluent writer, and masterful tactician—talents that stood her well in politics as a City Councillor in Christchurch in the 1970s, when she implemented many progressive social welfare reforms. She was a co-founder of the Christchurch Parents Centre and later established the Family Life Education Council. Her work was meticulously researched, and it always amazed me that she wrote her many articles and radio broadcasts by hand, copied on carbon paper that was reused until it fell apart. She never had a typewriter. She refused to accept awards—it was enough for her to do what she had set out to do, and then to move on to whatever had to be done next. Nancy is a truly remarkable woman and pioneer, who championed and fought for many reforms in the health and well-being of mothers, children, families, and the elderly in New Zealand during her long life. Her achievements have made me enormously proud. I have been privileged to know and work with these women and men during the past 35 years. Each has left an indelible mark in the field of maternal and newborn health care, and has made a significant and positive difference in the lives of countless mothers, babies, and families. I thought that Birth readers might like to know some of these people too. The Editor and Editorial Board of Birth are saddened to inform our readers of the recent sudden death of David A. Nagey, MD, PhD, at age 51 years, on April 21. David has been a valued and active member of the Birth Editorial Board for the past 5 years. He was Director of Perinatal Outreach, Associate Professor in the Departments of Gynecology and Obstetrics and Maternal and Child Health at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, and consulting perinatologist for 10 Maryland hospitals. He was a recognized authority in the management of high-risk pregnancies, and his mission was to provide consultant care on a local level through outreach. His colleagues observed that David Nagey showed unwavering personal commitment and tireless professionalism in his pursuit of excellence in perinatal care. ‘‘He was one of the most significant contributors to the care of mothers and children in the state. He was humble, compassionate, and a true leader,‘’ said Harold E. Fox, MD, professor and director of gynecology and obstetrics at Hopkins. A special fund has been set up in his memory. Donations can be sent to The David A. Nagey Memorial Fund for Perinatal Outreach, C/o Ms. Barbara Chase, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 600 N. Wolfe St., Phipps 254, Baltimore, MD 21287. It was an honor to have David serve on the Editorial Board of Birth. He always brought a thoughtful, broad-based, and scholarly input to the journal, touched often with a dry wit, and his contributions and support will be greatly missed.

The relation between maternal behavior and neurocognitive development is complex and may depend on the task context. We examined 5-month-old infant frontal EEG, maternal intrusiveness (MI) evaluated during two play contexts at 5 and 10 months, and a battery of executive function (EF) tasks completed at 48 months to evaluate if MI during infancy and infant neural function interacted to predict later cognition. Infant frontal EEG was a predictor of 4-year EF. MI during structured play at both 5 and 10 months predicted preschool EF, and MI during unstructured did not have a main effect on EF but showed a potential moderating effect of infant EEG on later EF. The pattern changed between ages, with MI during structured play at 5 months showing a positive association with age 4 EF, whereas MI during structured play at 10 months had a negative association with age 4 EF. We demonstrate differences in the context of maternal behavior used to predict childhood EF, highlighting the importance of considering parenting context in EF development.

About 15% of mothers suffer from postpartum psychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety, or psychosis. Numerous studies have shown maternal caregiving behavior to be negatively affected under these circumstances. The current study sets out to shed light on specific caregiving behaviors of affected mothers in the context of parental mental illness at an early stage. There are several methods to assess maternal caregiving behavior in terms of sensitivity. However, all of them have limitations regarding the peculiarities of mothers with postpartum disorders, that is, changes in affect regulation, and the early onset of the disorder postpartum. With the current study, we provide an adapted method to assess maternal sensitivity based on methods recently approved in attachment research. Two groups of mothers, who were either healthy or had different postpartum disorders, were recorded on video during interactions with their infants. Behaviors were rated regarding responsiveness, promptness, appropriateness, intrusiveness, and positive and negative affect. A first analysis revealed an increased number of deficits on all subscales in mothers with postpartum psychiatric disorders as compared to healthy mothers. Depressive mothers with a single diagnosis had lower scores in responsiveness, promptness, and appropriateness and higher scores on intrusiveness as compared to those in healthy mothers. Here, maternal behavior appears more parent-centered, whereas affect seemed to be relatively unharmed. Moreover, as compared to healthy mothers, mothers with comorbid depression and anxiety symptomatology achieved lower scores on responsiveness, appropriateness, and positive affect and higher scores on intrusiveness and negative affect. It is suggested, that increased deficits are related to the severity of illness in mothers with comorbidities. Results on promptness indicate that these mothers are still capable of maintaining higher vigilance to infant cues. Variance in maternal behavior was relatively high in clinical mothers, showing that some of them are well capable of behaving in a sensitive manner toward their child. One strength of our adapted method is that particular aspects of sensitive parent–child interactions are assessed separately. This may shed light on specific behavior patterns of different postpartum psychiatric disorders, which may in turn relate to specific child outcomes. The manual is open for usage, while reliability testing is required.

Research Findings: This study considered the interplay between infant temperament and maternal caregiving behaviors in relation to early language. A total of 118 mother–infant dyads participated in the study. Mothers rated infant positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), and maternal behaviors were coded during a free-play task when infants were 10 months old. Infant expressive language (EL) and receptive language (RL) were assessed at 14 months of age. Findings revealed significant outcomes for EL but not RL. The association between maternal support and EL was positive for infants with higher PA and negative for infants lower in PA. There was a negative association between maternal intrusiveness and EL for infants higher in PA and NA; this association was positive for infants lower in PA and NA. Practice or Policy: Infants who express more PA and NA may benefit from more supportive and less intrusive parenting with regard to EL development. Infants who express less affect do not appear to benefit from more involved caregiving in regard to EL development. Because early language has implications for academic achievement in elementary school and beyond, these findings highlight the importance of understanding individual and contextual factors that impact early language.