Mother-infant interaction during the first year: effects of situation, maternal mental illness, and demographic factors

Abstract

Home observations of mother-infant interaction were done for 2 hours on 2 consecutive days in a large group of families at 4 and 12 months of age. The observations were analyzed for situation (e.g. caretaking or close). as well as grouping factors of maternal mental illness. social status. sex of child. and birth order. Large main effects for situation were uniformly found for mother-interactive and child-interactive behaviors. Some main effects of social status were found. but not for maternal mental illness. In addition. there were some social status or maternal mental illness by situation interactions. Sex differences were not found to be greater than expected by chance. Mental illness and social status. although related to each other. did not interact in their effect on interactive behavior. Proportion of variance explained by situation far outweighed that for any other factor. These data highlight the importance of considering contextual factors in the design and interpretation of interaction studies.