The relationship between maternal smartphone use, physiological responses, and gaze patterns during breastfeeding and face-to-face interactions with infant.

Lilach Graff Nomkin,Ilanit Gordon,Julie Jeannette Gros-Louis

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0257956

Lilach Graff Nomkin, Ilanit Gordon + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257956

Copy DOI

Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Oct 8, 2021
Citations: 4	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Bar-Ilan University

Abstract

Smartphone use during parent-child interactions is highly prevalent, however, there is a lack of scientific knowledge on how smartphone use during breastfeeding or face-to-face interactions may modulate mothers’ attentive responsiveness towards the infant as well as maternal physiological arousal. In the present study, we provide the first evidence for the influence of the smartphone on maternal physiological responses and her attention towards the infant during breastfeeding and face-to-face interactions. Twenty breastfeeding mothers and their infants participated in this lab study during which electrodermal activity, cardiograph impedance, and gaze patterns were monitored in breastfeeding and face-to-face interactions with three conditions manipulating the level of maternal smartphone involvement. We report that mothers’ gaze toward their infants decreased when breastfeeding while using the smartphone compared to face-to-face interaction. Further, we show that greater maternal electrodermal activity and cardiac output were related to longer maternal gaze fixation toward the smartphone during breastfeeding. Finally, results indicate that mothers’ smartphone addiction levels were negatively correlated with electrodermal activity during breastfeeding. This study provides an initial basis for much required further research that will explore the influence of smartphone use on maternal biobehavioral responses in this digital age and the consequences for infant cognitive, emotional, and social development.

Highlights

The smartphone has become a dominant competitor for attention in our daily lives [1,2,3], potentially disrupting maternal sensitivity and attentive responsivity during mother-child interactions [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11], especially in the critical infancy period [12] when the foundations of social interactions begin to form [13]
A significant effect was found for the experimental conditions [F(2,26) = 3.37, p = .05, partial eta2 = .21], such that tonic SCL was higher in the smartphone mute condition (M = 4.58, SD = 0.97) compared to the smartphone use condition (M = 3.80, SD = 0.97)
During breastfeeding: We found that tonic SCL during smartphone use and tonic SCL when the smartphone was on mute were negatively related to addiction scores (r = -.56, p = .01; r = -.58, p = .02 respectively)

Summary

Introduction

The smartphone has become a dominant competitor for attention in our daily lives [1,2,3], potentially disrupting maternal sensitivity and attentive responsivity during mother-child interactions [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11], especially in the critical infancy period [12] when the foundations of social interactions begin to form [13]. Despite the smartphone’s prevalence in everyday situations, little is known regarding its impact on maternal responsivity during early-life interactions wit

Objectives

Results

Conclusion