Abstract
Humans are born completely dependent on adult care for survival. To get the necessary support, newborns rely on socio-communicative abilities which have both innate and learned components. Maternal responsiveness (MR), as a critical aspect of mother-infant interaction, is a robust predictor of the acquisition of socio-communicative abilities. However, maternal responsiveness (MR) is influenced by parity, since mothers rely on a limited capacity of cognitive control for efficient attachment with their offspring. This fact is of particular concern for preterms, whose developing brain already faces many challenges due to their premature emergence from the womb's controlled environment and may still have to compete with siblings for mother's attention. Thus, in the present work, we aimed to understand how parity interferes with MR and whether it affects the development of socio-communicative abilities of preterm infants. We used the Social Interaction Rating Scale (SIRS) and the mother-child observation protocol in 18 dyads with gestational age <36 weeks. Dyads were separated into three groups: primiparous with twin pregnancy (TPM), primiparous (PM), and multiparous (MP). Dyadic behavior was evaluated at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Our results show that offspring size affects MR, but not the socio-communicative development of preterm infants during the first year, suggesting a level of resilience of brain systems supporting the attachment to caregivers.
Highlights
Preterm birth, characterized by delivery before 37 weeks of gestational age, is on the rise worldwide (Goldenberg et al, 2008; Abbott, 2015)
Preterm parents are susceptible to the Vulnerable Child Syndrome (VCS), whereby children who were at one point in their lives at risk of death continue to be perceived as being more vulnerable, resulting in heightened anxiety to the parents (Green and Solnit, 1964; Horwitz et al, 2015)
We studied how parity affects maternal responsiveness (MR) and, in turn, the socio-communicative development of preterm infants during the first year of life
Summary
Preterm birth, characterized by delivery before 37 weeks of gestational age, is on the rise worldwide (Goldenberg et al, 2008; Abbott, 2015). One reason is the decreased ability of preterm infants regarding attention control and facial expressivity during interactions (Bozzette, 2007) Another reason is that premature birth is both a stressful and emotionally demanding experience for parents (Singer et al, 1999; Forcada-Guex et al, 2011; Holditch-Davis et al, 2015; Horwitz et al, 2015; Ionio et al, 2016, 2017). Some preterms need to remain hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) soon after birth and are kept separate from parents who are unable to take care of them for days or even weeks Such prolonged periods of NICU hospitalization are associated with higher rates of postpartum depression (PPD) in preterm mothers (Tahirkheli et al, 2014; Vasa et al, 2014) and a powerful threat to parent-child attachment. Preterm parents are susceptible to the Vulnerable Child Syndrome (VCS), whereby children who were at one point in their lives at risk of death continue to be perceived as being more vulnerable, resulting in heightened anxiety to the parents (Green and Solnit, 1964; Horwitz et al, 2015)
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