ABSTRACT
The present study examined how mothers signal shared feeling-states to their infants. Affect attunement and imitation were investigated cross-culturally in 39 mother-infant dyads from Sweden (N = 22) and the former Yugoslavia (N = 17) during the first year of life. Video-recordings of playful interaction between mothers and their infants were analysed using the Affect Attunement Protocol. A significant negative association between imitation and age was found, while there was a significant positive association between affect attunement and age. Single occurrences of affect attunement appeared already at two or three months of age, and by 6 months of age episodes of affect attunement were more common than imitation. Frequencies of imitation and affect attunement were similar cross-culturally and in terms of gender, although there was a significant interaction between age and gender. The results suggest that the signalling of shared feeling-states is not a static process. Mothers do not signal shared feeling-states in the same manner at different ages. Imitation is the most important process during the earliest months, but is superseded by affect attunement earlier than previously thought. The functional implications of this developmental variation are discussed.
Subject(s)
Affect , Imitative Behavior , Maternal Behavior/psychology , Mother-Child Relations/ethnology , Nonverbal Communication/psychology , Age Factors , Analysis of Variance , Cross-Cultural Comparison , Cultural Characteristics , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Maternal Behavior/ethnology , Sex Factors , Sweden/ethnology , Yugoslavia/ethnologyABSTRACT
In a randomized cross-over study, serum and urinary aluminum (A1) was measured in 8 patients with predialysis chronic renal failure. Samples were taken after ingestion of an A1-containing phosphate binder (ACPB) with either water or 7% citric acid, and A1 was analyzed by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. Both serum levels and urinary excretion of A1 increased markedly after ingestion of ACPB with citric acid. Only urinary A1 excretion increased significantly after ACPB with water. Citric acid alone caused no change in serum concentration or urinary excretion of A1. The serum A1 increase after ACPB with citric acid indicates that absorption of A1 is taking place in both upper and lower intestines. Marked individual variations in gastrointestinal A1 absorption, independent of kidney function, were seen after intake of ACPB with citric acid. These variations could not be predicted from changes in serum concentrations or from urinary excretion of A1 after intake of ACPB with water. Intake of ACPB caused a significant decrease in serum phosphate.
