Mothers' and fathers' perceptions of three year olds' attachment behavior.

This investigation reports on the antecedents and cross-sectional predictors of young children's attachment security based on Q-sort methodology, with particular consideration of the convergence of parental reports. Mothers' and fathers' ratings of child temperament and child behavior problems, as well as each parent's construction of the marital relationship and his/her affective state, were examined in relation to Q-sort assessments of mother-child and father-child attachment security. Generally, a moderate degree of convergence between maternal and paternal perceptions of attachment security was found; this association was stronger than the correlations reported based on studies using the Strange Situation procedure at 12 to 18 months of age. Antecedent relationships between ratings of parental affective symptoms, as well as ratings of marital quality and security of attachment, were stronger for fathers than for mothers. These findings may suggest closer links for fathers than for mothers between parental nurturing responses and psychological state, or they may reveal a stronger subjective bias for fathers inherent in the Q-sort method.

Infant temperament and cardiac vagal tone: assessments at twelve weeks of age.

Sixty 12-week-old infants participated in a laboratory study to explore the relations between temperament and cardiac vagal tone. Temperament was evaluated via laboratory observations and maternal ratings. Cardiac vagal tone, measured as the amplitude of respiratory sinus arrhythmia, was quantified from beat-to-beat heart period data collected during a resting baseline period and during the laboratory assessment of temperament. Specific hypotheses were investigated relating temperament to both basal cardiac vagal tone and changes in cardiac vagal tone during social/attention challenges. Infants with higher baseline cardiac vagal tone were rated in the laboratory as showing fewer negative behaviors and were less disrupted by the experimental procedure. Infants who decreased cardiac vagal tone during the laboratory assessment were rated on maternal report temperament scales as having longer attention spans, and being more easily soothed.

Prenatal maternal reactivity to infant cries predicts postnatal perceptions of infant temperament and marriage appraisal.

In a sample of 60 primiparous women, cardiac response and ratings of subjective aversiveness to recordings of unfamiliar infant cries were studied at 32 weeks' gestation. Regression analyses were used to examine relations between cardiac acceleration and subjective aversiveness and 3 groups of postnatal dependent variables: perception of infant temperament, the mother's emotional state, and her appraisal of her marriage. Mothers who prenatally rated the cry recordings as more aversive postnatally described their 3-month-old infants as more fussy/difficult and unpredictable. With statistical control for prenatal variation on the emotional state and marital outcome measures, cardiac acceleration predicted later marital quality. Women who showed greater cardiac acceleration to the cries described their postnatal marital relationships more negatively.

Secular trends in human sex ratios : Their influence on individual and family behavior.

Secular change in sex ratios is examined in relation to experience in the family. Two theoretical perspectives are outlined: Guttentag and Secord's (1983) adaptation of social exchange theory, and sexual selection theory. Because of large-scale change in number of births and typical age differentials between men and women at marriage, low sex ratios at couple formation ages existed in the U.S. between 1965 and the early 1980s. The currently high sex ratios, however, will persist until the end of the century. High sex ratios appear to be associated with lower divorce rates, male commitment to careers that promise economic rewards, male willingness to engage in child care, higher fertility, and higher rates of sexual violence. Sexual selection theory calls attention to intrasexual competition in the numerically larger sex.

Perinatal loss and parental bereavement.

The authors studied 25 middle-class pregnant women and their husbands who had experienced perinatal losses (16 miscarriages, seven stillbirths, and two neonatal deaths) within the previous 2 years. The Perinatal Bereavement Scale was designed to determine whether parents who have experienced a late perinatal loss (stillbirth or neonatal death) display more unresolved grief during a subsequent pregnancy and during the postnatal period than parents who have experienced a miscarriage. A three-factor repeated measures analysis of variance indicated significantly greater grief for the late-loss group, for the mothers, and during the pregnancy preceding the birth of the viable child.

Paternal care of infants during maternal separations: associations with father-infant interaction at one year.

Observations of father-infant interaction in the home environment at age one year were compared for two groups of infants that in the months preceding the observations differed in the amount of experience they had with their fathers when the mother was outside the home. The sample consisted of 46 middle-class families, each with a first-born infant (23 males, 23 females). Estimates of the amount of experience the father had with the infant when the mother was outside the home were obtained from detailed maternal interviews that addressed all mother-infant separations. At one year, fathers who provided more extensive care in the absence of the mother showed a higher degree of breadth or variety in their patterns of engaging the infant and higher rates of behavior directed to the infant. These infants showed higher rates of responding to their fathers and more frequent instances of exploratory behavior. Distinctive patterns of differences were evident in the behavior of fathers and infants who had contrasting amounts of experience with each other in social contexts without the mother.

Depressed mood in new fathers: associations with parent-infant interaction.

In a sample of 37 middle-class families with firstborn 4-month-old infants, 52% of the fathers reported experiencing blues at some point after the birth of the baby. Observed behavior was found to differ between families in which the father reported eight or more days of blues (Group 2) as opposed to no blues (Group 1). Parents in Group 2 addressed fewer vocalizations to their babies. Group 2 fathers showed diminished proximity with their babies while their wives showed heightened proximity. Fathers in Group 2 engaged in less caregiving and touched their babies less than did their wives, while fathers in Group 1 engaged in more of this behavior than did their wives. Mothers and fathers in Group 2 were less likely to focus on the baby over other topics in their conversations with each other than the parents in Group 1. Few differences were found between the two groups on interview questions addressed to the fathers. However, those differences that were found, in addition to Group 2 fathers' descriptions of factors contributing to their blues, pointed to the spouse relationship as an area of concern.

Infant development in father-absent families.

In a sample of 55 black infants (age 5-6 months) living in the inner city in lower socioeconomic circumstances, 27 infants were being reared by their mothers in single-parent families. Male infants who had experienced minimal interaction with their fathers were significantly lower on the Bayley Mental Developmental Index and in measures of social responsiveness, secondary circular reactions, and preferences for novel stimuli. Female infants in this sample appeared unaffected by the father's presence or absence. After weighing alternative interpretations of the findings, we conclude that the father is a significant component in the early environment and that both observational studies and conceptual development of the role of the father in infancy are needed.