Subjective appraisal of infant crying.

How families appraise difficult situations contributes to later adaptive functioning. We have observed in both research and practice that when appraising their infants' crying, mothers often compared their own infants' crying to actual or supposed much worse infants. They typically appraised their infants to be crying less than average infants. This phenomenon, defined in the social psychology literature, is called downward comparison. Secondary analysis of an established data set was used to assess the extent of downward comparison and the identification of excessive crying among a sample of 193 primiparous mothers. Mothers appraised their own infants' crying to be less than that of the expected average infant. Mothers who identified their infants as excessive criers made less robust downward comparisons than did mothers who did not identify their infants as excessive criers. Nursing interventions that focus on supporting mothers' positive appraisal and promoting knowledge of infant behaviors, particularly infant crying, are proposed.

Dyadic affect regulation in three caregiving environments.

Investigation of patterns of mother-child affect across three caregiving groups indicated that both adolescent and adult high-social-risk mothers showed less individual positive affect than did adult low-social-risk mothers. High-social-risk adolescent mothers also showed more individual negative affect and participated with their children in more dyadically misregulated affect exchanges than did adult mothers from either high- or low-social-risk environments.

Failure to thrive: a parent-infant interaction perspective.

The purpose of this study was to prospectively study inpatients admitted for failure to thrive during their first year of life. Twelve infants with failure to thrive were studied and compared with 17 healthy controls. Mothers and infants with nonorganic failure to thrive scored lower on the Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale, reported more change in their lives, and less social support. The need for further research is discussed and suggestions for beginning level interventions are made.

Prevention of parenting alterations for women with low social support.

Parenting is a demanding role. Traditionally societies provide mechanisms for supporting major caregivers. For most parents the partner relationship is a source of refueling energy. In addition, often the extended family members provide support for the parent(s). In a prior research study dealing with early intervention where the family demonstrated double vulnerability, defined by pregnancy complications and social problems, we found the mothers most resistant to help were women who both had a lot of situational problems and few if any friends or family supporting them (Barnard et al. 1985). This finding prompted us to think about parents who did not have the supportive mechanisms cultures generally provide.

The impact of parental life change on the early development of children.

The effect of parental life change on children's mental and social development was explored in a longitudinal study of 193 families. Data on life changes, social supports, home environment, child development and interactions were obtained in a series of nine interviews from before the child's birth to 48 months after birth. For the sample as a whole, significant negative correlations were obtained between maternal life change in the first year of the child's life, and the child's IQ and receptive language at 4 years. An examination of subgroups revealed, however, that this relationship was strongest for mothers low in both personal coping resources and in social support. Findings suggest that both direct and indirect effects of maternal life change on the child contribute to the observed relationship.