Psychology ETDs

Publication Date

Fall 11-8-2019

Abstract

Infants who experience sensitive caregiving are at lower risk for numerous adverse outcomes. This is especially true for infants born preterm, leading them to be more susceptible to risks associated with poorer quality caregiving. Some research suggests that preterm and full term infants differ on in temperament, which may contribute to findings that caregivers of preterm infants are often found to display less sensitive responding to their infants. To investigate the associations between term status, infant temperament, and maternal behavior, videotaped play interactions and a measure of temperament, the Infant Behavior Questionnaire were coded for samples of preterm and full term infants at nine months (corrected) age. Results suggest that mothers of preterm and full term infants do differ significantly in responding to their infants but that these results cannot be explained by infant temperament. Preterm status and sociodemographic risk emerged as consistently associated with domains of maternal behavior.

Degree Name

Psychology

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Psychology

First Committee Member (Chair)

Sarah Erickson

Second Committee Member

Davood Tofighi

Third Committee Member

Jean Lowe

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

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