Urgent engagement in 9/11 pregnant widows and their infants: Transmission of trauma

Mother-infant self- and interactive contingency at four months and infant cognition at one year: A view from microanalysis

Although a considerable literature documents associations between early mother-infant interaction and cognitive outcomes in the first years of life, few studies examine the contributions of contingently coordinated mother-infant interaction to infant cognitive development. This study examined associations between the temporal dynamics of the contingent coordination of mother-infant face-to-face interaction at 4 months and cognitive performance on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at age one year in a sample of (N = 100) Latina mother-infant pairs. Split-screen videotaped interactions were coded on a one second time base for the communication modalities of infant and mother gaze and facial affect, infant vocal affect, and mother touch. Multi-level time-series models evaluated self- and interactive contingent processes in these modalities and revealed 4-month patterns of interaction associated with higher one-year cognitive performance, not identified in prior studies. Infant and mother self-contingency, the moment-to-moment probability that the individual's prior behavior predicts the individual's future behavior, was the most robust measure associated with infant cognitive performance. Self-contingency findings showed that more varying infant behavior was optimal for higher infant cognitive performance, namely, greater modulation of negative affect; more stable maternal behavior was optimal for higher infant cognitive performance, namely, greater likelihood of sustaining positive facial affect. Although interactive contingency findings were sparse, they showed that, when mothers looked away, or dampened their faces to interest or mild negative facial affect, infants with higher 12-month cognitive performance were less likely to show negative vocal affect. We suggest that infant ability to modulate negative affect, and maternal ability to sustain positive affect, may be mutually reinforcing, together creating a dyadic climate that is associated with more optimal infant cognitive development.

Maternal contingent responses to distress facilitate infant soothing but not in mothers with depression or infants high in negative affect

Depression in mothers is consistently associated with reduced caregiving sensitivity and greater infant negative affect expression. The current article examined the real-time behavioral mechanisms underlying these associations using Granger causality time series analyses in a sample of mothers (N = 194; 86.60% White) at elevated risk for depression and their 3-month-old infants (46.40% female) living in a major metropolitan area in the United States. Overall, mothers contingently responded to infant distress, and mothers' responses to infant distress increased the likelihood of infant soothing in real time. However, there was no evidence for maternal contingent responding or facilitation of infant soothing in subsamples of mothers who were currently experiencing elevated depression symptoms or in mothers of highly negative infants. These findings suggest real-time behavioral mechanisms by which risks for maladaptive self-regulation may develop. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Associations of maternal postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms with 4-month infant and mother self- and interactive contingency of gaze, affect, and touch

Maternal depression and anxiety are associated with infant and mother self- and interactive difficulties. Although maternal depression and anxiety usually co-occur, studies taking this comorbidity into account are few. Despite some literature, we lack a detailed understanding of how maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms may be associated with patterns of mother-infant interaction. We examined associations of maternal postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms with infant and mother self- and interactive patterns by conducting multi-level time-series models in a sample of 56 Turkish mothers and their 4-month infants. Time-series models assessed the temporal dynamics of interaction via infant and mother self- and interactive contingency. Videotaped face-to-face interaction was coded on a 1s time base for infant and mother gaze and facial affect, infant vocal affect, and mother touch. Results indicated that mothers with high depressive symptoms were vulnerable to infants looking away, reacting with negative touch; their infants remained affectively midrange, metaphorically distancing themselves from mothers' affect. Mothers with high anxiety symptoms were vulnerable to infants becoming facially dampened and mothers reacted with negative facial affect. Altered infant and mother self-contingency patterns were largely opposite for maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms. These patterns describe foundational processes by which maternal postpartum mood is transmitted to the infant and which may affect infant development.

Maternal Childhood Maltreatment, Internal Working Models, and Perinatal Substance Use: Is There a Role for Hyperkatifeia? A Systematic Review

The parent-infant relationship is critical for socioemotional development and is adversely impacted by perinatal substance use. This systematic review posits that the mechanisms underlying these risks to mother-infant relationships center on 3 primary processes: (1) mothers' childhood maltreatment experiences; (2) attachment styles and consequent internal working models of interpersonal relationships; and (3) perinatal substance use. Further, the review considers the role of hyperkatifeia, or hypersensitivity to negative affect which occurs when people with substance use disorders are not using substances, and which drives the negative reinforcement in addiction. The authors performed a systematic review of articles (published 2000-2022) related to these constructs and their impact on mother-infant relationships and offspring outcomes, including original clinical research articles addressing relationships between these constructs, and excluding case studies, reviews, non-human animal studies, intervention studies, studies with fewer than 30% female-sex participants, clinical guidelines, studies limited to obstetric outcomes, mechanistic/biological studies, and studies with methodological issues precluding interpretation. Overall 1844 articles were screened, 377 were selected for full text review, and data were extracted from 157 articles. Results revealed strong relationships between mothers' childhood maltreatment experiences, less optimal internal working models, and increased risk for perinatal substance use, and importantly, all of these predictors interacted with hyperkatifeia and exerted a marked impact on mother-infant relationships with less data available on offspring outcomes. These data strongly support the need for future studies addressing the additive impact of maternal childhood maltreatment experiences, suboptimal internal working models, and perinatal substance use, with hyperkatifeia as a potential moderator, and their interacting effects on mother-infant socioemotional outcomes.

Associations between prenatal exposure to second hand smoke and infant self-regulation in a New York city longitudinal prospective birth cohort

BACKGROUND

Prenatal exposure to active or passive maternal smoking -also referred to as second hand smoke (SHS) exposure - are associated with externalizing behaviors, hyperactivity and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, problems which derive in part from altered self-regulation.

OBJECTIVES

Determine the influence of prenatal SHS on infant self-regulation using direct measures of infant behavior in 99 mothers from the Fair Start birth cohort followed at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health.

METHODS

Self-regulation was operationalized with self-contingency, the likelihood of maintaining/changing behavior from second-to-second, measured via split-screen video recordings of mothers playing with their 4-month infants. Mother and infant facial and vocal affect, gaze-on/-off partner, and mother touch were coded on a 1 s time-base. Third trimester prenatal SHS was assessed via self-report of a smoker in the home. Weighted-lag time-series models tested conditional effects of SHS-exposure (vs. non-exposure) on infant self-contingency for eight modality-pairings (e.g., mother gaze-infant gaze). Individual-seconds time-series models and analysis of predicted values at t₀ interrogated significant weighted-lag findings. Because prior findings link developmental risk factors with lowered self-contingency, we hypothesized that prenatal SHSSHS would predict lowered infant self-contingency.

RESULTS

Relative to non-exposed infants, those who were prenatally exposed to SHS had lower self-contingency (more variable behavior) in all eight models. Follow-up analyses showed that, given infants were likely to be in the most negative facial or vocal affect, those with prenatal SHS were more likely to make larger behavioral changes, moving into less negative or more positive affect and to alternate between gaze-on and off mother. Mothers who were exposed to SHS during pregnancy (vs. non-exposed) showed a similar, albeit less prevalent, pattern of larger changes out of negative facial affect.

CONCLUSION

These findings extend prior work linking prenatal SHS with youth dysregulated behavior, showing similar effects in infancy, a critically important period that sthe stage for future child development.

The vocal dialogue in 9/11 pregnant widows and their infants: Specificities of co-regulation

Mothers who were pregnant and widowed on September 11, 2001, and their 4-6-month infants (in utero on 9/11) were filmed during face-to-face interaction and their vocal dialogues were examined via microanalysis. Mothers were White, well-educated, mean age 34.3 years, and far from the World Trade Center site on 9/11; infants were 4-6 months, half female. We examined the bi-directional, moment-by-moment co-regulation of the timing of vocal dialogue, and particularly turn taking, in mother-infant and stranger-infant interactions, with time-series models. We analyzed the contingent coordination of durations of (1) vocalizations of the turn-holder, and (2) switching-pauses at the moment of the turn exchange. The switching pause is an aspect of the rhythm of the turn-holder who, after taking a turn, yields the floor to the partner through the switching pause. Turn taking is the lynchpin of dialogue, and the bi-directional contingent coordination of the switching-pause regulates the turn exchange. Both partners showed signs of risk and resilience. The 9/11 mothers did not coordinate the timing of turn taking with their infants, a highly unusual finding. In contrast, the 9/11 infants did coordinate the timing of turn taking with their mothers, and with the "stranger," forms of resilience. We propose that the 9/11 mother's difficulty coordinating with the infant's turn taking rhythm is a mode of transmission of her trauma to the infant. This work expands our knowledge of the specificities of co-regulation in the context of the 9/11 trauma.

The Other made visible: creative methods, inner figures and agents of change when working through early childhood trauma in adulthood

Jung used creative methods such as picture-making and active imagination to work with complexes and in particular trauma and dissociation. A clinical example of a 60-year-old woman demonstrates the benefits of using creative methods to work with issues linked to early life, such as somatic intrusions of early childhood trauma. Significant inner figures were delineated, including the original figure associated with the infantile dissociative split. The figures illustrated Jung's complex theory by making visible the nonverbal inner states that were initially feared and experienced as Other. Within an analytic relationship that included a working through, an innate creative process unfolded that permitted inner figures to become agents of change within her psyche. This paper highlights the value of Jung's complex theory and the use of creative methods when working with dissociation, regression and unformulated infantile states, even when the analysand is in the later stages of adulthood.

[The Prevailing Emphasis on the Quality of the Parent-Infant Relationship for Early Intervention]

Attachment theory is the buzzword in parenting guides and professional publications, and risk to the child's attachment development is widely used as the threshold for early intervention. Given the severe impact of inaccurately diagnosed attachment disturbances on the child's wellbeing (Granqvist et al., 2017), the valid assessment of the quality of the early parent-infant relationship is crucial.This is particularly relevant during the ongoing pandemic which specifically burdens young families. Based on the psychoanalytic understanding of the parent-infant relationship and its crucial importance for the infant's emerging self, this paper gives an introduction into the early relational development in infancy.The relevance of a psychodynamic diagnosis of relational disturbance in the first year is described using the Parent-Infant Relational Assessment Tool (PIRAT) Global Scales (Broughton, Hommel, the Parent-Infant Project, 2016; Hommel, 2018). Conceptualized at theAnna Freud Centre in London, the PIRAT was developed and validated, by the author.The prevailing emphasis on the importance of early intervention, and the evidence of the effectiveness of parent-infant psychotherapy in improving both parental functioning and fostering secure attachment relationships in young children (Barlow et al., 2013), support the clinical need to detect very early risks for parents and babies (Sleed, 2013).