Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access originally published online on March 3, 2005
Journal of Pediatric Psychology 2006 31(5):452-459; doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsi080
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Maternal Confidence in China: Association with Infant Neurobehaviors but not Sociodemographic Variables
1 Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 2 Department of Pediatrics, Sichuan Provincial Peoples Hospital, and 3 Department of ObstetricsGynecology, Sichuan Provincial Peoples Hospital
All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kek Khee Loo, Developmental Studies Program, Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 300 UCLA Medical Plaza Suite 3300, Los Angeles, California 90095. E-mail: kloo{at}mednet.ucla.edu.
Received February 18, 2004; revisions received May 14, 2004 and November 3, 2004; accepted November 6, 2004
Objective To examine the relations of sociodemographic factors and infant neurobehaviors to maternal confidence in China.Methods The Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale, Family APGAR, and Maternal Confidence in Caring for the Newborn scales were administered to 40 healthy, full-term neonates. Results Range and regulation of state, autonomic stability, and reflex cluster scores were positively correlated; the autonomic stability cluster score was negatively correlated with maternal confidence in meeting the infants social and instrumental needs. Educational level, age, income, satisfaction with family conditions, and infant sex were not associated with maternal confidence. Range of state and autonomic stability cluster scores predicted maternal confidence. Conclusions The infants abilities to tolerate stimuli, and to be consoled, were associated with maternal confidence. Also, maternal confidence was related to the recognition of infant autonomic cues. Family and sociodemographic variables were not associated with maternal confidence. The sex of the newborn did not affect maternal confidence.
Key words: behavior; Brazelton NBAS; culture; infants; mothers; parenting.