Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access originally published online on August 3, 2005
Journal of Pediatric Psychology 2006 31(6):597-607; doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsj051
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prematurity Stereotyping and Mothers Interactions With Their Premature and Full-Term Infants During the First Year
1 Virginia Commonwealth University, 2 West Virginia University, 3 Cincinnati Childrens Hospital, 4 University at Albany, and 5 Shippensburg University Counseling Center
All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Marilyn Stern, PhD, Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, PO Box 842018, Richmond, Virginia 23284. E-mail: mstern{at}vcu.edu.
Received June 8, 2005; revisions received June 30, 2005; accepted July 5, 2005
Objective To longitudinally assess stability and correlates of prematurity stereotyping and perceptions of infant vulnerability in mothers of premature (N = 56) and full-term (N = 59) infants. Method At 5, 9, and 12 months, mothers rated videotapes of unfamiliar infants with a full-term label (FTL) or a preterm label (PL), interacted with their own infant, and completed other questionnaires. A subgroup of infants were administered a developmental assessment at 32 months. Results Mothers rated PL infants more negatively than FTL infants at each age. Individual differences in stereotyping were not stable. Mothers who negatively rated infants labeled with the same birth status of their own infants exhibited more negative interactive behaviors with their infants. Mothers who viewed their own infant as more vulnerable and who showed more prematurity stereotyping at 5 months had infants with lower 32-month mental scores. Conclusions The results suggest an association between early maternal cognitions and both contemporaneous maternal behavior and later child developmental outcomes.
Key words: motherinfant interactions; perceived vulnerability; premature infants; prematurity stereotyping.