1. Maternal Touch as a Channel of Communication at Age Four Months: Variations by Infant Gender and Maternal Depression.
- Author
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Stepakoff, Shanee and Beebe, Beatrice
- Subjects
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RESEARCH funding , *TOUCH , *SEX distribution , *SOCIAL factors , *PARENTING , *NONVERBAL communication , *PSYCHOLOGY of mothers , *MOTHER-child relationship , *MOTHERHOOD , *COMPARATIVE studies , *MENTAL depression , *VIDEO recording , *FRIENDSHIP - Abstract
Tactile contact is one of the earliest nonverbal channels through which parents shape the ways their sons and daughters feel in their own bodies and experience the relational world. In this study, we sought to explore the nuances of early tactile communication by examining a community sample of 126 mothers during interactions with their 4-month-old infants. Mothers and their infants were videotaped in the laboratory while engaging in face-to-face play. Each second of the first 2.5 min of videotaped interaction was assigned a 10-digit code for maternal tactile behavior, using the COSYMIT (Coding System for Mother-Infant Touch) to identify specific modes of touch. We then statistically examined the possibility that maternal tactile behavior would differ according to infant gender and maternal depression status. We found that infant gender and maternal depression were each significant predictors of mother-infant tactual patterns. Mothers interacting with a boy touched central body locations and varied their touch more than did those interacting with a girl. Mothers who reported depressive symptoms engaged in substantially less affectionate and more object-mediated touch than their non-depressed counterparts. These findings suggest that tactile behavior may serve as an early prelinguistic channel by which mothers transmit affective and sociocultural "messages" to their infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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