Abstract

PIP: A predictive method involving the assessment of prebirth functioning and the anticipated quality of parenting is described and developed in order to facilitate identifications of family at risk for future parenting. The association between these predictions and selected outcome criteria was studied in a representative sample of 46 US families, who were followed from mid-pregnancy to infant age of 2 years. Both the quantitative and qualitative results support the hypotheses that those families where mother and father were both characterized during the prebirth assessments as above average on adaptation-competence, capacity for relationships, and their positive view of their marriage, and who were expected to provide an optimal parent care environment, did in fact enhance a mother-infant relationship charcterized by positive mutuality and responsiveness. The most efficient predictor of positive mother-infant mutuality was the father's positive experience of the marriage. The mother's verbal I.Q. correlates significantly with maternal adaptation-competence, which in turn correlates with positive mother-infant mutuality. It is assumed that the prebirth assessments and predictions, even though global in nature, effectively reflect a profile of family system and individual characteristics that are likely to enhance the development of positive mother-infant mutuality. The authors stress "enhance" because the characteristics of the infant, such as his or her irritability, are also going to influence the quality of the emerging transaction.