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. 2018 Jun:121:21-26.
doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2018.04.018. Epub 2018 May 3.

Relationship between mother-infant mutual dyadic responsiveness and premature infant development as measured by the Bayley III at 6 weeks corrected age

Rosemary C White-Traut  1 , Kristin M Rankin  2 , Joe Yoder  3 , Laura Zawacki  4 , Suzann Campbell  5 , Karen Kavanaugh  6 , Debra Brandon  7 , Kathleen F Norr  3
Affiliations

Relationship between mother-infant mutual dyadic responsiveness and premature infant development as measured by the Bayley III at 6 weeks corrected age

Rosemary C White-Traut et al. Early Hum Dev. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The quality of mother-preterm infant interaction has been identified as a key factor in influencing the infant's later development and language acquisition. The relationship between mother-infant responsiveness and later development may be evident early in infancy, a time period which has been understudied.

Aim: Describe the relationship between mother-infant mutual dyadic responsiveness and premature infant development.

Design: This study employed a secondary analysis of data from the 6-week corrected age (CA) follow-up visit of the Hospital-Home Transition: Optimizing Prematures' Environment (H-HOPE) study, a randomized clinical trial testing the efficacy of a mother- and infant- focused intervention for improving outcomes among premature infants.

Subjects: Premature infants born between 29 and 34 weeks gestational age and their mothers who had social-environmental risks.

Outcome measures: At 6-weeks corrected age, a play session was coded for the quality of mutual responsiveness (Dyadic Mutuality Code). Development was assessed via the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd edition.

Results: Of 137 mother-infant dyads, high, medium and low mutual responsiveness was observed for 35.8%, 34.3% and 29.9%, respectively. Overall motor, language and cognitive scores were 115.8 (SD = 8.2), 108.0 (7.7) and 109.3 (7.9). Multivariable linear models showed infants in dyads with high versus low mutual responsiveness had higher scores on the motor (β = 3.07, p = 0.06) and language (β = 4.47, p = 0.006) scales.

Conclusion: High mutual responsiveness in mother-premature infant dyads is associated with significantly better language development and marginally better motor development.

Keywords: Language development; Mother-infant interaction; Motor development; Premature infant behavior during social interaction; Premature infants; Social responsiveness.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome.

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