Maternal and child characteristics associated with mothers' perceptions of their high risk/developmentally delayed infants

Abstract

Mothers of 46 high risk infants, many of whom were developmentally delayed, were visited in their homes at approximately 9 months post-expected-date-of-delivery. The Perception of Baby Temperament (PBT) scales and the Profile of Mood States were administered and an observation of infant, parent, and parent-infant behavior was made. Infants were most likely to receive higher PBT scores on more than one scale if their mothers were more highly educated and reported lesser degrees of depression and anxiety. Infants who were perceived as more active and approaching by their mothers tended to be rated as more responsive by the observer and to show less developmental delay. Mothers who rated their infants as more active tended to show greater responsiveness to the infant and to participate in reciprocal activities with the infant more frequently during the home visit. These findings demonstrate that mothers' perceptions of high risk/developmentally delayed infant temperament are associated with similar categories of variables found to correlate with maternal perceptions of developmentally normal infant temperament.