Amie Ashley Hane, Stanley Feldstein, Valerie H. Dernetz
The relation between mother–infant coordinated interpersonal timing,
an automated microanalytic measure of dyadic vocal coordination, and maternal
sensitivity was explored. Thirty-five mothers and their developmentally normal
4-month-old infants were audio-recorded during a 20-min laboratory vocal interaction
session, that was later analyzed for degree of vocal coordination. Maternal
Sensitivity ratings (Ainsworth & Bell, 1969) were based on a video-taped
45-min unstructured laboratory interaction period. A significant curvilinear
relation between the degree to which mother coordinated her noninterruptive
co-occurring speech to that of her infant was found and revealed that mothers
highest in sensitivity were characterized by moderate levels of coordination.
Examining mother-infant interaction at the specific behavioral level, while
incorporating tests of nonlinear trends, may provide important information about
the nature of sensitive parenting.
[Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. 32 (5): 525-539, September 2003 ]