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

• Published in: Early human development Vol. 121; pp. 21 - 26
• Main Authors: White-Traut, Rosemary C., Rankin, Kristin M., Yoder, Joe, Zawacki, Laura, Campbell, Suzann, Kavanaugh, Karen, Brandon, Debra, Norr, Kathleen F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.06.2018
• Subjects: Adult; Advanced Basic Science; Child Development; Developmental Disabilities - epidemiology; Developmental Disabilities - psychology; Female; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Premature - growth & development; Infant, Premature - psychology; Language development; Male; Mother-Child Relations; Mother-infant interaction; Motor development; Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine; Premature infant behavior during social interaction; Premature infants; Social responsiveness; Social Skills; Language development; Premature infant behavior during social interaction; Social responsiveness; Premature infants; Motor development; Mother-infant interaction
• ISSN: 0378-3782; 1872-6232; 1872-6232
• DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2018.04.018

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. Describe the relationship between mother-infant mutual dyadic responsiveness and premature infant development. 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. Premature infants born between 29 and 34 weeks gestational age and their mothers who had social-environmental risks. 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. 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. High mutual responsiveness in mother-premature infant dyads is associated with significantly better language development and marginally better motor development. •Establishing high quality mutual dyadic responsiveness is often hampered by the lack of clarity in cues and limited responsiveness frequently demonstrated by preterm infants, as well as the lack of understanding among their mothers about how to read and respond to their infants’ subtle cues.•Family social risk at birth and parent-child synchrony are key predictors of a child’s overall language development at 4 years of age.•Mutual dyadic responsiveness at 6-weeks corrected age has a significant positive relationship with the composite language scale of the Bayley-III Scales of Infant Development.•Race/ethnicity and infant morbidity were significantly associated with motor development, with infants of Latina mothers demonstrating significantly lower Bayley-III motor scores than infants of African-American mothers, and infants with higher morbidity demonstrated significantly lower motor scores.•The findings are significant because parenting style is a potentially modifiable influence that may promote improved developmental outcomes in children born preterm.