Soothing Begets Self-Soothing: An Examination of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Contributions to Emerging Regulatory Functioning during Infancy

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

Introduction. Infancy is a particularly sensitive period for emerging regulatory processes known to be important for adaptive social and behavioral functioning as well as academic success later in life (Calkins & Leerkes, 2011). The ability to self-comfort during infancy is a precursor to later self-regulatory functioning (Kopp, 1982). This study investigates the role of both extrinsic (e.g., maternal soothing behavior) and intrinsic factors (e.g., temperament) in understanding infant self-comforting behavior at age 24 weeks. The primary aim of the current study was to investigate whether maternal comforting behavior predicts longitudinally to infant self-soothing behavior. Although other studies have examined the degree to which parents engage in specific types of comforting behaviors to better understand individual infant regulatory strategies (Crockenberg & Leerkes, 2004), none have examined the unique contributions of both duration and frequency of comforting. Two aspects of maternal comforting (i.e., frequency and duration) were considered to contribute a more nuanced understanding of how maternal comforting may relate to infant’s own soothing ability.

Hypotheses. It was predicted that infants with mothers who engage in more comforting behaviors (i.e., longer and more frequent bouts) when infants are 12 weeks old will soothe more themselves by age 24 weeks.

Sample. The sample includes 322 low-income, under-resourced Mexican American mothers and their infants (53.7% female) recruited as part of larger, longitudinal investigation in the Southwest. The majority of mothers (86.1%) were born in Mexico and spoke Spanish as their primary language (82.0%).

Procedure. Mothers completed home visits when infants were 12 and 24 weeks old. During this home visit, research assistants video recorded mothers interacting with their infants in their homes during specified tasks (free play, teaching, peekaboo). Recorded mother-infant interactions were later coded for second-by-second maternal comforting, infant self-soothing, and negative affect using Noldus software, yielding frequency and duration scores averaged across all tasks. Structural equation modeling was performed with infant self-comforting at 24 weeks regressed on maternal comforting and infant self-soothing at 12 weeks, controlling for infant temperament, negative affect, and number of other children in the home.

Results/Discussion. See Table 1 for descriptive statistics. Results are reported in Figure 2. Infants high on temperamental regulation were more likely to engage in fewer bouts of self-soothing at 24 weeks. Further, less frequent and longer durations of infant self-soothing at 12 weeks predicted longer durations of self-soothing at 24 weeks. More frequent bouts of self-soothing at 24 weeks, in contrast, were predicted by less frequent and longer durations of maternal soothing. It is possible that mothers who spend more time soothing their infants are less skilled at successfully reducing their infants’ distress, and their infants in turn need to self-soothe more often. In contrast, mothers who are particularly sensitive to infant arousal cues may be quicker and more frequent in responding.

Conclusion. This study furthers our understanding of how (and when) parents should respond to their infants when they are fussy to support their regulatory development and can inform specific, practical recommendations provided to parents by pediatricians and early interventionists.

Authors

• Lauren van Huisstede, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Laura K. Winstone-Weide, University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author