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Not-so-Still Interaction: Parent-Infant Interaction During the Still-Face and Later Infant Attachment

Fri, April 9, 3:15 to 4:15pm EDT (3:15 to 4:15pm EDT), Virtual

Abstract

The Face-to-Face/Still-Face (FFSF; Tronick et al., 1978) is a widely-used assessment of infant reactions to an age-appropriate stressor, which have been associated with later infant attachment. In the still-face episode of the FFSF, the parent is asked to become unresponsive with the assumption that this will interrupt interaction. A specific premise of FFSF research is that parent-infant interaction ceases during the still-face, but there has been little empirical investigation of this premise. Additionally, no research has examined associations between levels of (possible) dyadic interaction during the still-face and later infant attachment. The present study asked whether parent-infant interaction is detectable during the SF and whether levels of SF interaction are associated with infant attachment outcomes.
Parent-infant dyads (n=73) completed the FFSF at 6 months. Parents sat facing their infant and were instructed to play with their infant for 3 minutes (FF), stop playing and maintain a neutral expression for 2 minutes (SF), and then resume play for another 3 minutes (RE). Infant and parent were video-recorded with synchronized cameras. Continuous second-by-second ratings of infant and parent affective valence, ranging from -100 (highly negative affect) to +100 (highly positive affect), were separately coded from video by 4 independent, trained coders using CARMA software (Girard, 2014). Interrater reliabilities using intraclass correlation estimates of the average measure were .94 for infant and .84 for parent. Mean affect ratings were used in analyses. Dyads returned at 15 months to complete the Strange Situation Procedure (Ainsworth et al., 1978). Analyses included 66 infants who were reliably classified by expert raters as secure (n=42), resistant (n=9), avoidant (n=4) and disorganized (n=11).
During the SF, zero-order Pearson correlations (r) between infant and parent second-by-second mean affect ratings (M=.17, SD=.24) indexed parent-infant interaction (Fig.1). Fisher R-to-Z transformations of the correlation coefficients were used in all analyses. A one-sample t-test revealed that there was a significant difference between parent-infant correlation (ZM =.19, SD=.31) and zero (no interaction), t(72)=5.35, p<.001 (Fig.2a), indicating the overall presence of parent-infant interaction during the SF. Univariate ANOVA yielded significant mean differences in levels of parent-infant correlation between future secure (M=.14, SD=.22), resistant (M=.13, SD=.27), avoidant (M=.21, SD=.10), and disorganized (M=.35, SD=.30) infants, F(3,62)=2.82, p=.046, ηp2=.12 (Fig.2b). A planned contrast testing indicated that the parent-infant correlations of future disorganized infants were significantly higher than those of future secure infants, t(62)=-.83, p=.006, d=.72.
Significant correlation coefficients between parent and infant affective valence during the SF suggest termination of dyadic interaction in the SF cannot be assumed. Extending similar findings from face-to-face interaction (Beebe et al., 2010; Wille et al., 1991) that more coordinated interaction is associated with non-optimal attachment outcomes, levels of dyadic interaction were higher for future disorganized infants than other infants. The findings indicate that parent-infant SF interaction should be assessed in future FFSF research to better understand potential associations with individual differences and developmental outcomes.

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