Parenting in Context: Associations between Maternal Caregiving at Bathtime and Infant Stress Reactivity and Recovery

• In Event: 2-206 - Designing a Naturalistic Observational Study of Children and Families 40 Years Later

Integrative Statement

Caregiving behavior has been implicated in shaping infant responses to stress (Gunnar & Donzella, 2002; Hane & Fox, 2006). However, much of this research is based on laboratory or structured observation of parent-infant interactions. Observing caregiving in the home may elucidate how parenting helps infants to regulate naturally-occurring stress. The present study examined maternal caregiving behavior (MCB) during infant bathtime. The bath may be stressful for young infants because it requires regulation of body temperature as well as physical manipulation by the caregiver. Prior work has demonstrated that higher quality MCB during bathtime is associated with better recovery from the stress of the bath (Albers et al., 2008). The present study sought to examine how aspects of MCB during bathtime are linked to behavioral and neuroendocrine measures of infant stress reactivity and recovery.
Mothers (N = 47, Mage = 31.9 years) and infants (64% male) participated when infants were 6 weeks and 6 months old. At 6 weeks, dyads were videorecorded while mothers gave their infants a bath in their homes. Use of videorecordings allowed for examination of fine-detailed maternal physical and vocal contact and infant behavioral responses to the bath that could not be completed by in-person observation only. Trained coders scored MCB (composite of ratings for acceptance, sensitivity, physical contact, vocal contact, intrusiveness; Table 1) using Ainsworth’s (1976) sensitivity scales. A separate team of coders scored infant behavioral discomfort (e.g., wincing, fussing; Holsti & Grunau, 2004; Hane et al., 2008). To assess elevations in cortisol, which are indicative of a neuroendocrine response to stress, saliva samples were taken from the infants prior to the bathtime and 15 minutes following removal from the bath. At 6 months, infants and mothers engaged in the still-face paradigm (SFP), which typically evokes infant stress due to interruption of caregiver-infant interaction (Tronick et al., 1978). Infant saliva samples were taken prior to the SFP as well as 15 minutes (reactivity) and 30 minutes (recovery) following the conclusion of the paradigm.
Bivariate correlations (Table 1) demonstrated that infants of mothers rated higher for quality of MCB showed lower discomfort, p < .01 and a smaller increase in cortisol, p < .01, in response to the bath at 6 weeks. At 6 months, infants who had received higher quality MCB showed lower cortisol 30 minutes following the SFP relative to their pre-SFP levels, p < .05, signifying better recovery. MCB ratings for sensitivity and lack of intrusiveness were most strongly associated with lower reactivity at 6 weeks, and acceptance of the infant was most strongly associated with better recovery at 6 months.
These novel findings suggest that MCB during bathtime is associated with the development of behavioral and physiological components of infant stress reactivity and recovery that generalize beyond this naturalistic context. The results highlight the utility of studying MCB and infant stress responses during daily routines. Examination of how different aspects of MCB are related to reductions in infant stress during bathtime may be useful for informing interventions that are tailored to this context.

Authors

• Lauren Philbrook, Colgate University
  Presenting Author

• Amie Hane, Williams College
  Non-Presenting Author