The marked seasonal fluctuation in suicide rates observed by Durkheim appears to be diminishing, and in some cases, to have vanished. In this study, suicide data in Britain from 1958 to 1974 were studied by auto-correlational methods. A cyclical variation was found for both men and women. Men showed a single twelve monthly cycle whereas women showed two cycles. No explanation for this difference is immediately apparent.

Functional and referential changes in maternal speech were investigated in a developmental study of nineteen mother-infant dyads, using videorecordings of their free play at three and six months. The role of the infant in influencing speech adjustments was investigated by analysing the relationships between different types of maternal speech and different infant behavioural modes. Three general modes were differentiated -Communicative, Praxic and Other -and, regardless of infant age, mothers were found to make some modifications to their speech style as a function of infant mode. Speech style also was found to change, at a pragmatic level, from three to six months. Both findings support the conclusion that maternal speech is influenced by non-linguistic behavioural 'feedback' from infants. However, a finding that affect-oriented speech is more sensitive to infant behaviour than informative speech supports Brown's (1977) contention that the maternal speech register is shaped by two relatively independent interpersonal functions -the affective and communicative components. It is argued that a fuller account of maternal conversational adjustments to prelingual infants requires both a dialogic and a monologic explanation.

The extent to which mothers and their infants can synchronize their activity levels and cycles of engagement and disengagement has been seen as fundamental to healthy affective development in the infant. Ten mothers and their infants were studied to consider the possibility of a neurophysiological base to synchronization potential. The infants' neurophysiological capacities were examined within two to three days of birth using the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale. The same infants and their mothers were assessed in their interactions after three months. The mothers' physiological responses to stimulation also were examined. Significant correlations were found between neonatal responsivity to stimuli and motor maturity, maternal stimulus screening capacity and the nature of the mother-infant interaction at three months. In particular, infants who were more socially responsive and attentive to stimuli had mothers with a greater capacity for 'screening out' redundant stimuli. Moreover, these same dyads spent more time in social engagement and had fewer cycles of disengagement. These findings, together with other studies, suggest that particular neurophysiological capacities of mothers and infants may be more conducive to the synchronization of their interactions than others. This raises the possibility that the chaotic asynchrony observed in clinically diagnosed mother-infant disturbances may have a neurophysiological base.

Thirty-two mothers and their new-born babies were studied in order to consider, in a limited way, the manner in which a mother comes to attribute personality traits to her infant. The child's expected 'difficulty' was rated by means of a standardized inventory. In addition, a semi-structured interview was conducted with the mother, and her baby was examined by means which have been described by Brazelton. The circumstances of birth were taken from hospital records.Mothers who did not expect the child to be difficult showed a 'general flexibility' which probably related to coping ability. Babies who were seen as unlikely to be difficult had high scores on 'state control' and 'physiological response to stress'. These measures include ratings for habituation and seem to reflect an efficient means of dealing with stimuli. These infantile factors did not correlate with the maternal one, suggesting that a genetic explanation of the findings was not likely. The effect of the circumstances of birth was not strong, but medication level seemed important. assessment of her infant's character was not only influenced by a fine observation of the infant's behaviour but also by something like 'projective identification'. The transcripts also suggested that mechanisms which have been seen as important in the development of identity in adolescence may be operating from the first days of life.