In this longitudinal study of a Portuguese sample of healthy preterm infants, the aim was to identify specific, independent predictors of infant-mother attachment status from a set of variables including maternal education, maternal representations’ of infant temperament, infant regulatory behavior (coping), and mothers’ interactive behavior in free play. The sample consisted of 48 medically low-risk preterm infants and their mothers who varied in education. When infants were 1 and 3 months (corrected age), mothers described their infants’ temperament using a Portuguese temperament scale (Escala de Temperamento do Bebé). At 3 months (corrected age), infants’ capacity to regulate stress (coping) was evaluated during Tronick’s Face-to-Face Still-Face paradigm (FFSF). At 9 months (corrected age), mothers’ interactive behaviors were evaluated during free play using the Crittenden’s Child-Adult Relationship Experimental Index (CARE-Index). At 12 months (corrected age), infants’ attachment security was assessed during Ainsworth’s strange situation. Sixteen (33.3%) infants were classified as securely attached, 17 (35.4%) as insecure-avoidant, and 15 (31.3%) as insecure-resistant. In bivariate analyses, multiple factors were significantly associated with attachment status. However, in hierarchical regression analyses, only infant coping and maternal responsiveness were significant predictors of attachment status. These findings suggest that both infant characteristics identifiable early in the first year, such as coping, and maternal characteristics such as sensitivity influence the process of attachment formation.

The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate the effect of a set of factors from multiple levels of influence: infant temperament, infant regulatory behavior, and maternal sensitivity on infant's attachment. Our sample consisted of 48 infants born prematurely and their mothers. At 1 and 3 months of age, mothers described their infants' behavior using the Escala de Temperamento do Bebé. At 3 months of age, infants' capacity to regulate stress was evaluated during Tronick's Face-to-Face Still-Face (FFSF) paradigm. At 9 months of age, mothers' sensitivity was evaluated during free play using the CARE-Index. At 12 months of age, infants' attachment security was assessed during Ainsworth's Strange Situation. A total of 16 infants were classified as securely attached, 17 as insecure-avoidant, and 15 as insecure-resistant. Mothers of securely attached infants were more likely than mothers of insecure infants to describe their infants as less difficult and to be more sensitive to their infants in free play. In turn, secure infants exhibited more positive responses during the Still-Face. Infants classified as insecureavoidant were more likely to self-comfort during the Still-Face and had mothers who were more controlling during free play. Insecure-resistant exhibited higher levels of negative arousal during the Still-Face and had mothers who were more unresponsive in free play. These findings show that attachment quality is influenced by multiple factors, including infant temperament, coping behavior, and maternal sensitivity.

In the present longitudinal study, we investigated attachment quality in Portuguese mother-infant and in father-infant dyads, and evaluated whether attachment quality was related to parental sensitivity during parent-infant social interaction or to the amount of time each parent spent with the infant during play and in routine caregiving activities (e.g., feeding, bathing, play). The sample consisted of 82 healthy full-term infants (30 girls, 53 boys, 48 first born), and their mothers and fathers from mostly middle-class households. To assess parental sensitivity, mothers and fathers were independently observed during free play interactions with their infants when infants were 9 and 15 months old. The videotaped interactions were scored by masked coders using the Crittenden's CARE-Index. When infants were 12 and 18 months old, mother-infant and father-infant dyads were videotaped during an adaptation of Ainsworth's Strange Situation. Parents also described their level of involvement in infant caregiving activities using a Portuguese version of the McBride and Mills Parent Responsibility Scale. Mothers were rated as being more sensitive than fathers during parent-infant free play at both 9 and 15 months. There also was a higher prevalence of secure attachment in mother-infant versus father-infant dyads at both 12 and 18 months. Attachment security was predicted by the amount of time mothers and fathers were involved in caregiving and play with the infant, and with parents' behavior during parent-infant free play.

Prior research described three stable patterns of organized behavior employed by infants to manage stressful interactive situations with their mothers in the Face-to-Face Still-Face paradigm (FFSF) at 3 and 9 months postpartum. The current longitudinal study expands this research by examining the extent to which these patterns predict infants' later attachment quality. For that purpose, 108 full-term infants and their mothers participated in the FFSF at 3 and 9 months, and in the Strange Situation at 12 months. Cross-tabulation analyses indicated a significant association between (1) the Social-positive oriented pattern and secure attachment, (2) the Distressed-inconsolable pattern and insecure-ambivalent attachment, and (3) the Self-comfort oriented pattern and insecure-avoidant attachment. Our results contribute to a growing body of studies suggesting that patterns of infants' regulatory behavior assessed during the FFSF during the first year, may be early developmental precursors of attachment patterns at 12 months.

Logo após o nascimento o recém-nascido apresenta comportamentos instintivos de auto-regulação que lhe permitem controlar as suas respostas motoras e vegetativas isolando-se de estímulos perturbadores, organizando-se face ao stress e iniciando ou terminando a interação com os pais. Estes comportamentos evoluem ao longo do primeiro ano de vida. A partir dos 3 meses estes comportamentos parecem organizar-se em estilos comportamentais e ter um peso moderado na qualidade da vinculação mãe-filho(a). No intuito de estudar os processos de auto-regulação do bebé e o papel materno na interação, observámos 98 bebés (46 meninas, 51 primíparos, nascidos com mais de 36 semanas de gestação) e as suas mães, na situação experimental Still-Face aos 3 e aos 9 meses. O comportamento dos bebés foi classificado ou descrito quanto à sua forma de organização comportamental (e.g., capacidade de recuperação após o episódio do Still-Face) e o comportamento materno quanto à qualidade do envolvimento e ao nível de intrusividade. Os resultados indicam diferenças individuais na auto-regulação do bebé, das quais descrevemos e apresentamos 3 padrões de organização de resposta subdivididos em sub-padrões comportamentais associados. Estas formas de auto-regulação apresentam uma elevada associação com as respostas maternas, género do bebé e paridade. Os dados deste estudo suportam a tese de que a auto-regulação infantil resulta da capacidade de mobilização dos recursos do bebé e da resposta que recebe para apoiar os seus esforços. Palavras-chave:Auto-regulação infantil, Contributo materno, Still-Face. IntroduçãoO bebé na interação com o meio descodifica múltiplos estímulos que lhe permite, posterior mente, preparar uma resposta e acomodá-la de acordo com a informação prévia, i.e., o bebé aprende a organizar-se face a esses estímulos. Neste sentido desenvolve mecanismos de reação e de auto--regulação para lidar com a estimulação que o rodeia. Estes processos decorrem do seu desenvolvimento e, simultaneamente contribuem para esse desenvolvimento (Posner & Rothbart, 2000). Em 1989, Kopp definiu auto-regulação infantil como a capacidade do bebé manter estados positivos em situações perturbadoras. Ora, nesta definição a auto-regulação é entendida como uma competência da criança e a ansiedade é vista pela autora como a necessidade que permite ao bebé regular as suas emoções para alcançar o bem-estar psicológico e fisiológico. Gianino e Tronick (1988) desenvolvem um modelo diferente para explicar a regulação do bebé. O Mutual Regulation Model pressupõe que o bebé regula as suas emoções de acordo com as respostas externas através de um repertório de comporta mentos que lhe permite manifestar contentamento, descontentamento ou auto-conforto. 469Este estudo foi financiado pela FCT, no âmbito do projecto PTDC/MHC-PED/1424/2014. A correspondência relativa a este artigo deverá ser enviada para: Íris Seixas,

Past studies found three types of infant coping behaviour during Face-to-Face Still-Face paradigm (FFSF): a Positive Other-Directed Coping; a Negative Other-Directed Coping and a Self-Directed Coping. In the present study, we investigated whether those types of coping styles are predicted by: infants' physiological responses; maternal representations of their infant's temperament; maternal interactive behaviour in free play; and infant birth and medical status. The sample consisted of 46, healthy, prematurely born infants and their mothers. At one month, infant heart rate was collected in basal. At three months old (corrected age), infant heart-rate was registered during FFSF episodes. Mothers described their infants' temperament using a validated Portuguese temperament scale, at infants three months of corrected age. As well, maternal interactive behaviour was evaluated during a free play situation using CARE-Index. Our findings indicate that positive coping behaviours were correlated with gestational birth weight, heart rate (HR), gestational age, and maternal sensitivity in free play. Gestational age and maternal sensitivity predicted Positive Other-Direct Coping behaviours. Moreover, Positive Other-Direct coping was negatively correlated with HR during Still-Face Episode. Self-directed behaviours were correlated with HR during Still-Face Episode and Recover Episode and with maternal controlling/intrusive behaviour. However, only maternal behaviour predicted Self-direct coping. Early social responses seem to be affected by infants' birth status and by maternal interactive behaviour. Therefore, internal and external factors together contribute to infant ability to cope and to re-engage after stressful social events.

This study examined the stability of three patterns of infant regulatory behavior identified in the face-to-face still-face (FFSF) paradigm at 3 and 9 months-social-positive oriented, distressedinconsolable, and self-comfort oriented-and whether variations in infants' heart-rate were correlated with them. Although some studies have examined the stability of discrete infant behaviors, none have investigated the stability of early regulatory patterns across FFSF episodes over time. Healthy full-term infants and their mothers (N ϭ 112) were videotaped in the FFSF when infants were 3 and 9 months old. Infants' regulatory patterns were scored with the Coding System for Regulatory Patterns in the FFSF. Infants' heart-rate level during each episode of the FFSF was also assessed. The social-positive-oriented pattern was the most prevalent at both ages. Cross-tabulation analysis showed a robust stability (Cohen's ϭ .72) of the regulatory patterns from 3 to 9 months. The heart-rate level of infants with a social-positive-oriented pattern at 3 and 9 months showed recovery to baseline levels following the still-face. In contrast, the heart-rate level of infants with a distressed-inconsolable pattern at 9 months increased from the still-face to the reunion episode, whereas the heart-rate level of infants with a self-comfort-oriented pattern at 9 months did not change from the still-face to the reunion episodes. These results suggest that infants exhibit distinct organized regulatory patterns as early as 3 months that are stable over a 6-month interval and associated with variations in infants' physiological responses across FFSF episodes at both ages.

Prior research in Western countries (mostly the US, Canada and northern Europe) indicates that mothers' representations are associated with mother–infant interaction quality and their child's attachment security later in the first year. Fewer studies, however, have evaluated whether these associations hold for mother–infant dyads in other countries, such as Brazil and Portugal. Although these countries share a similar language and culture, they differ on societal dimensions that may affect parenting attitudes and mother–infant relationships, such as economic stress, social organisation, social policy, and the availability of services for young families. In this longitudinal study, we followed two independent samples of Brazilian and Portuguese mother–infant dyads from the perinatal period to 12 months post‐partum. We assessed mothers' perinatal representations using semi‐structured interviews in the first 48 hours after the infant's birth, and evaluated the associations of these representations with mother interaction quality at 9 months and infant attachment at 12 months. Results were similar in each country, corroborating prior research in single Western countries: Mothers with more positive perinatal representations were more sensitive to their infants during free play at 9 months and were more likely to have infants classified as securely attached at 12 months.