This study examined parental stress in 184 hearing mothers of young children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Stress levels were measured in three domains using the short-form of the Parental Stress Index (PSI; Abidin, 1995). Mothers in this study demonstrated significantly less parental distress on the PSI than a normative, hearing group, although this difference was quite small. Differences between the hearing and hearing loss samples did not reach conventional levels of significance for the Dysfunctional Parent-Child Interactions or the Difficult Child subscales. An examination of potential predictors of maternal stress revealed that mothers who perceived their daily hassles as more intense also obtained higher stress ratings on all three subscales. Additional predictors of parental distress were frequency of hassles, social support, and annual family income. Increased stress on the Dysfunctional Parent-Child Interaction subscale was predicted by children who had disabilities in addition to hearing loss, more delayed language relative to their chronological age, and less severe degrees of hearing loss. No additional, significant predictors were obtained for the Difficult Child subscale. When all measured variables were controlled for, characteristics that did not predict maternal stress on any of the three subscales included the child's gender, ethnicity, age of identification, mode of communication used, maternal education, and months between age of identification and child age at the time of observation.

The link between maternal sensitivity and child language gain was assessed in a prospective study of hearing mothers and their deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) children. Maternal sensitivity in dyadic interaction was assessed when children were approximately 2 years old, and expressive language gain was assessed at 2 to 3 years using the Minnesota Child Development Inventory. Sensitivity made significant, positive, and unique predictions of expressive language gain when the effects of maternal education, degree of child hearing loss, dyadic mode of communication, and time between assessments were controlled. Findings indicate the value of affective measures of interaction in predicting language gain.

Two studies are used to illustrate the importance of context and length of time in the use of the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS) to predict aspects of child development. The purpose of the first study was to examine whether prediction of attachment by the EAS is better with increasing amounts of time. We scored emotional availability (EA) every 15 min for a total of 2 hr, with correlations showing an increasingly stronger relation with attachment with increasing time. In addition, difference scores were calculated between the first and the last 15 min for each EAS dimension. The difference score was significantly higher for the insecure group, suggesting that we need more observation time for the prediction of insecure attachments than is the case for the prediction of secure attachments. The second study investigated whether EA is differentially predictive based on context. We explored play contexts versus reunion contexts. We also explored the relations with other indices of child development. Results revealed that some dimensions of EA (e.g., maternal nonhostility) are difficult to detect outside of a stress context. Maternal nonhostility during the reunion (but not the play situation) was correlated with child aggression in the kindergarten classroom. In addition, most dimensions of EA assessed in the reunion context were better predictors of teacher reports of kindergarten adjustment than was EA assessed in the play situation.

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While most psychological research has emphasized the importance of conflict-free mother-infant interactions, a review of recent research suggests that dyssynchrony, conflict, and their successful resolution are also integral to normative mother-infant interactions and optimal infant outcomes. Theory and research incorporating these concepts are described, areas for research suggested, and clinical applications noted.