A comparison of mother and father interaction with their six-month-old male and female infants

Landerholm, Elizabeth; Scriven, Georgia H.

doi:10.1080/0300443810070405

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Another possible explanation relates to differences in sensitivity to social signals. Landerholm and Scriven [58], as well as Freedman [59], argue that female infants are more sensitive to social signals. These assumptions were supported by studies demonstrating that newborn and 12-month-old females show higher preferences for social stimuli than nonsocial stimuli in comparison to males [60,61].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Maternal Anxiety Disorders on Infant Self-Comforting Behaviors: The Role of Maternal Bonding, Infant Gender and Age

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background/Aims: We investigated the links between maternal bonding, maternal anxiety disorders, and infant self-comforting behaviors. Furthermore, we looked at the moderating roles of infant gender and age. Methods: Our sample (n = 69) comprised 28 mothers with an anxiety disorder (according to DSM-IV criteria) and 41 controls, each with their 2.5- to 8-month-old infant (41 females and 28 males). Infant behaviors were recorded during the Face-to-Face Still-Face paradigm. Maternal bonding was assessed by the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire. Results: Conditional process analyses revealed that lower maternal bonding partially mediated between maternal anxiety disorders and increased self-comforting behaviors but only in older female infants (over 5.5 months of age). However, considering maternal anxiety disorders without the influence of bonding, older female infants (over 5.5 months of age) showed decreased rates of self-comforting behaviors, while younger male infants (under 3 months of age) showed increased rates in the case of maternal anxiety disorder. Conclusions: The results suggest that older female infants (over 5.5 months of age) are more sensitive to lower maternal bonding in the context of maternal anxiety disorders. Furthermore, results suggest a different use of self-directed regulation strategies for male and female infants of mothers with anxiety disorders and low bonding, depending on infant age. The results are discussed in the light of gender-specific developmental trajectories.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Maternal Anxiety Disorders on Infant Self-Comforting Behaviors: The Role of Maternal Bonding, Infant Gender and Age

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, Landerholm and Scriven (1981) found that both mothers and fathers used more physical contact with their male 6-month-old infants and more object play with their female 6-month-old infants. However, there have been a few contradictory studies, which leave open the question of whether parents play differently with their male and female infants.…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

Sex Differences in Mothers' Speech and Play Behavior with 6-, 9-, and 14-Month-Old Infants

Clearfield

Nelson

2006

Sex Roles

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study, we analyzed mothers' speech and play behavior with their 6-, 9-, and 14-monthold sons and daughters. Thirty-six infant-mother dyads participated in a 10-min free-play session with gender-neutral toys. No sex differences were found in the infants' behavior, but sex differences were found in mothers' verbal behavior and level of engagement. Mothers of daughters made more interpretations and engaged in more conversation with their daughters, whereas mothers of sons made more comments and attentionals, which were typified by instructions rather than conversation. Furthermore, mothers interacted more with their daughters than with their sons across all ages. Overall, these results demonstrate that mothers transmit different messages to their male and female infants, both through language and interaction, which may contribute to infants' gender role development. KEY WORDS: gender socialization; infant development; infant gender; play; parent-infant interaction.Most developmental theorists acknowledge socialization as at least a contributing factor to the development of gender differences in children. For example, social learning theory posits that children learn behavior through reinforcement and modeling (Bandura & Walters, 1963;Mischel, 1966). With respect to gendered behavior, children might be praised for behaving in "gender-appropriate" ways (e.g., girls playing with dolls, and boys playing with trucks), and scolded for behaving in "genderinappropriate" ways (e.g., girls playing with trucks, and boys playing with dolls). Similarly, gender role socialization theory posits that different people and objects in a child's environment provide rewards and models that then cause the children to shape their behavior to fit with gender norms (e.g., Block, 1973). Gender-schema theory uses these same principles of social learning to explain how people acquire masculine and feminine gender categories, and what characteristics and behaviors people associate with those categories (Bem, 1981).

show abstract

“…But not all studies report gender-of-pmt diffewnces in rough play between parents and infants in the United States. Belsky (19791, Landerholm and Scriven (1981), and Stevenson, Leavitt, Thompson, and Roach (1988) failed to find sigruficant differences in the number of time units mothers and fathers engaged in rough play with infants. In two of these three studies (Mky, 1979; Stevenson et al, 19881, the frequencies of rough play were relatively low compared with other modes of pmt-child participation and play.…”

Section: Theoretical Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Parent–Infant Rough Play: Its Cultural Specificity

Roopnarine¹,

Ahmeduzzaman²,

Hossain

et al. 1992

Early Education & Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A comparison of mother and father interaction with their six-month-old male and female infants

Cited by 17 publications

References 4 publications

Effects of Maternal Anxiety Disorders on Infant Self-Comforting Behaviors: The Role of Maternal Bonding, Infant Gender and Age

Effects of Maternal Anxiety Disorders on Infant Self-Comforting Behaviors: The Role of Maternal Bonding, Infant Gender and Age

Sex Differences in Mothers' Speech and Play Behavior with 6-, 9-, and 14-Month-Old Infants

Parent–Infant Rough Play: Its Cultural Specificity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About