Maternal sensitivity and its relation to personality traits

Abstract

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama, ar motinų jautrumas kūdikio signalams susijęs su asmenybės savybėmis, turinčiomis įtakos bendravimui su aplinkiniais. Tyrime dalyvavo 32 motinos su savo 6 mėnesių pirmagimiais. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, jog introverčių motinų jautrumo įverčiai statistiškai reikšmingai didesni negu ekstraverčių. Taip pat nustatėme, jog jautrių kūdikio signalams motinų grupės socialinės adaptacijos, konvencionalumo ir kūrybiškumo rodikliai aukštesni nei patekusiųjų į nejautrių motinų grupę. Pastarųjų realybės indeksas, vertinant H. Rorschacho metodika, buvo mažesnis, palyginti su jautrių motinų grupės. Rezultatai taip pat rodo, kad jautrių motinų empatijos, domėjimosi žmonėmis ir tapatinimosi su jais įverčiai aukštesni, jų suvokimas tikslesnis, dėmesio koncentracija geresnė. Motinų jautrumo kūdikio signalams ir emocingumo įverčių sąsajos nėra statistiškai reikšmingos. Pagrindiniai žodžiai: prieraišumas, motinos jautrumas kūdikio signalams, asmenybės savybės.MATERNAL SENSITIVITY AND ITS RELATION TO PERSONALITY TRAITSLaura Šarkinaitė, Danguolė Čekuolienė, Lina Kalinauskienė SummaryThis study explored relations between maternal sensitivity and her personality traits. Maternal sensitivity refers to mother’s ability to perceive and to interpret accurately the signals and communications implicit in her infant’s behavior, and given this understanding, to respond to them appropriately and promptly. Maternal sensitivity is of fundamental importance to the development of a secure attachment and also to the further life of the child. Though attachment theory states that mother’s attachment representations are the principal determinant of maternal sensitivity, the ecological perspective proposes that contextual variables also can affect maternal sensitivity and the relationship between mother and her child. One of the explored contextual variables in this perspective is mothers’ psychological characteristics, but data in this realm are inconsistent. Inasmuch as psychological traits influence interactions with others, they also may play a role in the early mother–infant interaction and may influence some aspects of maternal sensitivity. The purpose of this study was to determine how maternal sensitivity is related to her personality traits (i.e. introversion / extraversion, adjustment to reality, accuracy of perception, interest in people, and emotionality).Thirty-two mother–infant dyads participated in the study; all infants were firstborns. Maternal sensitivity was assessed using the observation technique (Ainsworth’s Maternal Sensitivity Scale). The Rorschach inkblot test was used for evaluation of mothers’ personality traits. The type of experience (i.e. introversion / extraversion), adjustment to reality, accuracy of perception, emotionality and interest in people were evaluated.The results suggest that maternal sensitivity is related to her type of experience: mothers that are introverted, are more sensitive to their infant’s signals. Our data also suggest that sensitive mothers tend to appreciate a more social standards, they could be better socially adjusted and have more adequate contact with reality than insensitive mothers. Also, sensitive mothers’ evaluations of creativity, accuracy of perception and concentration of attention tend to be higher than those of insensitive mothers. Data of our study did not confirm any relation between maternal sensitivity and her emotionality evaluation.Key words: attachment, maternal sensitivity, personality traits.