What Dyadic Reparation Is Meant to Do: An Association with Infant Cortisol Reactivity

Abstract

Background: The latency to reparation of interactive mismatches (interactive repair) is argued to regulate infant distress on a psychobiological level, and maternal anxiety disorders might impair infant regulation. Sampling and Methods: A total of 46 dyads (19 mothers with an anxiety disorder, 27 controls) were analyzed for associations between interactive repair and infant cortisol reactivity during the Face-to-Face-Still-Face paradigm 3-4 months postpartum. Missing cortisol values (n = 16) were imputed. Analyses were conducted on both the original and the pooled imputed data. Results: Interactive repair during the reunion episode was associated with infant cortisol reactivity (original data: p < 0.01; pooled data: p < 0.01) but not maternal anxiety disorder (p > 0.23). Additional stepwise regression analyses found that latency to repair during play (p < 0.01), an interaction between distress during the first trimester of pregnancy and latency to repair during reunion (p < 0.01) and infant self-comforting behaviors during the reunion episode (p = 0.04) made independent contributions to cortisol reactivity in the final regression model. Conclusions: This is the first study demonstrating that interactive repair is related to infant psychobiological stress reactivity. The lack of a relation to maternal anxiety disorder may be due to the small sample size. However, this result emphasizes that infants respond to what they experience and not to the maternal diagnostic category.

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

“…The sample (n = 69) is part of a larger longitudinal study [14,37,47]. Subjects were recruited between June 2006 and October 2010.…”

“…The full study procedure is described by Müller et al [37]. The study protocol was approved by the independent ethics committee of the Heidelberg University Medical Faculty.…”

“…Full information on the Infant and Caregiver Engagement Phases-Revision (ICEP-R) is described by Müller et al [37]. We coded the videotapes using the Noldus Observer Video-Pro® coding system with 1-second time intervals.…”

“…Additionally, for infants and in accordance with the maternal and infant engagement codes [e.g. as described in [37]], oral and manual self-comforting behaviors were coded. Oral self-comforting included (1) the infants' initiated skin contact between their own body parts and their mouth, (2) the infants' initiated mouth contact to exogenous objects or (3) sucking on the caregiver's hand or fingers (self-initiated or not).…”

“…This may be due to disengagement to opportunities to externally regulate stress [35] and limited effectiveness of self-directed stress regulation in more demanding situations [36]. Accordingly, a study by Müller et al [37] found that self-directed stress regulation is linked to increased salivary cortisol reactivity, which leads to the conclusion that self-comforting behavior can be seen as an indicator of increased stress.…”