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Biomedical subjects

M E Lamb

Publications and source records attributed to M E Lamb.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Parental behavior of adolescent mothers.

The results of the studies reviewed lead to the conclusion that some adolescent parents are faced with excessive stress, have an inadequate social support network, lack adequate knowledge of child development, are developmentally immature, and possess inappropriate child-rearing attitudes. The lack of rigorous, well-controlled studies, however, makes these conclusions tentative at best. Each of the socioeconomic and psychological factors listed above, in addition to innate infant characteristics, affects parental behavior. Too few studies have been done to state conclusively which of these factors have major effects on adolescent parenting. Preliminary results would suggest, however, that adolescent and adult mothers interact differently with their children. The reasons why this occurs and the significance of this difference are not presently known. Although there are conflicting results, it appears as though children of adolescent parents are at a slightly increased risk for child abuse, but not suboptimal intellectual development, when compared to children of adult mothers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Effects of paternal involvement on infant preferences for mothers and fathers.

45 Swedish infants were observed at home interacting with their mothers and fathers when they were 8 and 16 months old. 15 of the fathers had spent at least 1 month (X=2.8 months) as primary caretakers. Analyses revealed that degree of paternal involvement had no effect on preferences displayed on measures of attachment and affiliative behaviors. At both ages, infants showed clear preferences for their mothers over their fathers, which contrasts with the lack of preference evident in previous studies of American infants. It is suggested that the failure to replicate earlier findings is attributable to the fact that Swedish fathers are not distinguished by an involvement in play and so are less affectively salient to their infants.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Child abusers' responses to infant smiles and cries.

14 child abusers and a matched group of non-abusers watched videotapes of crying and smiling infants. Their psychophysiological responses were monitored throughout the session. After each videotape, the subjects described their emotional responses on a mood adjective checklist. The crying infant elicited heart-rate acceleration and increases in skin conductance and diastolic blood pressure from both groups, although the abusers experienced greater increases in heart rate and reported more aversion and less sympathy. Like other parents tested in this paradigm, the nonabusers responded to the smiling infant with no change in or declines in physiological activation. The abusers, however, responded to the smile and cry stimuli similarly.

Affect↗
PubMed1979

Separation and reunion behaviors as criteria of attachment to mothers and fathers.

Twenty infants were observed 4 times between 7 and 13 months of age in a short-term longitudinal study. Responses to separations from and reunions with mothers and fathers are reported. None of the measures showed a preference for either parent at any age. Other studies confirm that even young infants are attached to both parents. It is argued that greater attention must be paid to the family's role in social and personality development.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Effects of infant sociability and the caretaking environment on infant cognitive performance.

40 middle-class mothers and their 12-month-old infants participated in an examination of the extent to which infant sociability and infant home experiences were correlated with cognitive capacity. Results indicated that the measures of the home environment (including Caldwell's Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment [HOME] inventory) were not correlated with the measures of cognitive competence (Bayley Mental Development Index [MDI], Ordinal Scales of Psychological Development) except among firstborns. Measures of the home environment were, however, correlated with measures of infant sociability (assessed inside and outside the test situation): sociable infants had sociable mothers. The infants' reactions to strange adults clearly influenced their performance in testing situations. Strong relationships were found between both measures of sociability and both measures of cognitive competence. The sociable friendly infants received higher scores on both cognitive tests than the less sociable babies did.

Cognition↗
PubMed1979

The relationship between quality of infant-mother attachment and infant competence in initial encounters with peers.

18-month-old infants and their mothers were observed in the Ainsworth strange situation (SS) in order that security of attachment might be assessed. Infant dyads were created for observation in unstructured peer interaction according to their SS classification (security of attachment). Focus was on the subgroups within the securely attached (B) category. Results indicated a relationship between quality of infant-mother attachment and infant peer competence. The B1 and B2 infants engaged in more frequent and more sophisticated interaction with peers than did the B3 and B4 infants, who intensely sought proximity and contact with their mothers in the peer session just as in the SS. The B1 and B2 infants engaged in more distal interaction with their mothers and were more sociable with the peers' mothers and with the stranger in the SS. Implications of individual differences in quality of attachment for the development of social competence and social relationships are discussed.

Female↗