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Cross-cultural comparison of the neurobehavioral characteristics of Chinese and Japanese neonates.

BACKGROUND: Similarities and differences in the neurobehavioral repertoire of neonates from different cultures have been noted using the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS). By identifying the behavioral attributes of newborns that are seen more universally versus those that are culture-specific, comparative studies increase understanding of the roles of cultural factors in shaping the behavioral trajectory of infants. This study compared the neurobehavioral characteristics of neonates in Chengdu, China and Nagasaki, Japan. METHODS: The Brazelton NBAS was administered within the first week of life to 40 Chinese and 62 Japanese healthy, full-term neonates in Chengdu and Nagasaki. RESULTS: The two groups differed significantly in birthweight, gender, age at time of exam, mode of delivery, and gestational age. When these variables, in addition to group status (Chinese or Japanese), were entered into multiple linear analyses with NBAS cluster scores as dependent variables, group status independently predicted Range of State and Habituation scores. The group status did not predict Orientation, Motor, Regulation of States, Autonomic Stability, and Abnormal Reflexes cluster scores. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that Japanese newborns habituated more readily to stimuli, and were less irritable than newborns in the Chinese sample. The infants in the two groups shared many similar neurobehavioral characteristics as well. The implications of these similarities and differences were discussed.

China↗

Infant temperament and maternal sensitivity behavior in the first year of life.

Maternal sensitivity behavior (MSB) and infant temperament were investigated among 56 Finnish low-risk mothers and their full-term and healthy infants. The mothers were from families with good economic status, the infant's parents lived together, and the mothers were well educated. Mothers and infants were video-recorded in free-play situations at home, and evaluated using the Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment Scale (PCERA). The infants were also assessed using the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire (R-ITQ) and the Toddler Temperament Questionnaire (TTQ). Most of the temperament characteristics showed moderate stability during the first year. MSB was related to infant temperament characteristics at 3, 6 and 12 months of age. Gender differences in temperament were evident already at 6 and 12 months of age. Few prior studies have reported gender differences in infancy.

Adult↗

Relation between polysomnographic measures during nocturnal sleep and a quotient of behavioral development in infants with developmental disabilities.

Polysomnographic features during nocturnal sleep were investigated in 27 infants with developmental disabilities. With the use of a multiple regression analysis, 78% of the variance of a Development Quotient (DQ) measured by a questionnaire on behavioral development for infants was explained by sleep measures. Of 14 sleep measures employed in the study, (1) cumulative awakening time during a nocturnal sleep time, (2) duration of REM stage, and (3) percentage of REM to total sleep time were important in association with the DQ. The findings are consistent with the sleep-cognition hypothesis proposed by Espie, et al.

Child Development↗

Developmental and behavioral status of infants and young children awaiting heart or heart-lung transplantation.

OBJECTIVE: Research into cognitive development and behavior in children undergoing heart or heart-lung transplantation has focused mainly on older children, with investigation of children undergoing transplantation as infants or toddlers being largely retrospective. This study was conducted, therefore, to obtain pretransplant baseline measures of development and behavior for preschool-aged children. METHODS: Children <3.5 years old were assessed before transplantation (n = 35) and compared with a group of children awaiting conventional cardiac surgery, a group undergoing bone marrow transplantation, and a group of healthy children. Development was measured by using the Ruth Griffiths Mental Development Scales, and behavior was measured with the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist. RESULTS: Within the transplant group, 17 had congenital heart disease (CHD), and 18 had cardiomyopathy (CM). Although the overall mean developmental scores were within the normal range for the transplant, conventional cardiac surgery, and bone marrow transplantation groups, scores were significantly lower than those of the healthy group. Within the transplant group, those with CHD had a significantly lower mean developmental quotient than those with CM. Furthermore, the CHD patients obtained significantly lower scores than those with CM on areas of development covering locomotor abilities, speech and hearing, eye-hand coordination, and performance. CONCLUSIONS: In common with other groups of ill children, patients awaiting heart or heart-lung transplantation are at risk for developmental delay. Diagnosis is a salient factor in determining outcome in most areas of development. Psychosocial interventions need to be targeted to maximize developmental potential before transplantation.

Child Behavior↗

Temporal and social factors influencing behavioral and hormonal responses to separation in mother and infant squirrel monkeys.

The behavioral and hormonal responses of mother and infant squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) were examined to assess temporal and environmental factors that influence the response to separation. In two experiments evaluating the effects of 1-, 3-, 6-, and 24-hr separations, it was found that signs of infant behavioral agitation decreased over time, whereas adrenocortical activation persisted or even increased. Moreover, two separation environments were shown to differentially affect behavioral and hormonal responses. Separated infants vocalized significantly more when their mothers were proximal than when isolated, but showed lower cortisol levels in the adjacent separation than in the total-isolation condition. These data indicate that the intensity of the infant's calling response cannot be used to predict internal state (as reflected by cortisol levels). Furthermore, vocalization rate is highly dependent upon contingent stimuli, such as the presence of maternal cues. Following separation, the mothers also showed elevated cortisol levels. However, both the magnitude and pattern of the response differed considerably from that of the infant.

Animals↗

Continuous tracking of behavioral development in infants.

Infant development scales provide a one time measure of the number of scale items an infant performs and his standing relative to his age group. Repeated assessment indicates how many more items he can perform and whether his relative status has altered but does not measure actual changes in the same behaviors as development progresses. This paper discusses the importance of continuously measuring the same behavior over time as an alternative strategy. The developmental information is exemplified by the behavioral records of two infants observed over a 25-week period for changes in frequency and duration of three prone position motor responses.

Child Behavior↗

Early ontogeny of vocal behavior of Japanese infants in response to maternal speech.

Discriminant analysis was used to distinguish statistically between the comfort-state vocalizations uttered by Japanese infants following 5 different types of pitch contours of maternal speech. Ontogenetic changes of their vocal behaviors were investigated during the first 5 months of life. Structural variability in infant vocalizations across variants of maternal speech was found to be characterized by a set of quantifiable physical parameters. However, infant's age when a vocalization was recorded was not an important contributor. Successful attempts at cross-validation, in which the discriminant profiles derived from one sample of vocalizations were used to classify a second set of vocalizations, indicated that the result obtained was not an artifact of using the same data set to derive the profiles to test reclassification accuracy. Proportion of cross-validated vocalizations that were misclassified decreased as age increased. The results of the present study demonstrate that a statistically significant relation exists between acoustic features of maternal speech and those of following infant vocalizations, and that such a relation strengthens over age.

Female↗

The effects of mother's physical and emotional unavailability on emotion regulation.

In summary, emotion dysregulation can develop from brief or more prolonged separations from the mother as well as from the more disturbing effects of her emotional unavailability, such as occurs when she is depressed. Harmonious interaction with the mother or the primary caregiver (attunement) of the mother's physical unavailability were seen in studies of separations from the mother due to her hospitalization or to her conference trips. These separations affected the infants' play behaviors and sleep patterns. Comparisons between hospitalizations and conference trips, however, suggested that the infants' behaviors were more negatively affected by the hospitalizations than the conference trips. This probably related to these being hospitalizations for the birth of another baby--the infants no longer had the special, exclusive relationship with their mothers after the arrival of the new sibling. This finding highlights the critical importance of emotional availability. The mother had returned from the hospital, but, while she was no longer physically unavailable, she was now emotionally unavailable. Emotional unavailability was investigated in an acute form by comparing two laboratory situations, the still face paradigm and the momentary leave taking. The still face had more negative effects on the infants' interaction behaviors than the physical separation. The most extreme form of emotional unavailability, mother's depression, had the most negative effects. The disorganization or emotion dysregulation in this case is more prolonged. Changes in physiology (heart rate, vagal tone, and cortisol levels), in play behavior, affect, activity level, and sleep organization as well as other regulating functions such as eating and toileting, and even in the immune system persist for the duration of the mother's depression. My colleagues and I have suggested that these changes occur because the infant is being chronically deprived of an important external regulator of stimulation (the mother) and thus fails to develop emotion regulation or organized behavioral and physiological rhythms. Finally, individual differences were discussed, including those related to maturity (e.g., prematurity) and temperament/personality (e.g., uninhibited/inhibited or externalizing/internalizing) and those deriving from degree of mother-infant mismatch, such as dissimilar temperaments. Further investigations are needed to determine how long the effects of such early dysregulation endure, how they affect the infant's long-term development, how their effect differs across individuals and across development, and whether they can be modified by early intervention. Eventually, with increasing age, developing skills, and diversity of experience, infants develop individualized regulatory styles. That process, and how it is affected by the mother's physical and emotional unavailability, also requires further investigation.

Affect↗

Effects of different ways of covering the eyes on behavior of jaundiced infants treated with phototherapy.

This study was performed to determine whether covering the eyes with an opaque screen over the head end of the bassinet instead of the normal patch would improve the behavioral organization of jaundiced, but otherwise healthy, term infants treated with phototherapy. 38 matched infants were randomly assigned to have a patch or a screen. Serum bilirubin at the time of observation was 11.2-17.5 mg/100 ml (mean = 13.7, patch) and 9.4-16.4 mg/100 ml (mean = 13.4, screen). 19 infants, of whom 11 were jaundiced (6.2-14.3 mg/100 ml, mean = 10.3), served as control subjects. The infants were examined with the Brazelton scale on the 3rd day after birth, when the patch subjects had been under blue light from 6 to 45 h (mean = 23.9), and the screen subjects from 6 to 61.5 h (mean = 22.6). The control subjects scored better (all differences, p less than 0.05) than the patch subjects on inanimate visual, animate visual, visual and auditory, alertness. The control subjects also did better than the screen subjects on inanimate visual, animate visual, animate auditory, visual and auditory, alertness, but poorer on motor maturity and consolability. The screen subjects did poorer than the patch subjects only on skin color lability. At 1 month of age, 9 sets of matched infants were examined. The only difference was that the control subjects did better than the patch subjects on animate visual and lability of state. Our data confirm the poorer short-term orientation performance of jaundiced infants treated with phototherapy but do not indicate that covering the eyes with an opaque screen improves behavioral organization.

Child Behavior↗

Relation of mothers' affective developmental history and parenting behavior: effects on infant medical risk.

Mothers of infants with varying degrees of medical risk were grouped according to their perception of acceptance or rejection in childhood. Those who recalled the highest degree of acceptance showed greater warmth and flexibility as parents, regardless of their infants' degree of medical risk. However, infant medical risk was an important moderator in relations between maternal perceptions of childhood rejection and parental behavior.

Adult↗

Temperament and behavior of preterm infants: a six-year follow-up.

To test the commonly held premise that prematurity is a risk factor for problems of behavior and social interaction, as well as cognitive and physical development, temperament and behavior of children born preterm and full-term control subjects were compared at five separate time periods from infancy through early school age. All the preterm infants (n = 126) of a representative group of infants enrolled in a longitudinal study (n = 2443) were surveyed at 4 to 8 months corrected age. Subsamples of the group were studied further in successive years as young toddlers (n = 65), older toddlers (n = 60), preschoolers (n = 84), and at early school age (n = 81). At each period there were no differences between those studied and those not studied on socioeconomic status, gestational age, sex, or birth order. Parental ratings of temperament and behavior were used at appropriate ages: the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire, the Toddler Temperament Scale, the Childhood Temperament Questionnaire, Behaviour Checklist, Preschool Behaviour Questionnaire, and Rutter's Childhood Behaviour Questionnaire (CBQ), as well as mother's overall rating of temperament. In infancy there were no significant differences on temperament dimensions, clinical temperament categories, or parental ratings of individual or composite behaviors between the preterm and full-term groups. For toddlers, temperament scores were similar for the two groups but preterm subjects were significantly more likely (P less than .01) to have an easy temperament and less likely to have a difficult temperament. There were no differences on any of the other temperament or behavior ratings.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Child Behavior↗