Preterm-infant emotion regulation during the still-face interaction

Publication date: August 2018Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 52Author(s): Maya Yaari, Natalie Lisette Rotzak, David Mankuta, Ayelet Harel-Gadassi, Edwa Friedlander, Smadar Eventov-Friedman, Benjamin Bar-Oz, David Zucker, Oren Shinar, Nurit YirmiyaAbstractVery-preterm (VPT), moderately-preterm (MPT), and full-term (FT) infants’ emotion-regulation behaviors were assessed via the Still-Face procedure at a corrected age of four months. As a developmental task during the first year of life, emotion regulation is important for social and cognitive development. Although substantial evidence indicates that VPT infants exhibit emotion-regulation difficulties, little is known about MPT infants' emotion regulation capabilities, this group also possibly being at risk. The participants included 135 parent-infant dyads: 46 VPT (gestational age 24–32 weeks), 51 MPT (gestational age 32–34 weeks), and 38 FT (gestational age 37–41 weeks). The infants’ affect, gaze-aversion, and self-comforting behaviors were coded. Preterm infants responded to parental still face in similar fashion to FT infants, displaying robust still-face and recovery effects. The preterm infants exhibited less developed emotion-regulation behaviors, however, manifested in less positive affect and more gaze aversion in the face-to-face and reunion episodes compared to FT infants. With respect to self-comforting behaviors, each group displayed a significantly different pattern of behaviors throughou...

Source: Infant Behavior and Development - July 11, 2018 Category: Child Development Source Type: research