Maternal expectations and affect in relation to infant Bayley score and affect

Abstract

This study examined whether maternal expectations and affective climate are associated with 12 month old infant Bayley performance and infant facial display during Bayley testing. 85 middle-class normal mother-infant dyads were studied. Investigators visited the home of each dyad to administer the Bayley Scales of Infant Development.;During the Bayley administration, maternal involvement (maternal comments, physical interventions, and positive reinforcements) with her child, and both mother and infant's facial display of emotion, were recorded. Maternal affective climate was assessed by the variables of maternal facial display and maternal involvement during the Bayley. Maternal expectations were assessed through questionnaires completed by the mothers.;A moderate range of both maternal expectations and maternal involvement during the Bayley was hypothesized to be positively associated with 12 month old Bayley performance and infant facial display during Bayley testing. Maternal facial display was hypothesized to yield a positive linear relationship to both the infant Bayley score and infant facial display during testing.;Results demonstrated: (1) mothers of infants with higher Bayley scores had higher expectations of their infants, (2) a curvilinear relationship between maternal expectations and infant facial display, such that a moderate range of maternal expectations was associated with more positive infant facial display during Bayley testing. But highest and lowest maternal expectations were associated with a lowering of positive infant facial display of emotion. Therefore mothers of infants with higher Bayley scores and less positive facial display during the Bayley had the highest expectations of their infants, (3) maternal facial display during infant cognitive testing was positively related to both infant Bayley score and infant facial display, and finally, (4) maternal involvement was unrelated to infant Bayley score, but there was a significant negative linear relationship between maternal involvement with her infant during the Bayley and infant facial display during the Bayley. Mothers who were more involved with their babies during cognitive testing had infants with less positive facial display of emotion during Bayley testing.