Observing mother-infant sleep behavior
H.L.Ball1, L.E.Volpe2, E.Heslop1 and S.J.Leech1
1Parent-Infant Sleep Lab, Department of Anthropology, University
of Durham, UK
2Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Lab, Department of Anthropology, Notre Dame
University, South Bend, IN, USA
Research teams from the Parent-Infant Sleep Lab at Durham University,
UK, and the Mother-Baby Sleep Lab at Notre Dame University, USA both study
mother-infant sleep behavior and night-time care-giving and utilise The
Observer® Video Pro 5.0 (Noldus Information Technology bv, The
Netherlands) for data capture and analysis. The research questions we
address are similar, deriving from anthropological perspectives on infant
care practices within an evolutionary paradigm. The Durham team have recently
completed a study of mother-newborn sleep behavior on the 1st two post-natal
nights in a hospital setting, while the Notre Dame researchers have examined
night-time parenting behavior of adolescent and adult first-time mothers
with their 4 and 8 months old infants in the setting of the sleep lab.
In both studies mother-infant sleep and care-giving behavior is captured
to videotape using low-light intensity cameras illuminated via infra-red
light. Observation periods last for the entire night and video coding
is therefore complex and prolonged.
Individual behaviors and dyadic interactions (sometimes triadic in the
hospital study) are coded as events or states according to similar multi-level
behavioral taxonomies in both studies. We operate 11 behavioral classes
with up to 14 elements per behavioral class, and 8 modifier classes with
up to 20 elements per modi.er class. Behavioral recordings are of 8 to
15 hours duration resulting in data files that contain an average of 1600
observations. Simple analyses involve generating output of event frequencies
and state durations per dyad (e.g. frequency of crying, duration of sleep
bouts). More complex analyses of behavior sequences and time-lag analyses
are also required (e.g. intensity of signalling required for baby to wake
mother; time lag between babys first signal and maternal response).
In some cases the limitations of the observation environment causes difficulty.
In other cases aspects of software design thwart some of our analytical
desires. This short presentation will describe our common experiences
of coding and analysing nocturnal mother-infant interactions using The
Observer Video-Pro.
Paper presented
at Measuring Behavior 2005
, 5th International Conference on Methods and Techniques
in Behavioral Research, 30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The
Netherlands.
© 2005 Noldus
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