Measuring night time parenting behavior of first-time adolescent and adult mothers

W.A. Wetherall and J.J. McKenna

Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, IN, USA
Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame Indiana, IN, USA

While anthropological inquiry on parenting behaviors has contributed a cross-cultural perspective on the diverse approaches to childrearing, fewer studies have focused on nighttime caretaking practices and their effects on child development. Research shows that sensitive and responsive nighttime parenting may be as important as daytime care when it comes to the healthy physiological development of infants. Further research has shown that maintaining close proximity to infants at night may reduce the occurrence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

A study conducted at The University of Notre Dame Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory analyzed the nighttime parenting behavior and interactions of first-time adolescent and adult mothers and their infants. Using overnight infrared video recordings, questionnaires, and direct observations during in-home assessments, data were collected from a sample of 24 adolescent (mean 18.9 years) and 15 ethnically-matched adult (mean 25.2 years) motherinfant dyads when the infants were four months old. During overnight sleep studies participants were allowed to maintain normal nighttime caregiving routines and sleeping arrangements, and performed all caregiver interventions at will. Overnight sleep studies were coded using The Observer^® 5.0 (Noldus Information Technology bv, The Netherlands) to measure frequency and duration of specific behaviors including awake and asleep time of mother and infant, infant sleep location, position, and orientation to mother, frequency of feedings and method, duration of infant crying and mother’s response, proximity of infant to mother, affectionate care of infant, and any risks posed to infant during the study.

This poster describes group differences and trends between solitary sleeping, bed-sharing, and room-sharing dyads in the form and frequency of particular behaviors, including nocturnal awakenings, physical proximity, responsiveness and affectionate interaction.

Paper presented at Measuring Behavior 2005 , 5^th International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research, 30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

© 2005 Noldus Information Technology bv