Elsevier

Infant Behavior and Development

Volume 9, Issue 4, October–December 1986, Pages 473-478
Infant Behavior and Development

Effects of maternal unavailability on mother-infant interactions

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Abstract

To determine the differential effects of maternal emotional and physical unavailability on infant interaction behavior, 4-month-old infants were subjected to the mothers' still-face and to a brief separation from the mother. Although the infants became more negative and agitated during both conditions, the still-face was more stressful.

Keywords

maternal unavailability
separation
still-face

Cited by (0)

This research was supported by NIMH Research Scientist Development Award #MH00331 to the first author. We wish to thank the mothers and infants who participated in this study and Kerry Collins, Marcia Soto, and Wendy Tuttle for their research assistance.