Elsevier

Infant Behavior and Development

Volume 17, Issue 1, January–March 1994, Pages 3-14
Infant Behavior and Development

Father-infant interaction and parent stress with healthy and medically compromised infants

https://doi.org/10.1016/0163-6383(94)90017-5Get rights and content

Abstract

Laboratory observations of fathers and infants were made for 24 healthy infants, 23 infants with cystic fibrosis (CF) and 31 with congenital heart disease (CHD) to study possible effects of child chronic illness on father-infant relationships. In addition, both parents completed the Parenting Stress Index on joining the study, at the time of the observation, and a year later. Although the three groups did not differ in reported father stress at any time period or in father-infant interactions, mothers of medically compromised infants reported higher stress at the first two assessments. These findings are consistent with clinical impressions that mothers bear a larger share of the psychological burden of a child's illness than fathers. In spite of the lack of group differences, there was modest evidence within the CF group that fathers who were more involved in treatment were more positively interactive with their infants. Regardless of medical status, higher initial stress reported by both parents and concurrent stress for fathers was associated with less positive father behavior toward the infant. To our knowledge, these are the first observational data concerning father-infant interactions in these two clinical groups. They suggest that differences in father behavior are more likely to be related to the manner in which the family manages the child's illness than the illness per se.

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  • This research was supported by Ontario Mental Health Foundation, the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, in collaboration with the Chest and Cardiology Divisions of the Department of Pediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children.

    We particularly appreciate the time and effort families have generously given to this project. We also wish to thank several anonymous reviewers whose comments contributed significantly to this article.

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