Handgrip force of maltreating mothers in reaction to infant signals☆
Section snippets
Sample
A group of 43 maltreating and 40 non-maltreating mothers were recruited at a mental health facility. The maltreating mothers received family treatment either as outpatients or as inpatients, and were informed about the study before the start of their treatment. The non-maltreating mothers were recruited from another unit within the same mental health facility, specialized in child developmental or learning problems. At least one of their children was receiving treatment. Eligible mothers in
Perception of cry and laughter sounds
Independent samples t-tests were conducted to examine group differences on the overall perception scores. No significant differences for perception of laughter or crying were found for current maltreatment status (ps > .37), nor for experienced childhood maltreatment (ps > .81). There was no significant main effect of type of current maltreatment (abuse or neglect) on the overall perception scores (ps > .50). Thus, the two groups of participants did not rate the sounds differently. In general, crying
Discussion
As hypothesized, maltreating mothers used excessive force significantly more often than did non-maltreating mothers. Maltreating mothers did not rate the sounds as more negative than non-maltreating mothers. This indicates that maltreating mothers cannot be differentiated from non-maltreating mothers based on their perception of the child signals. However, they can be differentiated from non-maltreating mothers based on their ability to modulate behavioral responses. Distinguishing between the
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2019, PsychoneuroendocrinologyCitation Excerpt :The sound stimuli were presented through loudspeakers, with the crying infant and the tone sound being presented for two minutes x four times and with half being under a high cognitive load condition and the other half being under a low cognitive load condition. As in previous studies (Buisman et al., 2018; Compier-de Block et al., 2015), the grip strength modulation was calculated by dividing the half-strength squeeze intensity by the full-strength squeeze intensity; therefore, scores over 0.50 indicated excessive force for the half-strength squeeze attempt. The higher the score of handgrip force are, the lesser the participants could regulate their emotion.
Experimental manipulation of emotion regulation changes mothers’ physiological and facial expressive responses to infant crying
2019, Infant Behavior and DevelopmentThe past is present: The role of maltreatment history in perceptual, behavioral and autonomic responses to infant emotional signals
2018, Child Abuse and NeglectCitation Excerpt :Test–retest reliability for handgrip strength measurement has been shown to be adequate (0.91 for men and 0.94 for women across a 10-week period; Reddon, Stefanyk, Gill, & Renney, 1985). Following previous studies (e.g., Compier-de Block et al., 2015) grip strength modulation was calculated by dividing the half-strength squeeze intensity by the full-strength squeeze intensity, so that scores of over 0.50 indicated excessive force on the half-strength squeeze attempt. Scores were then multiplied by 10 to scale up the variance.
Approach-avoidance responses to infant facial expressions in nulliparous women: Associations with early experience and mood induction
2017, Infant Behavior and Development
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This study was supported by Yulius Mental Health Clinic and by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (MJBK: VICI; MHvIJ: SPINOZA). We are grateful to Maureen Meekel for her technical assistance.