- Email: [email protected]
Maternal illusion of control over infant crying
103
t·1ATERNAL ILLUSION OF CONTROL OVER INFANT CRYING Lonovan ~ ~ ~ Leavitt W-Hadison
~ ~
We report here a study of the effects of maternal perceptions of and attributions about "control" on their response to a prerecorded infant cry stimulus. Forty-eight mothers participated by completing information on background variables, the beck Depression Inventory, an Attributional Style Questionnaire and the Carey Infant Temperament Questionnaire. Mothers were then presented with a contingency learning problem. Degree of contingency was defined as the magnitude of the difference between the conditional probability of an outcome (cry termination) given the occurrence of one response (press a button) versus the conditional probability of the outcome given the occurrence of the other response (not press). Each of 42 30-sec trials was initiated by the onset of a 10 sec red light. The mother's response was followed by a predetermined schedule of cry termination (success) or continuation (failure). Following the 42 trials, mothers estimated the degree of contingency between their responses and the outcome. Cardiac responses were monitored continuousl y throughout the session. Mothers with highest illusion scores were the most depressed, perceived their babies as temperamentally more difficult, experienced the most work/home conflict, ranked lowest in their perception of father help, and had a depression-producing attributional style. Mothers with medium illusion scores also perceived their infant as difficult, but were less depressed, scored highest in father support, and exhibited a self~serving attributional style. Mothers with low illusion scores were less depressed, exhibited a self-serving attributional style, but perceived their infants as temperamentally easy. Cardiac data wer~ consistent with the three group contrast.
t·1ATERNAL ILLUSION OF CONTROL OVER INFANT CRYING Lonovan ~ ~ ~ Leavitt W-Hadison
~ ~
We report here a study of the effects of maternal perceptions of and attributions about "control" on their response to a prerecorded infant cry stimulus. Forty-eight mothers participated by completing information on background variables, the beck Depression Inventory, an Attributional Style Questionnaire and the Carey Infant Temperament Questionnaire. Mothers were then presented with a contingency learning problem. Degree of contingency was defined as the magnitude of the difference between the conditional probability of an outcome (cry termination) given the occurrence of one response (press a button) versus the conditional probability of the outcome given the occurrence of the other response (not press). Each of 42 30-sec trials was initiated by the onset of a 10 sec red light. The mother's response was followed by a predetermined schedule of cry termination (success) or continuation (failure). Following the 42 trials, mothers estimated the degree of contingency between their responses and the outcome. Cardiac responses were monitored continuousl y throughout the session. Mothers with highest illusion scores were the most depressed, perceived their babies as temperamentally more difficult, experienced the most work/home conflict, ranked lowest in their perception of father help, and had a depression-producing attributional style. Mothers with medium illusion scores also perceived their infant as difficult, but were less depressed, scored highest in father support, and exhibited a self~serving attributional style. Mothers with low illusion scores were less depressed, exhibited a self-serving attributional style, but perceived their infants as temperamentally easy. Cardiac data wer~ consistent with the three group contrast.