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Adrenocortical and behavioral attunement in parents with 1-year-old infants

Hedwig J A van Bakel1, J Marianne Riksen-Walraven

  • 1Department of Psychology and Health Tilburg University P.O. Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands. h.j.a.vanbakel@uvt.nl

Developmental Psychobiology
|February 21, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Sensitive parenting correlates with synchronized physiological stress responses in infants. This study found that attuned parents

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Psychoneuroendocrinology
  • Parent-Child Interaction

Background:

  • Parental sensitivity is linked to child development.
  • Previous research indicated physiological attunement between sensitive parents and toddlers.
  • The adrenocortical system's role in parent-infant interactions requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To replicate findings on parental sensitivity and physiological attunement in a younger infant sample.
  • To examine the relationship between parental sensitivity and correlated cortisol responses in parents and 15-month-old infants.
  • To investigate the association between parental cortisol responses and infant distress during a novel social-evaluative stressor.

Main Methods:

  • Salivary cortisol samples collected from parents and infants before and after a stranger-robot interaction task.
  • Infant distress behaviors rated from videotaped parent-infant teaching and stranger-robot sessions.
  • Parental sensitivity assessed during a parent-infant teaching episode.

Main Results:

  • Replicated previous findings: correlated parent-infant cortisol responses were observed only for sensitive parents.
  • Sensitive parents' cortisol responses were associated with their infants' distress levels during the stranger-robot task.
  • Less sensitive parents did not show correlated cortisol responses or associations with infant distress.

Conclusions:

  • Parental sensitivity is associated with synchronized physiological stress regulation in parent-infant dyads.
  • Behavioral attunement in parents is linked to their infants' physiological responses to social stressors.
  • Further research is warranted to explore the interplay between behavior and physiology in early parent-infant interactions.

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