Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 2, 2025

A Common Marmoset Model of Mother-Infant Intervention for Breastfeeding Disorders in the Presence of Paternal Inhibition and Maternal Neglect
05:04

A Common Marmoset Model of Mother-Infant Intervention for Breastfeeding Disorders in the Presence of Paternal Inhibition and Maternal Neglect

Published on: September 22, 2023

563

A mother's touch: Preschool-aged children are regulated by positive maternal touch

Mirenna G Scott1, Patricia A Smiley1, Ashley Ahn2

  • 1Department of Psychological Science, Pomona College, Claremont, California, USA.

Developmental Psychobiology
|February 22, 2022
PubMed

Positive maternal touch plays an important role in the development of children's physiological regulation and cognitive development in infancy, as well as the development of sociality in early childhood. However, few studies have looked beyond infancy to consider the possible continuing impact of positive maternal touch on child stress reactivity during early childhood. A diverse community sample of mothers (N = 114, Mage  = 33.52 years, SD = 5.33) and their preschool-aged children (Mage  = 41.68 months, SD = 4.67; 49.1% female) participated in the study. Basic demographics were reported by mothers. We coded maternal touch behaviors during an emotionally charged laboratory conversation task and assessed children's physiological reactivity to stressful laboratory tasks with salivary cortisol. Results reveal a significant negative association between positive maternal touch and child salivary cortisol reactivity. In addition, family income, adjusted for family size, and child sex were significantly associated with child cortisol stress reactivity. Findings are discussed in terms of persistent downregulating effects of positive maternal touch on child stress reactivity, as well as possible links of stress reactivity with family income, a proxy for economic stress, and child sex.

Keywords:
incomematernal touchphysiological reactivitypreschool-aged children

More Related Videos

Analysis of Electrocardiograms and Behavior in Mice from Pregnancy to Lactation Period06:40

Analysis of Electrocardiograms and Behavior in Mice from Pregnancy to Lactation Period

Published on: April 5, 2024

595
P50 Sensory Gating in Infants12:55

P50 Sensory Gating in Infants

Published on: December 26, 2013

9.3K

Related Concept Videos

Socioemotional Development during Infancy01:30

Socioemotional Development during Infancy

Socio-emotional development in infancy is primarily shaped by early emotional responses and social connections, with temperament playing a central role. Temperament refers to the consistent patterns in an individual's emotional and behavioral responses, observable even in infancy. By examining temperament, researchers can better understand an infant's unique ways of interacting with the world, influencing subsequent personality and socio-emotional growth.
Primary Temperament Types
175
Techniques of therapeutic communication I: Active Listening, Sharing Observations, Validation, and Using Touch01:15

Techniques of therapeutic communication I: Active Listening, Sharing Observations, Validation, and Using Touch

The history of therapeutic communication can be traced back to Florence Nightingale, who emphasized the importance of developing trusting relationships with patients. She taught that the presence of nurses with patients results in therapeutic healing.
Therapeutic communication is not the same as social interaction. Social interaction has no goal or purpose and consists of casual information sharing, whereas therapeutic communication has a plan or purpose for the conversation. Therapeutic...
5.7K
Parental Care00:55

Parental Care

Many animals exhibit parental care behavior, including feeding, grooming, and protecting young offspring. Parental care is universal in mammals and birds, which often have young that are born relatively helpless. Several species of insects and fish, as well as some amphibians, also care for their young.
12.0K
Relationship with Parents: Attachment01:28

Relationship with Parents: Attachment

Parent-child interactions lay the foundation for how we understand relationships throughout life. These interactions are not uniform across families; instead, they are shaped by a range of environmental, emotional, and behavioral factors unique to each caregiver-child dynamic. Social psychologists study these early relationships to understand how patterns formed in infancy influence social functioning and interpersonal behavior in adulthood.Attachment Theory and Early Relational ModelsJohn...
15
Attachment01:20

Attachment

Attachment is vital for infant development, as warm social interactions support growth and well-being. In a classic 1958 study by Harry Harlow, the significance of warmth and comfort in forming attachments was examined. Harlow separated newborn monkeys from their mothers and provided two artificial "mothers": one made of cold wire and the other covered in soft cloth. Despite the wire mother offering food, the infant monkeys preferred the comfort of the cloth mother, demonstrating that...
161
Parenting Styles01:27

Parenting Styles

Diana Baumrind's four parenting styles — authoritarian, authoritative, neglectful, and permissive — each influence children's socio-emotional development differently.
Authoritarian Parenting
This style is strict and controlling, with little room for open dialogue. Authoritarian parents demand obedience and often enforce rules with minimal warmth. Children raised this way may lack social skills and initiative, usually comparing themselves to others unfavorably.
Authoritative...
185