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Updated: Aug 25, 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

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Infant Age Moderates Associations between Infant Temperament and Maternal Technology Use during Infant Feeding and

Maya I Davis1, Camille M Delfosse1, Alison K Ventura1

  • 1Department of Kinesiology and Public Health, Center for Health Research, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
|October 14, 2022
PubMed

Previous research illustrated that infants' temperamental traits shape parents' behaviors, but parents' behaviors can also elicit or intensify infants' behaviors in ways that shape temperament. One understudied aspect of parenting that may exhibit bidirectional influences with temperament is parent technology use (e.g., use of mobile devices) within family contexts. To date, few studies have examined whether maternal technology use is associated with infant temperament and whether age-related differences in these associations exist. The present study was a secondary analysis of pooled data from three infant feeding studies. Mothers (n = 374) of young infants (age 16.2 ± 6.2 weeks) completed measures of maternal technology use during infant feeding and care interactions, infant temperament, and family demographics. Maternal technology use was positively associated with negative affectivity and negatively associated with orienting/regulatory capacity but was not associated with positive affectivity/surgency. The association between maternal technology use and negative affectivity was stronger for younger infants than older infants, while the association between maternal technology use and orienting/regulatory capacity was not significant for younger infants but was for older infants. Findings suggest maternal technology use is associated with infant negative affectivity and orienting/regulatory capacity, but the strength of these associations may change with infant age. Further longitudinal research is needed to verify this interpretation and understand mechanisms underlying these associations.

Keywords:
ageinfant feedinginfant temperamentmaternal technology usemobile device use

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