Patterns of interaction between mothers and their chronically ill infants

This study describes the general style of interaction between mothers and their chronically ill infants using a dialogic states model. The mother's and infant's vocal and visual behaviors are defined as "communicative acts" and are regarded as the elements of a behavioral dialogue between the pair. Interaction is viewed as a series of four possible dyadic states: quiescent, infant alone, mother alone, and coacting. The flow of interaction was analyzed sequentially and described with transition probabilities. All the observations were carried out in the home. The data on 5 mother-infant dyads suggest some atypical patterns of interaction are present. Non-contingent responses were likely to occur. The mothers also engaged in controlling or interruptive behavior patterns. The infants frequently broke off an interaction with the mother. Patterns of maternal conceptual set development are also described.