This project encompasses four recently initiated studies dealing with the development of parents' nurturant responses to infants. The first addresses the intergenerational transmission of nurturant roles for females and males. It examines whether parents communicate differential expectations in their play behavior with male and female children regarding care for babies. The hypothesis being tested is that mothers foster stronger nurturant expectations than fathers, while fathers differentiate their role expectations for males and females more strongly than mothers do. The second study involves an intervention during the pregnancy period for first-time expectant mothers. The intervention, which includes having the expectant mother (a) handle a young infant, (b) observe her behavior with the infant on videotape, and (c) receive feedback about her behavior, is hypothesized to reduce anxiety, heighten the mother's sensitivity to different arousal states in the young infant, and facilitate her making appropriate responses to behavior emitted by the infant. The third study compares two groups of expectant parents who differ in exposure to a specific psychological stress, previous pregnancy loss (miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death) in order to determine whether this experience contributes toward anxiety, depression, or dysfunctional parental adaptations. The fourth study is concerned with the mother""""""""s emotional state during pregnancy; anxiety and depression during pregnancy are predicted to be related to postpartum affective state, quality of parent- infant interaction, and studies and is in progress on the fourth study.
